3D video from JVC GS-TD1 (AVCHD and MP4/MVC)

[jon_bondy]

Please move to another forum if there is a more appropriate one.

I bought an old stereo/3D video camera, which appears to work flawlessly except...

I can record 3D video in both AVCHD and MP4/MVC formats. When I play the videos back on the camera, I can see the 3D effect on the 3D LCD display. When I record 2D videos, the playback is significantly different.

When I copy the video files onto my PC, there is no hint of stereo or 3D. There are no side-by-side images (which are visible in YouTube examples from this camera), and when I single frame through the videos, I do not see alternating left/right frames.

The camera comes with MediaBrowser 3D, and that software swears that my 3D AVCHD videos are 2D, even though the phrase 3D appears in 3 places on the display while I am recording, and even though I can play those videos back and see 3D on the camera itself. The MP4/MVC videos are labeled as 3D in MediaBrowser, but appear to be 2D on my PC.

I wonder if the stereo/3D data is actually there, but I am having problems displaying it using KMPlayer 64 and/or VLC.

Note that I do not have any 3D displays other than that on the camera. I want to create side-by-side video to upload to YouTube.

Any thoughts would be appreciated. The camera is old and essentially no one is using it. Searches on YouTube produce stunning 3D videos, but essentially no information about the problem I am having.

Thanks!

Jon

[Brainiac]

Could you possibly upload a short raw 3d video from the camera so I can check it out on my system? I have 2 3D monitors.

[jon_bondy]

Here you go! Thanks!

[Cornucopia]

It's been a number of years, so I'm a little rusty, but my studied guess is that this cam might use MVC to record, so it would look 2D to normal players, but play in 3D with enhanced players.

...Yup, checked it in stereoscopic player - it's MVC.


Scott

[Brainiac]

Yes, Scott, I arrived at the same conclusion. Mediainfo also reports that there are 2 video streams.

[jon_bondy]

Scott, Brainiac:

Thanks! I attached 2 videos, an MP4 and an MTS: are both MVC videos, or just one of them?

Can you suggest how I would go about converting them into a side-by-side format, or should I be able to upload them directly to YouTube and have YT convert them into some reasonable downloadable format?

I want to video tape some art and allow people to see it on YouTube.

Thanks, again!

Jon

[aedipuss]

the mts file definitely has 2 video streams but nothing i have can access the second. i'd guess the jvc 3d software that came with cam is the only way. i'd try shooting some half sbs rather than the full sbs your files are, and then see if the software can export it to 1920x1080 hsbs that would be viewable on a 3d tv.


[Attachment 57303 - Click to enlarge]

[jon_bondy]

Any idea if I can use HandBrake to split out the two video streams, or convert them to a side-by-side format?

Any idea what video formats YouTube can accept?

Thanks!

[Cornucopia]

Both files play in 3D using the MVC decoder using Stereoscopic Player, so though the mp4 shows dual streams in mediainfo (AVC monoscopic compatibility stream #1, MVC stereo difference enhanced stream #2) and the mts does not, most likely it is just hidden in the TS user data and is currently not parsed by mediainfo. It's there, though, because I was able to watch both (cat) and (desk drawer) in 3D. Using S.P. I converted them during playback to cross-eye SbS view so I could watch them on a standard monitor. Yes, I crossed my eyes - learned to do that years ago for just such occasions as S3D.

If S.P. can decode it, most likely so can something like FRIM. And you could take the outputs from that and create a SbS using AVISynth, etc.

Not sure about YT upload, whether they support MVC decode or not. You can always test. You SHOULD submit the proper S3D metadata when uploading, so it knows how to present.
...Nm...just found the page: https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/7278886?hl=en It says it only supports L/R SbS. Gives instructions on how to set up.


Scott

[mk-will]

I'm using a differrent JVC 3D-VideoCam with the MVC format.
Afaik JVC uses it's own flavour of the MVC format and that's why not all players and editors can handle the 3D videos correctly.

I tried years ago and at that time only Stereoscopic Player were able to handle these JVC MVC videos, FRIM couldn't.
Don't know if that has changed but I doubt.

JVC provides a little piece of software for this reason (bundled with the camera, called "3D to LR Converter").
This software splits the JVC MVC video into two files, the left view and the right view of the video.

Stephan

[jon_bondy]

mk-will: thanks! I Googled 3D to LR Converter, and it IS available ... for $800. It was not installed automatically when I installed the MediaBrowser 3D.

Clearly the format CAN be3 decoded, since Stereoscopic Player does so. The question is what tools might be up to that task. I downloaded FIRM, but I am not a video format and codec guy, and the documentation gave me a headache. I would purchase Stereoscopic Player if I knew that it would solve my task at hand

All of you have been very helpful, and very quickly too! I appreciate it. But I'm not sure I am "there" yet.

[mk-will]

jon_bondy: JVC bundled that software with its 3D cameras, so you should have got it together with your camera.
This software is not part of the MediaBrowser 3D as I remember. It must be installed seperatly.

Did you get a CD with the camera?
If not, maybe the seller can help you with it.

