Sports Video

[dzwreck]

Good afternoon. I have a HD JVC video camera which records video in the .mts file format. I record a lot of sports games, and especially hockey, with this camera but I am having a hard time finding "acceptable" software to convert my video's to dvd, and also to post video's to a youtube page. The videos are generally 60-90 minutes in length (probably average about 65-70 minutes in length), have several stops and starts as there are lots of breaks in play, and record fast paced hockey (puck and player) action.

I have tried a couple of try before you buy software options and many free options, but have not been overly impressed with any. Flick DVD will convert my files to DVD but is so slow, and the final DVD glitches, or freezes, temporarily throughout the entire DVD during playback. Many programs do not seem to work with .mts files or I seem to lose quite a bit of quality if they do. All programs end up taking anywhere from 6-12 hours to convert which I am hoping there is software out there that is considerably quicker. I also would like to make sure the conversion will allow each game to fit on a single dvd. I don't mind the stops and starts of the recording being displayed as different chapters on the dvd as it makes navigation of the dvd easier, but I need the video footage to be seemless for youtube to play the whole game at once, instead of separate files.

So here are my questions:

1. Is there a single video conversion software available for free or not too expensive which will meet my needs described above?

2. Do I need a second software program for video editing or is there anything out there which will allow me to edit and convert all in one?

3. Do I need to do 2 separate video conversions in order to upload video footage to youtube and to convert to dvd?

4. What is the typical time I should expect a video conversion to take?

5. Any suggestions, tips, or any advice anyone can provide here to help are greatly appreciated.

6. I am also hoping to attempt a highlight video using a compilation of all of the video footage at the end of the season so if anyone has a suggestion on software for that type of editing too that would be very helpful.



Thank you very much in advance for any assistance you can provide.

Sincerely,
Newbie Video Recorder

[videobruger]

You should start by providing more info.

Edit your User Profile and fill out Computor details.

.mts is a container format. To know whats in it use MediaInfo (View -> Text) and past the content in a post or attach as a txt file.

You may need two programs. You most likely don't want to upload to Youtube in "DVD Format". Since Youtube is going to convert your videos anyway have you tried simply to upload an .mts to see the result?

[redwudz]

What is the typical time I should expect a video conversion to take?

No one can really answer that. What are the specifications of your conversion computer? That mostly determines time. Slower is OK, as long as there are no errors.

You might try AVIDemux. It should be able to open .mts files and do some editing. But it doesn't convert to DVD format. I'd try AVStoDVD for that.

[Brainiac]

You may need two programs.

Some of the less expensive packages (Pinnacle, PowerDirector, VideoStudio, maybe more) will allow the user to upload edited footage to Youtube from within the software. Depending on all the op's editing needs one of these may be all he needs.

Brainiac

[videobruger]

True. I don't have a JVC camera but I believe some comes with video editing software?

[dzwreck]

You should start by providing more info.

Edit your User Profile and fill out Computor details.

.mts is a container format. To know whats in it use MediaInfo (View -> Text) and past the content in a post or attach as a txt file.

You may need two programs. You most likely don't want to upload to Youtube in "DVD Format". Since Youtube is going to convert your videos anyway have you tried simply to upload an .mts to see the result?

Thx for the reply videobruger and sorry for the delayed response.

Went into my profile and updated my Computer details as requested.

Downloaded MediaInfo and did as requested. Here are the results:

General
ID : 0 (0x0)
Complete name : C:\Users\Donna4\Desktop\Videos\20110428\1712972485 9455018036\00001.mts
Format : BDAV
Format/Info : Blu-ray Video
File size : 3.89 GiB
Duration : 32mn 26s
Overall bit rate mode : Variable
Overall bit rate : 17.2 Mbps
Maximum Overall bit rate : 18.0 Mbps

Video
ID : 4113 (0x1011)
Menu ID : 1 (0x1)
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : High@L4
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 2 frames
Format settings, GOP : M=3, N=15
Codec ID : 27
Duration : 32mn 26s
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 16.2 Mbps
Maximum bit rate : 17.0 Mbps
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) : 0.261
Stream size : 3.68 GiB (95%)

