Merge it's files

[mkitchin]

**Sorry for the spellcheck in the title. Obviously should have been MTS, not it's**
Hello, we have someone volunteering to film our soccer games. They bought a nice camera and the quality is excellent. They like to stop and start a lot though. The last game is made up of 42 MTS files. I need to merge them all into a single file. No transcoding or any editing needed. Every post I find on this topic refers to software that no longer exists or is 10 years old. Is there a relatively easy way to do this? Windows is the preferred platform. Thank you!

[Alwyn]

Videoredo. Payware. Works well (doesn't do titles).

[johns0]

Depending on what you want to with the file you can add and append each file into mkvmerge and output as mkv,it doesn't convert or alter the files and it's free.

[ProWo]

Try the followig commandline: ffmpeg.exe -i "concat:01.MTS|02.MTS|03.MTS|04.MTS" -c copy output.mkv
(concat:01.MTS|02.MTS|03.MTS|04.MTS an so on with all 42 files).

[mkitchin]

Thank you all! Sorry for the spellcheck in the title. Obviously should have been MTS, not it's

[mkitchin]

Mkvmerge is a great tool, and I didn't think about that. I tried it, and it didn't work so well. It created a file that was the correct size (10 GB), but it definitely showed the wrong duration in windows. It shoul dhave been about 1.5 hours. It showed it at 7 + minutes, and it exactly matched the duration of the last file that was being merged. For the output file, windows media player had no sound, the screen went blank a few minutes in, and it showed the video being 7+ minutes long. VLC had sound, but had same other issues that I experienced in WMP. I tried ffmpeg, and it failed with "No wav codec tag found for codec pcm_bluray". Searching that pointed me to https://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=174718 which possibly made it sound like I would have to re-encode. I definitely don't want to that. Various replies to this issue then pointed me to tsMuxer. It looks promising. The output file is the correct size at least. It shows no duration in Windows, and WMP and VLC both fail to play it. They give no error, just eventually go to a paused state instead of playing. The eventual destination for this is YouTube. I'm trying to upload the tsMuxer created file now, and hope that YouTube will have some magic that can handle it properly. I'm open to any other recommendations. Video editing/combining/muxing is clearly not my strong area.

[mkitchin]

Well, that failed. It was only 1 minute and 11 seconds on YouTube. I will keep trying....

[mkitchin]

This looks promising:

ffmpeg.exe -i "concat:00047.MTS|00048.MTS|...|00088.MTS" -vcodec copy -acodec pcm_s24le output.mkv

The output video looks good in VLC. I got some errors regarding corrupt packets, but things seem okay.

