Best way to Convert AVCHD (.MTS) >> H.264 SD (MP4)?

[ran007]

Hello Guys,
Can anyone help or confirm if Nero, Pinnacle, or Elecard, etc will convert AVCHD into MP4 (more specifically H.264)?

I own TMPGEnc Xpress 4 (which I wish would work). I am window shopping to buy a better editor/encoder, and I'm looking for a 1-step process.

Attached is a 3 second AVCHD file fresh from my Panasonic. If you can encode this in an editor, please let me know which editor you have. I really appreciate your help!

Thanks!

00003.mts

[ran007]

Okay,

I figured it out (after several days and many hours of frustrating uncertainties).

First, here's my configuration:

HW
Pentium 4E 3.0 HT
1GB RAM
NVidia FX 5500
IDE Drives

SW
XP Pro 32bit
TMPGEnc Xpress 4
KLite Codec with ONLY MPEG TS Splitter and with AC3 Filter (set at Stereo 2/0) installed.

TMPGEnc Xpress 4 would not even recognize the AVCHD files, but after installing KLITE Codec Pack, and a little bit of trial and error to find the right codec, it works great, as far as encoding and getting a final H.264 MP4 file format.

So far, I've only encoded from AVCHD to MP4 (H.264)... Why? Because I want my Apple TV to be able to view it. And does it ever. It's beautiful and I'm very happy. Encoding is about 1:4 meaning it took about 8 minutes to encode a 2 minute file on my hardware specifically, with nothing else running, or about 5-8fps encoding. I might go up to a Quad Core, new MB and video card, but not sure if I really need it. I've heard real time encoding is possible.

I can watch the videos in AVCHD file format on the P4 computer, but it seems that the frame rate is a little sluggish because the audio is not synced. It's gotta be because my hardware simply can not keep up with the live decoding.

I hope these simple configurations can help someone.

Randall

[ggongola]

Which exact output format did you choose to get the video onto the Apple TV?

(I tried Quicktime then had iTunes convert for AppleTV, but it is not true widescreen and the colors are oversaturated/unnatural.)

Thanks!

[ran007]

In TMGPEnc 4, when you get to the part where you chose the format, choose MP4. MP4 seems to work like a charm, and the compression to quality is amazing.

[ggongola]

I'm also trying to get these onto my Apple TV with HD quality (full screen 720p/i). When I choose MP4 in TMPGEnc 4, there are two flavors: AVC and ISO. Which do you use? I've tried AVC (which is supposedly the same thing as H.264). After choosing AVC, you get three tabs with parameters you can adjust ('video', 'AVC', 'audio'). Each tab has nearly a dozen settings you can make/change. Do you change any of these settings? If I just leave all settings at their default settings, the result on the Apple TV is heavily pixelated and terrible quality. (The video I'm trying this with is taken from a HD camcorder and was recorded in high quality mode.) Thanks!

[ran007]

I just stick to all defaults except your average bitrate. Put it to at least 1500Kb/s.. To me, I can't see any quality difference when you go above 2500Kb/s. You mentioned you want to go with 720 vertical lines. I don't know if it's possible for TMPGEnc 4 to do this for MP4's. I stick to 480 and it really looks great. In fact, all of my widescreen movies I rip from DVD encode to 640 x 396 at 1200Kb/s - and they look very much like cinema quality on my 55" HD Mitsubitshi.

Anyways, make a 5 second clip in HD, then run it through TMPGEnc several times each at a different setting - do it through the batch process. Name each encode differently (describe the settings in the filename like 720x396_1500KB_AVC.mp4), and then upload all to appletv to see which one looks the best, quality and ratio. I had 20 different 5 second clips to go through. I just eliminated the ones I knew weren't good, then improved the ones I knew were good.

good luck! - I've spent countless days figuring this out. I hope it helps you.

[srt1111]

need super quick response plz

I am trying to view AVCHD (.mts) files, as well as convert them to dvd files (mp4)

plz help me and tell me some programs to useeeeeeeeee


thx a million in advanceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee 8)

[srt1111]

btw i dont know anything about codecs, what ever they are, so plz define them if you are using them

[ran007]

Google K-Lite Codec Full. It's a free install that installs the appropriate stuff to make the freaking MTS files work.

1. Begin the install and choose "deselect all"
2. Choose H.264 >> CoreAVC
3. Choose MP1/MP2 >> AC3Filter
4. Choose MPEG Splitter >> Haali (TS)
5. Misselaneous >> Detect Broken Codecs

Open your MTS file using Windows Media Player. If it plays, awesome. If not, reboot and try again.

I am able to run it 'okay' on a P4 3GHZ 1GB RAM with 256 NVIDIA card. Its about 4 years old. The sound is great, but the video also smooth, rich and vibrant, is a little slow and doesn't sync with the sound.

My work laptop, a Core 2 Duo T61 Thinkpad, plays beautifully.

I use the P4 to transcode the MTS file into MP4 using TMPEG Express 4. It transcodes about 5 frames/second on the P4. It transcodes about 15 to 20 frames/second on the core 2 duo. Big difference.

