Mini Guide - AVCHD to Anything Using DGAVCdec

[brunori]

I liked the results of this deinterlacing method by vampiredom at Doom9. Look towards the bottom of the script for output options. You might want to try the blended deinterlacing if you're going to be shooting a lot of action.

...

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Hi There,

I´m still having problems converting canon HF100 MTS 1080/60i files to Xvid/DivX 720x480 (and others SD resolutions).

After several tries (all from a footage with tripod, image stabilization off, and no panning, just zoom in and out. For minimizing chances of footage problems), the best I could get was this (anexed):

Note the artifacts when I zoom in and out.

The script I use:

----
loadplugin("tomsmocomp.dll")
# I think directshow still gives me 60i (since there is no active deinterlace filter), so no need for separatefields()
DirectShowSource("teste 60i.MTS")
# As I know, these MTS files from canon are TFF, so the "1" on the first parameter
TomsMoComp(1,5,1)
Lanczos4Resize(720,400)
-----

I have checked and the is no ffdshow or virtualdub filters active (I use fast recompress anyway).
I still have some doubts about these canon MTS files, please give me some places I can find some info about:
Are they YU12?
Are they realy 60 fields per sec or 59,94 fiels per sec? Does this make any difference?

Any sugestions?

thx in advance.

-- Roberto

virtualdub%20avisyth%20toms%20fast%20recompress%20 teste%2060i.avi

[poisondeathray]

@brunori - Those artifacts are likely from your AVC decoder. If you are using ffdshow tryouts, upgrade to a more recent version. You can see examples a few pages back that it does make a difference using DirectShowSource() . DGAVCDec still uses the old libavcodec library so it has the same problem as older revisions. Newer versions of ffdshow handle interlaced AVC material much better without those artifacts. An even better alternative is using CoreAVC, but it costs $15

It is YV12 colorspace 4:2:0, 59.94 fields/s

[brunori]

@brunori - Those artifacts are likely from your AVC decoder. If you are using ffdshow tryouts, upgrade to a more recent version. You can see examples a few pages back that it does make a difference using DirectShowSource() . DGAVCDec still uses the old libavcodec library so it has the same problem as older revisions. Newer versions of ffdshow handle interlaced AVC material much better without those artifacts. An even better alternative is using CoreAVC, but it costs $15

It is YV12 colorspace 4:2:0, 59.94 fields/s

Many thx poisondeathray!

Now is realy nice!

The trick is that when we click "download" on "http://ffdshow-tryout.sourceforge.net/" (the official site), it starts downloading a mainstream (stable) version that has the bug!

BTW, is CoreAVC realy better than the ffdshow alternative? How much better?
I thouth decoding has not a great diferential between solutions!

Thx again.

P.S.: Please, confirm TFF on HF100 1080/60i. Is there a software/utility where I can see these atributes directly on the file?

[Soopafresh]

BTW, is CoreAVC realy better than the ffdshow alternative? How much better?
I thouth decoding has not a great diferential between solutions!

Depends on the CPU in your computer. CoreAVC is very good with slower CPUs. With faster CPUs, the difference between CoreAVC and FFdshow isn't so much. Your Athlon 4400 would benefit by using CoreAVC, especially for playing your MTS files on your computer. CoreAVC has a 14 day evaluation of their decoder.

All HD transport streams are TFF

[poisondeathray]

brunori - yes the "official" ffdshow site is old. The newest svn versions can be found here (also on sourceforge):

http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=173941

Any build within the last few months should have that bug fixed, I tested as far back as rev. 2080 and it decoded those streams properly

[fishywishy]

is there any reason these mts converters or avchd players would make teh image have verical line across the whole video? maybe the way it makes 1440 to 1920? im about to return a sony hdr-cx7 because it looks bad

[poisondeathray]

@fishywishy - I suspect there is something wrong with your decoder and/or playback chain. The horizontal lines maybe there from interlacing but there should not be any vertical lines

What camera is this from?

What software are you using to "convert" or to "view" ? The image should be 1920x1080, but your attached bitmap is 1440x1080 - so whatever software you are using is not honoring the 16:9 DAR flag

Can you upload a small sample of the unprocessed source to a free hosting site? e.g. mediafire

[fishywishy]

@fishywishy - I suspect there is something wrong with your decoder and/or playback chain. The horizontal lines maybe there from interlacing but there should not be any vertical lines

What camera is this from?