Z:\Shared\2020-8-23 NUSA 03 Navy>c:\ffmpeg\bin\ffmpeg.exe -i "concat:00047.MTS|00048.MTS|00049.MTS|00050.MTS|00051.MTS|00052.MTS|00053.MTS|00054.MTS|00055.MTS|00056.MTS|00057.MTS|00058.MTS|00059.MTS|00060.MTS|00061.MTS|00062.MTS|00063.MTS|00064.MTS|00065.MTS|00066.MTS|00067.MTS|00068.MTS|00069.MTS|00070.MTS|00071.MTS|00072.MTS|00073.MTS|00074.MTS|00075.MTS|00076.MTS|00077.MTS|00078.MTS|00079.MTS|00080.MTS|00081.MTS|00082.MTS|00083.MTS|00084.MTS|00085.MTS|00086.MTS|00087.MTS|00088.MTS" -vcodec copy -acodec pcm_s24le output.mkv
ffmpeg version git-2020-08-24-3477feb Copyright (c) 2000-2020 the FFmpeg developers
  built with gcc 10.2.1 (GCC) 20200805
  configuration: --enable-gpl --enable-version3 --enable-sdl2 --enable-fontconfig --enable-gnutls --enable-iconv --enable-libass --enable-libdav1d --enable-libbluray --enable-libfreetype --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libopencore-amrnb --enable-libopencore-amrwb --enable-libopenjpeg --enable-libopus --enable-libshine --enable-libsnappy --enable-libsoxr --enable-libsrt --enable-libtheora --enable-libtwolame --enable-libvpx --enable-libwavpack --enable-libwebp --enable-libx264 --enable-libx265 --enable-libxml2 --enable-libzimg --enable-lzma --enable-zlib --enable-gmp --enable-libvidstab --enable-libvmaf --enable-libvorbis --enable-libvo-amrwbenc --enable-libmysofa --enable-libspeex --enable-libxvid --enable-libaom --enable-libgsm --enable-librav1e --enable-libsvtav1 --disable-w32threads --enable-libmfx --enable-ffnvcodec --enable-cuda-llvm --enable-cuvid --enable-d3d11va --enable-nvenc --enable-nvdec --enable-dxva2 --enable-avisynth --enable-libopenmpt --enable-amf
  libavutil      56. 58.100 / 56. 58.100
  libavcodec     58.101.100 / 58.101.100
  libavformat    58. 51.100 / 58. 51.100
  libavdevice    58. 11.101 / 58. 11.101
  libavfilter     7. 87.100 /  7. 87.100
  libswscale      5.  8.100 /  5.  8.100
  libswresample   3.  8.100 /  3.  8.100
  libpostproc    55.  8.100 / 55.  8.100
Input #0, mpegts, from 'concat:00047.MTS|00048.MTS|00049.MTS|00050.MTS|00051.MTS|00052.MTS|00053.MTS|00054.MTS|00055.MTS|00056.MTS|00057.MTS|00058.MTS|00059.MTS|00060.MTS|00061.MTS|00062.MTS|00063.MTS|00064.MTS|00065.MTS|00066.MTS|00067.MTS|00068.MTS|00069.MTS|00070.MTS|00071.MTS|00072.MTS|00073.MTS|00074.MTS|00075.MTS|00076.MTS|00077.MTS|00078.MTS|00079.MTS|00080.MTS|00081.MTS|00082.MTS|00083.MTS|00084.MTS|00085.MTS|00086.MTS|00087.MTS|00088.MTS':
  Duration: 00:07:17.94, start: 1.033367, bitrate: 196805 kb/s
  Program 1
    Stream #0:0[0x1011]: Video: h264 (High) (HDMV / 0x564D4448), yuv420p(top first), 1920x1080 [SAR 1:1 DAR 16:9], 29.97 fps, 59.94 tbr, 90k tbn, 59.94 tbc
    Stream #0:1[0x1100]: Audio: pcm_bluray (HDMV / 0x564D4448), 48000 Hz, stereo, s16, 1536 kb/s
    Stream #0:2[0x1200]: Subtitle: hdmv_pgs_subtitle ([144][0][0][0] / 0x0090), 1920x1080
Stream mapping:
  Stream #0:0 -> #0:0 (copy)
  Stream #0:1 -> #0:1 (pcm_bluray (native) -> pcm_s24le (native))
Press [q] to stop, [?] for help
Output #0, matroska, to 'output.mkv':
  Metadata:
    encoder         : Lavf58.51.100
    Stream #0:0: Video: h264 (High) (H264 / 0x34363248), yuv420p(top first), 1920x1080 [SAR 1:1 DAR 16:9], q=2-31, 29.97 fps, 59.94 tbr, 1k tbn, 90k tbc
    Stream #0:1: Audio: pcm_s24le ([1][0][0][0] / 0x0001), 48000 Hz, stereo, s32, 2304 kb/s
    Metadata:
      encoder         : Lavc58.101.100 pcm_s24le
[mpegts @ 000002c2b2d6d8c0] Packet corrupt (stream = 0, dts = 1123032).375.7kbits/s speed=31.5x
[mpegts @ 000002c2b2d6d8c0] Packet corrupt (stream = 0, dts = 2339247).358.0kbits/s speed=31.6x
[mpegts @ 000002c2b2d6d8c0] Packet corrupt (stream = 0, dts = 5852757).356.2kbits/s speed=32.3x
[mpegts @ 000002c2b2d6d8c0] Packet corrupt (stream = 0, dts = 3059967).373.7kbits/s speed=32.9x
[mpegts @ 000002c2b2d6d8c0] Packet corrupt (stream = 0, dts = 6933837).376.5kbits/s speed=33.1x
[mpegts @ 000002c2b2d6d8c0] Packet corrupt (stream = 0, dts = 9546447).383.0kbits/s speed=32.3x
[mpegts @ 000002c2b2d6d8c0] Packet corrupt (stream = 0, dts = 1348257).379.0kbits/s speed=32.1x
[mpegts @ 000002c2b2d6d8c0] Packet corrupt (stream = 0, dts = 6258162).388.3kbits/s speed=31.7x
[mpegts @ 000002c2b2d6d8c0] Packet corrupt (stream = 0, dts = 33465342).384.6kbits/s speed=30.1x
frame=214860 fps=1641 q=-1.0 Lsize=10238365kB time=00:59:44.68 bitrate=23397.5kbits/s speed=27.4x
video:9223312kB audio:1008191kB subtitle:0kB other streams:0kB global headers:0kB muxing overhead: 0.067065%