Good luck my friend! - oh and I don't know anything about codecs either. I just persistently worked at it for about 60 hours until I found the right solution. I'm sure someone could have pointed me in the right direction.

[khanfaisal]

Dear Ran007;

I have bought SD3 recently and was much frustrated in handling AVCHD files. from quite some time i am reserching to play these files but all invain.
You could not imagine how happy i am now to see my files running using your configurations for K-Lite codec. But still there is one problem. There is no Audio to the movie. Could you also help getting the audio from the file.

Many Many thanks in advance

[ran007]

I have to agree that audio is half of it. I really don't think it matters as to which audio card you have installed. I could be wrong though. I believe the audio comming from the camera is an AC3 type. So we have to have a way to tell AC3 to convert to normal stereo. In the K-Lite program, go to the properties of your AC3 filter, and make the output format 2/0 stereo. You can also find it in C:\Program Files\K-Lite Codec Pack\filters\ac3config.exe. Make sure it looks like what I have attached. I assume you choose MP1/MP2 >> AC3Filter during setup.

[Ollie6431]

...

My work laptop, a Core 2 Duo T61 Thinkpad, plays beautifully...

ran007:
Thanks so much for sharing this info on the new KLite Codec. After reading your post, I downloaded and installed it using all the default options. The raw mts files (AVCHD) from my Panasonic SD1 play really smoothly on my Fujitsu Duo - 1Gb RAM. I had spent quite a lot of time searching for a viable option to play the raw mts files on my PC without success (until now). All the softwares (that I tried) allowed one to play the files smoothly only on very high-end PCs. Now with KLite Codec, one can do this on an average PC.

Instead of playing the video directly from the cam to the HDTV, now I can just copy all the mts files from the SDHC card to the laptop and view them on TV through the laptop. My laptop's graphics card only has VGA output to the TV. The video would be better with a DVI output but it is still great with VGA.

This is really good news for people who want to use HTPC to play homemade high-def video before the Bluray/HD-DVD war settles down and burners/media become less expensive.

[ran007]

Ollie6431

Congrats! I'm happy to see it work for many of us AVCHD 'early adopters'. I hope AVCHD becomes a standard for a very long time, so that we don't have to jump through hoops just to get a file to play normally on a PC.

I own an AppleTV, and boy do I love it. I use TMPGEnc Express 4 to transcode my MTS into apple's standard. For example, a 555MB MTS file encodes into a 104MB MP4 file that looks just as beautiful on my 55" Mitsubitshi HDTV. Yeah, on a P4, it takes about an hour to transcode, but it's worth it - and that's where TMPGEnc works well because it has a very nice batch program to transcode all of your MTS files then walk away.

Finally I drag and drop the MP4 file into iTunes, and immediately shows up in my AppleTV. I have hundreds of home videos to enjoy at any time now thanks to KLite TMPGEnc and Apple TV. I then archive my original MTS files to Data DVD for later and better transcoding.

Keep it spinning!

[khanfaisal]

Dear Ran007;

I tried your settings on AC3 filter but still there is no sound in the video.My sound card is SoundMax HD audio. I have installed the K-lite codec strickly as per your prescribed settings.
If you will be able to help me on this i will be very grateful.

regards

[Ollie6431]

... I hope AVCHD becomes a standard for a very long time, so that we don't have to jump through hoops just to get a file to play normally on a PC...

In fact, AVCHD (AVC h.264) has been used in many of the recent high-def DVDs due to its heavy compression allowing for more video per a given storage space. Early high-def DVDs were based on MPG2 which takes lots of space.

Better software and hardware eventually make AVCHD work as well as MPG2.

[ran007]

Hard to say then... See if by going back in the KLite installation, and choosing all of the audio codecs to install won't fix the issue. It shouldn't hurt anything (from my experience). Reboot, then play the file.

[Zetti]

I'm confused......aren't AVCHD and H264 acronyms for the SAME thing

Why does the friend need to convert it

Thanks,

Zetti

[ran007]

The answer to the first question is - No... and don't you mean 'synonyms'? H264 is not an acronym. ... AND respectfully, my reason to convert these MTS files is in the thread. These files do not play on Apple TV.

...unless you're referring to someone else as 'the friend'...

[madmillington]

Not sure mate but maybe this could help?

http://www.erightsoft.com/SUPER.html

i use it to encode allsorts smashing program & FREE !

[ran007]

Sorry, unfortunately it doesn't work as advertised. I created a fresh install of XP, installed the program, and tried to encode the AVCHD file to anything, but it did not accept the file.

[klausfalk]

Hey guys. I have read your posts with great interest. I have just purchased a Panasonic HDC-SD5 vidcam and Im dazed an confused. When i grab the files onto my computer with the program HD Writer 2.0E it makes .m2ts-files. I have been trying like a madman to play these files in mediaplayer (Vista) and mediaplayer classic. I have also tried after installing the k-lite pack. We are having a baby within a few days (hopefully) so some help would be greatly appreciated.

[klausfalk]

Now i can play the m2ts files with great sound and all, but with some jittering in the pic when there is movement. It seems like horisontal lines appears when the picture moves.

