Sony DSC-HX5 and AVCHD movies

[nitay]

Hello all,

I've taken some movies with the Sony HX5 and only later found out the camera was set to saving in AVCHD format (M2TS) instead of MP4. Checking the file info says it's 1440x1080 - meaning 1080i if I'm not mistaken.

I usually upload my movies to smugmug, but they seem to not suppot this extension. Renaming the files to .MTS works though.

My questions are:
1. Should I convert the videos to MP4? I don't want to lose quality of the videos. If so, which setting should I use in Adobe Media Encoder to convert to a same-quality MP4?
2. Some of my uploads failed a couple of times. Is it because I renamed the files?
3. I've changed the camera setting back to MP4. Is this the right option (quality-wise)? It's easier for me to work with. And progressive looks better on my non-steady hands
4. How can 1440/1080 be a 16:9 format?

Thanks!
Nitay

[Selur]

Checking the file info says it's 1440x1080 - meaning 1080i if I'm not mistaken.

normally 1080i is used for interlaced 1920x1080 material

regarding 1.: use a tool that can remux your file to mp4 without converting the audio&video if possible. (assuming the audio&video formats recoded are supported by mp4)
regarding 2.: if you just renamed the extension form .m2ts to .mp4 that might be a problem since they are not mp4 files
regarding 3.: the container should not have any impact on the quality as long as it does not restrict the format usage (-> should not be a problem here)
regarding 4.: 1440x1080 is anamorph encoded, see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pixel_aspect_ratio + http://www.avchd-info.org/format/

Cu Selur