What software are you using to "convert" or to "view" ? The image should be 1920x1080, but your attached bitmap is 1440x1080 - so whatever software you are using is not honoring the 16:9 DAR flag

Can you upload a small sample of the unprocessed source to a free hosting site? e.g. mediafire

'07 sony hdr-cx7

i used the avchd_convert_v7.zip and the vimeo one as well. i also used voltaicHD to wmv. i viewed the mts with oxygen avchd player. all show these vertical lines (click the image to full size and youll see them)

youre correct, i captured that image before i knew how to correctly use avchd_convert_v7.zip. however even at 1920x1080 i get those lines. when i get home ill upload a .mts file

much appreciated

oh and the cx7 records @ 1440x1080 and then strecthes it to 1920x1080 when its played or converted to raw to edit. thats where im guessing these lines are coming from

[fishywishy]

heres a quick 5 second clip

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?tm1mzgy4zng

[poisondeathray]

Yes what you are saying about the DAR is correct. If you use MPC, for example it will display properly because it acknowledges the flags and displays as 1920x1080. The frame size is still 1440x1080 in avisynth or editing programs because they usually assume 1:1 square pixels

However, your sample has vertical lines despite using different decoders/renderers/software. I suspect something is wrong with your camera and/or your settings. For example, you can download other hdr-cx7 clips that do not have these lines (just the regular horizontal interlacing ones)

http://av.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/20070711/zooma314.htm

[fishywishy]

wow, yeah my camera must be screwed up. guess thats why it was an open-box thankfully theres no restocking fee

[Soopafresh]

Yeah, something is up with your camcorder.

[brunori]

All HD transport streams are TFF

Thats strange, when opening an MTS file with

DirectShowSource("file.MTS").info()

the info filter shows BFF. If I use assumeTFF, it shows "TFF assumed".
Does info() reads some file field thats overlooked by assumeTTF()?

-- Brunori

[Soopafresh]

Open up your file with DGavcindex. That'll be the more accurate method of determining field order.

[waefwaeefwaefw]

Hi, thank you for the scripts!
However, the kind of .mp4 files your vimeo script creates does NOT work with Quicktime 7.5.x. Apparently it's not an h.264 or AAC problem, but an mp4box/aac combination problem. Please try to fix the problem, there are some pointers in this thread: http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.comp.video.mencoder.user/8533/focus=8568

Also, I would kindly suggest you remove the fadein/fadeout from the default script, because many people are using your scripts to create proxy files for further editing instead of just final versions of their videos, and so the fades interfere with further editing. Thanks!

[dpShorts]

I'm brand new to this forum so let me start my saying a most heartfelt thank you to Soopafresh not only to the tremendous service he provides to the members of this forum but to the video enthusiast community at large.

I've been using your AVCHD_Convert scripts for several weeks now (i.e. since I purchased a Canon HF100.) The script package is a godsend for anyone attempting to edit AVCHD files on a PC that was purchased any less recently than a month ago. (Exaggeration intended.)

I use the scripts to convert 1920x1080 AVCHD to 640x360 MPG proxies, edit the proxies in Vegas Pro 8.0c and switch back to the original MTS files for final rendering. The workflow is a little tedious but Soopafresh's scripts make it manageable and cost effective.

(Note: It was Eugenia Loli-Queru who turned me on to this method. For those of you who are interested, check this link: http://eugenia.gnomefiles.org/2008/05/04/avchd-transcoding-using-free-tools)

The only "issue" I've found so far is that my converted MPG proxy files seem to be missing two frames at the beginning of each clip. If I place both an MTS file and its corresponding MPG file on the timeline (i.e. one on top of the other), I have to shift the MPG file two frames to the right to have it line up with the MTS.

Admittedly, two frames doesn't sound like a huge problem but when syncing to external (i.e. non-camera) audio, it becomes a major issue when your entire final render is out by two frames.

Question is: Is there something I can do to ensure the input and output files are identical in length. That is, recover the two missing frames?

Note: I've modified Soopa's _multi_demux_mts_HQ.bat script to:

a) remove the fadein() and fadeout() calls and
b) convert the AVS file to MPG with the following command:

for %%a in ("*.avs") do ffmpeg.exe -i "%%a" -vcodec mpeg2video -s 640x360 -b 1500k -y "%%~na.mpg"

I much appreciate any advice you can offer.

Thanks,
dp

[Soopafresh]

Hi dpshorts, thanks so much for your kind words I've learned tons of stuff from Eugenia. She's bright as a whip.


The only "issue" I've found so far is that my converted MPG proxy files seem to be missing two frames at the beginning of each clip. If I place both an MTS file and its corresponding MPG file on the timeline (i.e. one on top of the other), I have to shift the MPG file two frames to the right to have it line up with the MTS.