[jagabo]

Maybe generating new time codes with ffmpeg will help:

ffmpeg -fflags +genpts -f concat -i list.txt -c copy -fflags +genpts output.mts

The list file should be a text file with the names of all the individual files, like:

file 'file001.mts'
file 'file002.mts'
file 'file003.mts'
...
file 'file042.mts'

That will copy the contents (no reencoding) to the output file.

Oops, I just saw the post before this one. It looks like the simple concat is working for you.

[mkitchin]

Thanks! I will try that. The file that was created in my last try looked great in VLC, but is shortened to 1:11 in YouTube, again. Maybe this will help.

[mkitchin]

ffmpeg.exe -fflags +genpts -f concat -i list.txt -c copy -fflags +genpts output.mts

produced a full length file with no sound. I tried the change below, but same result.

ffmpeg -fflags +genpts -f concat -i list.txt -vcodec copy -acodec pcm_s24le -fflags +genpts output.mts

Changing the output to MKV produced a file with audio that looks correct in VLC. Trying again, to upload the 10 GB file to YouTube. Glad I'm at work with no data cap....

Update: YouTube is taking a lot longer to process, so I am hopeful. Others were done in a few minutes. This one has been going for over 30 minutes.

Update:

ffmpeg -fflags +genpts -f concat -i list.txt -vcodec copy -acodec pcm_s24le -fflags +genpts output.mkv

looks like it is probably going to work. Duration is correct in YouTube. Only SD is ready right now, and it looks awful, but I'm hoping the HD Quality will be relatively good. Thank you for all the help!!

[jagabo]

I don't understand why my original command gave a file without audio. Does MediaInfo show an audio track?

I'm no sure if "-fflags +gentpts" is necessary both before and after opening the input file. I used both, just in case. You might play around with that using a few files rather than all 42.

[mkitchin]

I'm not sure. It seems when I output it as an MTS, there is no audio. I am an absolute novice at this. For now, I'm just going to go with what works. If you are interested in troubleshooting further for knowledge on your end, I'm happy to assist.

[jagabo]

I verified my original command worked properly with some MTS files (AVC+AC3) I dug up here. Can you post a MediaInfo report (text mode) for one of your source videos?

General
ID                                       : 0 (0x0)
Complete name                            : E:\VCR\Misc\00009.MTS
Format                                   : BDAV
Format/Info                              : Blu-ray Video
File size                                : 30.0 MiB
Duration                                 : 36 s 720 ms
Overall bit rate mode                    : Variable
Overall bit rate                         : 6 851 kb/s
Maximum Overall bit rate                 : 18.0 Mb/s
Recorded date                            : 2007-08-08 15:57:05-05:00
Writing application                      : Canon