[Soopafresh]

You need to turn on deinterlacing for the horizontal lines to disappear.

[ran007]

Yeah, when you see that, it probably means the video was recorded in 1080i. I convert all of my 1080i clips from my SD1 to MP4 (H.264) so that iTunes and appleTV accepts it while telling it to deinterlace. It looks awesome when converted.

I use TMPGEnc Express 4 to convert from MTS to MP4 (H.264). Turns a 1.88GB file into a 352MB file for example and like I said, looks just as good as the original. As long as you can view the MTS file on windows media player, you will be able to load the MTS file into TMPGEnc then convert. It does a lot more like take any format out there and convert it to any other format.

good luck!

[boltjames]

First off, great thread and you've got me halfway home so thanks.

I have a Sony 1080i camcorder and I've shot at XP quality. Looks great on my 1080p HDTV when the HDMI cable is connecting it. It's hi-def, 1080i, looks fabulous, no question.

I have an Apple TV that's capable of 1080i resolution.

Now, I followed the TMPGEnc4 steps as discussed/detailed amongst the group, but I've hit a roadblock as follows:

1. The .MTS file has a native resolution of 1440 x 1080. Says so on the TMPEGEnc4 Source window.

2. My settings are: MPEG4 AVC Format, Bitrate 1500

3. The image that TMPEGEnc4 creates on my HDTV doesn't fill the whole screen. Has a thick black border on it.

4. This smallish bordered image, while nice, is not even close to HD quality. Looks great on my iPod Touch, in fact. If that's all I wanted to do, I'd be thrilled.

5. I'm using the trial version of TMPEGEnc4. I let the K-Lite Codec Pack put every codec known to man on my system. Not sure which ones TMPEG4 is using for the encoding, but it's working nicely if I wanted a small, non HD image on the TV.

On the AVC submenu, the default resoution is 720 x 576. It won't let me increase it to 1440 x 1080. Is that the problem? If so, how does one change it? Do I need to have the paid version of TMPEG4 to do this?

Furthermore, if I choose a Quicktime file (instead of MPEG4) I can convert the file to 1440 x 1080 and even get it into iTunes, but it won't sync to Apple TV. Instead, it lets me "convert to Apple TV format" at which time it downconverts it again to 720 x 576.

What I'm trying to do is simple: I want to shoot in 1080i and convert the files to something Apple TV compatible that is also in 1080i HD resolution. I don't care about file size or conversion time. I just want to build a library of home movies in 1080i on my Apple TV.

Can anyone help me here?



TIA

BJ

[Soopafresh]

Wiki says the following resolutions are supported

* 1080i 60/50 Hz (but maximum video resolution is 720p)[1]
* 720p 60/50 Hz[1]
* 576p/576i 50 Hz (PAL)[1]
* 480p/480i* 60 Hz[1][5]

H.264 and protected H.264 (from iTunes Store): Up to 5 Mbps, Progressive Main Profile (CAVLC) with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps (maximum resolution: 1280 by 720 pixels at 24 fps, 960 by 540 pixels at 30 fps) in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats

But yeah, I notice the same error you're experiencing in Tmpgenxpress - 720x576

Try the Quicktime output perhaps?

[ran007]

boltjames, check your private message inbox. If anyone else is experiencing this, I can send you the two config files for TMPGEnc 4 to fix you up. Just send me a private message

[boltjames]

Wiki says the following resolutions are supported

* 1080i 60/50 Hz (but maximum video resolution is 720p)[1]
* 720p 60/50 Hz[1]
* 576p/576i 50 Hz (PAL)[1]
* 480p/480i* 60 Hz[1][5]

H.264 and protected H.264 (from iTunes Store): Up to 5 Mbps, Progressive Main Profile (CAVLC) with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps (maximum resolution: 1280 by 720 pixels at 24 fps, 960 by 540 pixels at 30 fps) in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats

But yeah, I notice the same error you're experiencing in Tmpgenxpress - 720x576

Try the Quicktime output perhaps?

Thanks for responding. I did try the QT output, but that output only is in a MOV format not the MP4 format that Apple TV requires. An MOV file will look gorgeous in 1080i (or 720p if you will) within iTunes but will not move over to Apple TV. Apple TV makes me convert it to a SD fugly file.

BJ

[boltjames]

boltjames, check your private message inbox. If anyone else is experiencing this, I can send you the two config files for TMPGEnc 4 to fix you up. Just send me a private message

Just sent you the email. Thanks!

And just to confirm.......what you're going to provide me will be an MP4 configuration that will keep the native 1080i from the Sony camcorder file and allow me to watch it in 1080i (or 720p?) in HD on the Apple TV? Right?

BJ

[ran007]

It will be near 720p - 644p to be exact. However make no mistake. It still looks gorgeous. You may be able to play with my export config file and up it to almost 720p but with tiny black bars on the sides while viewing.

Apple TV simply isn't capable of playing 1080i. Maybe future AppleTV's! Be sure to save your MTS files on data DVD for later technologies to take advantage of the pure 1080i.