I know... it's the demuxer - xport.exe . It looks for and splits on the first I Frame in the MTS file in order to maintain A/V sync. So if the MTS doesn't start on an I frame, the program skips ahead, cutting out the first frame or 2. The only suggestion I can make is to use the DirectShowSource() method, which will work fine, as long as you have the latest FFdshow or CoreAVC codec installed. If you can play the MTS file in Media Player or Media Player Classic, then you're already set to go.

Try this https://forum.videohelp.com/images/guides/p1892916/directshowsource_848x480.zip . Put the batch file in the same folder as the other stuff.

for %%a in ("*.avs") do ffmpeg.exe -i "%%a" -vcodec mpeg2video -s 640x360 -b 1500k -y "%%~na.mpg"

Cool, since you're resizing to those dimensions, you may as well modify the batch file to resize to 640,360 in Avisynth. I'm refering to the line that says Lanczos4Resize(848,480) .It'll make the conversion run a bit faster as a result.

[dpShorts]

Soopafresh... I've installed the latest FFdshow (i.e. 12/05/2008) but DirectShow is failing. It's creating an MPG file within which is contained the error message (one of the more creative methods of error reporting I've encountered.)

Essentially, the message is "DirectShowSource: couldn't open file XXXX.MTS: Cannot play back the file. The format is not supported."

This tells me my system isn't configured to use FFdshow as its default codec for MTS/h.264 files.

Also noteworthy...

1) I installed a 14-day trial edition of CoreAVC over a month ago. It's still installed but has expired.

2) I tried throwing my MTS file into GraphEdit but the application was unable to create a graph from the file and asked "Have you installed all necessary filters?"

Thoughts?

[Soopafresh]

1) Uninstall CoreAVC (if it's installed)

2) Download and Install the Latest FFdshow Beta http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=173941&package_id=199416&release_id=439904

3) Enable h264 decoding in FFdshow. You'll want it to say "libavcodec"



4) Download and install Haali Media Splitter (aka Matroska Splitter)

5) At this point, you should be able to play your MTS files with Windows Media Player or MediaPlayer Classic. If you don't have audio working, try to turn in on once again with ffdshow settings.

[ch1apet]

Hey Soopafresh! I posted a really long time ago, and you gave me a lot of help while I was starting out trying to get videos off of my Canon HF10. I just wanted to drop a note to say that your stuff is fantastic, it works really well, and I learned a lot from lurking this thread! Keep up the good work, and thanks a ton!

P.S. - For some reason, I got an error message from the batch files on the front page when I tried to convert to x264 for vimeo, but I just went and got a new version of x264 and it worked like a charm. Just a heads up! Thanks again.

[Soopafresh]

Hey, thanks for the heads up! I'll fix it.

[dpShorts]

Soopafresh,

Been busy with the day job for the past few weeks. I greatly appreciate your mini-tutorial on ffdshow setup. I've followed it and am now able to playback MTS files via WMP... albeit slowly (but that's hardware related.)

Using your scripts on my PC now results in an MPG2 file that is of fine quality but is out of sync with my original files by an indeterminate number of frames which is problematic for my purposes.

However, the good news is that using SUPER (i.e. with DirectShow on) to do my AVC to MPG2 transcoding with the new ffdshow results in files that miss all but the final few frames... an issue I can live with.

If you're interested in seeing the results of my first HF100 project, check here for HD version:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uy6ziCEJ5AA&fmt=22

or here for YouTube SD: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uy6ziCEJ5AA

Much thanks for helping this project come to fruition.

An interesting side note is that--using SUPER--on WinXP, FFMpeg produces usable files while MEncoder doesn't. On Vista however, the situation is reversed... MEncoder produces usable files.

In any case, thanks for your fantastic support and service of this forum and the community at large.

Happy holidays.

[Soopafresh]

Balls!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I love "The City"

Looks great, I'm amazed at how well the HD transcoding is working over at Youtube.

[kcnu]

Hi Soopafresh and Dpshorts,

Thanks a bunch for your excellent help in this forum. I am very happy with my Canon HF100 video, but had trouble converting the mts/m2ts files to regular DVD or mp4 to share with friends n family.

I then followed steps in this forum and http://eugenia.gnomefiles.org/2008/05/04/avchd-transcoding-using-free-tools to create .VOB and mp4 files. I could successfully do this if the file size is small, but ran into trouble when I tried to convert 6 GB file to mp4 format.