Audio
ID : 4352 (0x1100)
Menu ID : 1 (0x1)
Format : AC-3
Format/Info : Audio Coding 3
Mode extension : CM (complete main)
Format settings, Endianness : Big
Codec ID : 129
Duration : 32mn 26s
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 256 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Channel positions : Front: L R
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Frame rate : 31.250 fps (1536 spf)
Compression mode : Lossy
Delay relative to video : -67ms
Stream size : 59.4 MiB (1%)

Text
ID : 4608 (0x1200)
Menu ID : 1 (0x1)
Format : PGS
Codec ID : 144
Duration : 32mn 26s
Delay relative to video : -67ms

General
ID : 0 (0x0)
Complete name : C:\Users\Donna4\Desktop\Videos\20110428\1712972485 9455018036\00002.mts
Format : BDAV
Format/Info : Blu-ray Video
File size : 80.8 MiB
Duration : 39s 484ms
Overall bit rate mode : Variable
Overall bit rate : 17.1 Mbps
Maximum Overall bit rate : 18.0 Mbps

Video
ID : 4113 (0x1011)
Menu ID : 1 (0x1)
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : High@L4
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 2 frames
Format settings, GOP : M=3, N=15
Codec ID : 27
Duration : 38s 472ms
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 16.2 Mbps
Maximum bit rate : 17.0 Mbps
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) : 0.260
Stream size : 74.2 MiB (92%)

Audio
ID : 4352 (0x1100)
Menu ID : 1 (0x1)
Format : AC-3
Format/Info : Audio Coding 3
Mode extension : CM (complete main)
Format settings, Endianness : Big
Codec ID : 129
Duration : 39s 520ms
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 256 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Channel positions : Front: L R
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Frame rate : 31.250 fps (1536 spf)
Compression mode : Lossy
Delay relative to video : -481ms
Stream size : 1.21 MiB (1%)

Text
ID : 4608 (0x1200)
Menu ID : 1 (0x1)
Format : PGS
Codec ID : 144
Duration : 38s 473ms
Delay relative to video : 67ms

[dzwreck]

True. I don't have a JVC camera but I believe some comes with video editing software?

My camera does come with some really inferior editing software that does not allow me much flexibility to do very much, besides transfer to a dvd (however, usually the files it creates are too big for a single dvd).

[dzwreck]

You may need two programs.

Some of the less expensive packages (Pinnacle, PowerDirector, VideoStudio, maybe more) will allow the user to upload edited footage to Youtube from within the software. Depending on all the op's editing needs one of these may be all he needs.

Brainiac

In terms of my editing needs, I do not need to be able to do much if any editing to the standard game films I am taping throughout the short season. The only editing I really need to be able to make is to cut small clips from all of the game tapes throughout the season and mesh them into a highlight video. I would prefer not to pay $60+ for the above mentioned software for something I am only going to need to use once/year. At the rate technology changes, these programs could possibly be obsolete after a single use or 2. Thus, hoping to find something cheaper to free preferably.

Currently using Movie Maker for my videos, but the files it creates are approximately 10GB when completed which does not fit on a single DVD. However, I can upload it to YouTube.

[videobruger]

Sounds to me as if "standard game films" don't need any editing and can be uploaded to Youtube as is. For the DVD version you have been suggested AVStoDVD. I would collect 3-4 videos corresponding to a total playtime of 90-120 min. If you enter the Menu Editor in AVStoDVD you'll get a menu to choose between the videos. To make the DVD requires re-encoding and your computor is not very powerful in that respect so it's going to take "some" time.

For the "season highligths" it sounds to me as if you just want to make some cuts and join them into one or more videos. As suggested you could use AviDemux for cutting. Another option could be Video To Video (Tools -> Split Video). These programs can make cuts in "Copy" mode when cuts are made on I-frames, ie without encoding and the speed is mainly determined by the speed of your harddisk(s). The distance between the I-frames (GOP size) is rather short in your case, about 1/2 sec so you should be able to make rather precise cuts.

To join the cuts you could use TsMuxeRGUI or MKVToolnix and again upload the results directly to YouTube and use AVStoDVD for the DVD version.

[dzwreck]

I have been playing around with a lot of stuff over the past few weeks and I am just going to break down and buy one of the following programs mentioned above: PowerDirector, Pinnacle, or VideoStudio.

Does anyone have a preference or recommendation based their own personal preferences and also on my info above? Learning Curve? They all seem fairly similar to a novice with no experience using any of them.