Video
ID                                       : 4113 (0x1011)
Menu ID                                  : 1 (0x1)
Format                                   : AVC
Format/Info                              : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile                           : High@L4
Format settings                          : CABAC / 2 Ref Frames
Format settings, CABAC                   : Yes
Format settings, Reference frames        : 2 frames
Format settings, GOP                     : M=3, N=15
Codec ID                                 : 27
Duration                                 : 36 s 470 ms
Bit rate mode                            : Variable
Bit rate                                 : 6 315 kb/s
Maximum bit rate                         : 16.0 Mb/s
Width                                    : 1 440 pixels
Height                                   : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio                     : 16:9
Frame rate                               : 29.970 (30000/1001) FPS
Color space                              : YUV
Chroma subsampling                       : 4:2:0
Bit depth                                : 8 bits
Scan type                                : Interlaced
Scan type, store method                  : Separated fields
Scan order                               : Top Field First
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)                       : 0.135
Stream size                              : 27.5 MiB (92%)

Audio
ID                                       : 4352 (0x1100)
Menu ID                                  : 1 (0x1)
Format                                   : AC-3
Format/Info                              : Audio Coding 3
Commercial name                          : Dolby Digital
Codec ID                                 : 129
Duration                                 : 36 s 544 ms
Bit rate mode                            : Constant
Bit rate                                 : 256 kb/s
Channel(s)                               : 2 channels
Channel layout                           : L R
Sampling rate                            : 48.0 kHz
Frame rate                               : 31.250 FPS (1536 SPF)
Bit depth                                : 16 bits
Compression mode                         : Lossy
Delay relative to video                  : -67 ms
Stream size                              : 1.12 MiB (4%)
Service kind                             : Complete Main

[mkitchin]

Sure. See below.

General
ID                                       : 0 (0x0)
Complete name                            : Z:\Shared\2020-8-23 NUSA 03 Navy\00047.MTS
Format                                   : BDAV
Format/Info                              : Blu-ray Video
File size                                : 515 MiB
Duration                                 : 2 min 59 s
Overall bit rate mode                    : Variable
Overall bit rate                         : 24.0 Mb/s
Maximum Overall bit rate                 : 24.0 Mb/s
Recorded date                            : 2020-08-23 13:29:58-05:00
Writing application                      : Sony HXR-NX30U

Video
ID                                       : 4113 (0x1011)
Menu ID                                  : 1 (0x1)
Format                                   : AVC
Format/Info                              : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile                           : High@L4
Format settings                          : CABAC / 2 Ref Frames
Format settings, CABAC                   : Yes
Format settings, Reference frames        : 2 frames
Format settings, GOP                     : M=2, N=15
Codec ID                                 : 27
Duration                                 : 2 min 59 s
Bit rate mode                            : Variable
Bit rate                                 : 21.5 Mb/s
Maximum bit rate                         : 22.0 Mb/s
Width                                    : 1 920 pixels
Height                                   : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio                     : 16:9
Frame rate                               : 29.970 (30000/1001) FPS
Color space                              : YUV
Chroma subsampling                       : 4:2:0
Bit depth                                : 8 bits
Scan type                                : Interlaced
Scan type, store method                  : Separated fields
Scan order                               : Top Field First
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)                       : 0.347
Stream size                              : 461 MiB (90%)
IrisFNumber                              : 4.000000

Audio
ID                                       : 4352 (0x1100)
Menu ID                                  : 1 (0x1)
Format                                   : PCM
Format settings                          : Big / Signed
Muxing mode                              : Blu-ray
Codec ID                                 : 128
Duration                                 : 2 min 59 s
Bit rate mode                            : Constant
Bit rate                                 : 1 536 kb/s
Channel(s)                               : 2 channels
Channel layout                           : L R
Sampling rate                            : 48.0 kHz
Bit depth                                : 16 bits
Delay relative to video                  : -67 ms
Stream size                              : 32.9 MiB (6%)

Text
ID                                       : 4608 (0x1200)
Menu ID                                  : 1 (0x1)
Format                                   : PGS
Codec ID                                 : 144
Duration                                 : 2 min 59 s
Delay relative to video                  : -67 ms