FYI, here is the SUPER profile I used to do that:

[Encoder]
Format=8
VidCodec=3
AudCodec=1
Encoder=0
VidBitr=109
AudBitr=7
VidScaleSize=0
MoreScaleSize=2
CustVWid=1280
CustVHght=720
Cust1VWid=368
Cust1VHght=208
Cust2VWid=416
Cust2VHght=176
VidAspect=-1
VidFPS=10
MoreFPS=0
Custfps=8
Cust1fps=16
Cust2fps=20
AudSample=6
AudChanl=1
VidDisable=0
AudDisable=0
VidCopy=0
AudCopy=0
Vidhq=1
Vidtq=0
Vidfasp=1
AudioSampleReference=0
AutoAudience=0
Target=0
TStarget=0
Theme=5
OutPutFolder=C:\Program Files\eRightSoft\SUPER\OutPut\
SourceFolder=z:\
DSlogo=0
DSlogoMessg=*eRightSoft*
DSlogoFont=Vivaldi
DSlogoSize=28
DSlogoColor=10354879
DSlogoHlColor=16240383
DSlogoPos=4
DSJoinMux=1
DSMotion=-1
DSsmUD=12
DSfmUD=69
DSFH=0
DSFV=0
DSRevrs=0
DSTurning=-1
DSinvY=0
DSinvU=0
DSinvV=0
DSBW=0
DSFI=0
DSFO=0
DSFIsec=4
DSFOsec=03
DSInf=0
VidDeinterlace=0
BF=0
H264Stream=0
BFrames=2
EncodeDuration=0
ClosedGOP=0
GOPAuto=0
ManualGOP=15
AdjustVolume=1
EncodeVolume=5
SnapShotAt=4.3
VideoOffsetSec=3
EncDurationFor=10
CropTop=32
CropRight=0
CropButtom=32
CropLeft=0
PadColor=4670008
PadTop=32
PadRight=0
PadButtom=32
PadLeft=0
H264profile=1
H264level=11
FLVTag=
[RealProducer]
Path=C:\PROGRA~1\
Audience=0
EncodeProfile=1321
[GeneralOptions]
ShowHints=1
ShowWarnings=0
ShowCreditScreen=1
AlwaysOnTop=1
AnalyzeON=0
AviSynthON=0
PSPcnt=0
VOBcnt=19
SameSrcFolder=0
UnderScoreON=0
SameDateTimeON=0
LowerCaseON=0
[Player]
Brightness=-75
Contrast=-5
Hue=0
Saturation=0
FullScreen=1
Aspect43=0
Aspect169=0
Tiles=0
PlaySlow=0
PlayFast=0
Deinterlace=0
Flip=0
Mirror=0
TurnRight=0
TurnLeft=0
ShowLog=0

Not sure if I am doing anything wrong here, please advice if I should try any thing different.

PC config: Core 2 duo 2GHz processor, 3 GB Ram, 160GB HDD and Win XP SP2

Thanks again.
Kcnu

[Soopafresh]

Hi kcnu - Ask at the Super Forum (see bottom of your error message)

[Glashio]

Soopafresh, I have using your scripts since few months now with beautiful results on youtube ( Sony HDR-SR11 )

I installed the conversion script (avchd_convert__vimeo__v8.rar) & avisynth on a clean windows xp 32bit laptop and ran the script.
On the x264.exe encoding part it reported an error, about missing : pthreadGC2.dll file (Multithreading...).
I fixed it with installing AviDemux and copy the .dll to the directory.

Many thanks for your great work!!! Your scripts are awesome!!! Happy 2009

[Soopafresh]

Thanks, Glashio I just updated the Vimeo script to v9 with a different version of X264. That should take care of the problem.

[benzo]

I'm trying to use this method to convert AVCHD files from a Panasonic HDC-SD9. No matter what I do I'm getting artifacts in the final video.

I've used DGAVCIndex to look at the avc file that comes out of the xport command, and third frame from frame 6 has blocky artifacts - all other frames are fine.

The footage from the camera is 1920x1080 @ 50fps interlaced.

I can use Voltaic HD to convert the files and the output is fine, but I'm looking for an open source / free option.

Any advice?

Thanks,

Ben.

[djthomas98]

Hi Soopafresh,

I'm trying to playback the .mts files from my Canon HF100 using Windows Media Player. The audio seems to playback fine, but the video plays a lot slower and is way out of sync with the audio. I'm having the same problem when using Media Player Classic. I followed your recommendation to install the latest version of ffdshow and Haali Media Splitter. But after doing so, I'm still having the same problem as before in which the video is slowed down and can't keep up with the audio. Any suggestions? I'm new to this, so maybe it's a simple issue that I'm just not seeing. Thanks!

[Soopafresh]

benzo - look at my Dec 7th post on this page on how to use the DirectShowSource solution to your problem. This batch file uses directshow: directshowsource_856x480.zip


djthomas98 - Your computer isn't fast enough to play AVCHD files at full resolution. P4 2.8Ghz isn't going to cut it. Plunk down $500 for a Quad Core Q6600 or E8400 computer.