Stephan

[mk-will]

Addition: The description on the JVC website states, that the MediaBrowser3D should be capable of converting the videos to side-by-side after installation of an update (dated 03.06.2011, regarding the german website).
So maybe your camera is handled differently compared to mine.

Stephan

[Cornucopia]

S.P. is great, but the only "conversion" it does is during playback runtime. It does not export such a converted type.

Scott

[jon_bondy]

mk-will: I found and installed an updater, and videos that had previously been declared 2D by MediaBrowser now appear as 3D, so that is progress. As to a feature to convert such videos to side-by-side, that feature is well hidden.

[jon_bondy]

OK. I figured it out. Just in case anyone else ever wants to convert 3D video from a JVC GS-TD1 and post them on YouTube in side-by-side or LR format, this is how it is done.


Install MediaBrowser 3D from the CD that came with the camera. From what I can see, there is no way to download that software from the web at the moment.

With that done, then go to

http://www.pixela.co.jp/oem/jvc/mediabrowser/e/everio_mediabrowser_3d/updata_download.html#v5

and download the updater and run it. Software which has not been updated will not process AVCHD 3D files correctly: in fact, the older software will see valid 3D AVCHD files as being 2D files, incorrectly.

If you run MediaBrowser 3D, you can go to Settings, Preferences if you want to have MediaBrowser 3D put all of the files in a particular directory tree. The side-by-side files will appear in that directory tree.

Use the camera to record an AVCHD 3D video. Plug the camera into your PC and MediaBrowser 3D should start up. You should be able to see the video in the grid.

At this point, you can copy the video(s) off of the camera onto your hard disk, after which you can use MediaBrowser 3D to work on them without needing the camera connected or powered on.

To perform the conversion, click the Edit Movie icon/button along the bottom.

Select AVCHD 3D as the format you want to edit and AVCHD (Side-by-Side format) as the format you want to export. Click Next.

You should see all of your AVDHC 3D movies on top and a Storyboard along the bottom. Find the movie(s) that you want to convert and drag them down to the Storyboard area. Click Next.

You can watch a preview if you wish. When you are done, click Next.

You are allowed to rename the output file, but that did not work for me. Select the exporting format as Video file (MBT). Then click Start.

Answer Yes to Continue

You should be able to find the output file in the Edit folder under the default location for your JVC files on your hard drive. If you play the MBT file, you should see the side-by-side video.

The MediaBrowser 3D application is quirky and unstable. When in doubt, kill it and restart it and it should work for a while.

Jon

[aedipuss]

what does mediainfo report if you use it on an "mbt???" file. is it just a mp4? can you rename the extension mp4 and have it open in a vid player?

[jon_bondy]

General
ID : 0 (0x0)
Complete name : D:\My Images\JVC 3D\Edit\20210211\00023.MBT
Format : BDAV
Format/Info : Blu-ray Video
File size : 22.5 MiB
Duration : 14 s 490 ms
Overall bit rate mode : Variable
Overall bit rate : 13.0 Mb/s
Maximum Overall bit rate : 18.0 Mb/s
Recorded date : 2021-02-08 21:30:04-05:00
FileExtension_Invalid : m2ts mts ssif

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 : 13 s 947 ms
Bit rate : 12.2 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) : 0.197
Stream size : 20.4 MiB (90%)

Audio
ID : 4352 (0x1100)
Menu ID : 1 (0x1)
Format : AC-3
Format/Info : Audio Coding 3
Commercial name : Dolby Digital
Codec ID : 129
Duration : 13 s 984 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)
Compression mode : Lossy
Delay relative to video : -67 ms
Stream size : 437 KiB (2%)
Service kind : Complete Main

Text
ID : 4608 (0x1200)
Menu ID : 1 (0x1)
Format : PGS
Codec ID : 144
Duration : 13 s 579 ms
Delay relative to video : -67 ms

[ch0rtle]

[Sorry, it's late, and evidently I can't read the two times you posted it was the GS-TD-1! Sorry. In 2023, still looking for an easier way than using that janky old software. MVC to AVI is an option, but is 29 euro.]

"I bought an old stereo/3D video camera"... Would you happen to have the model number of the camera? JVC made a consumer version and a pro version. The consumer version is much more difficult to extract the full frame version. If you could verify whether you have the GS-TD1 or the GY-HMZ, I'd appreciate it. Thanks.

[Artem0111]

I've found a way to use JVC 3D to LR converter to process mp4 files from GS-TD1:
The idea is to change 2 bytes in mp4 files from GS-TD1 using HEX editor to make them look like they came from "Professional" HMZ1 camera. For files smaller than 2GB, I use XVI32 HEX Editor, and execute the following script:
ADR 50
OVERWRITE 84
ADR 51
OVERWRITE 34
---
You can even use *.bat file from command line to patch all *.mp4 files in a folder:
FOR %%F IN (*.MP4) DO START /W c:\xvi32\xvi32.exe %%f /S=c:\xvi32\myscript.xsc
(but need to run this bat file from cmd)
If I need to patch files, bigger than 2GB , I use another Hex editor, and manually overwrite 8F 30 with 84 34 (only these 2 bytes not far from the beginning of a file)
I haven't broken any files yet, but don’t forget to backup your files before opening them in a Hex editor!