AVCHD format (MTS file) player

[teroer]

hello, i'm looking for a player that could read a MTS file from a Panasonic HDC-SD1 video camera.

I bought this camera 1 week ago but the software delivered with it works only on a japanese version of windows ( that i do not have)

I tried to read the files with VLC but this program only displays a gray image ( the sound works well has expected) and VLC crashes after a few second.

I'm wondering if my PC has enough power to make the job ( Pentium M 1.5 GHz)

Can someone give me information about how should i proceed to get my data, save them on a media and be able to see it on my computer?

Thanks a lot for future Reply.
tom

[BJ_M]

Cyberlink PowerDirector 7 will play these files native - as does media player classic - so should VLC ...

maybe it is your system ? do you have a separate h264 codec installed ?

[teroer]

THanks a lot for this quick answer !!

I tried media player clasic without succes.
in particular Media Player Classic told me significant information :

F:\PRIVATE\AVCHD\BDMV\STREAM\00000.MTS::Video

Media Type 0:
--------------------------
Video: MPEG4 Video (H264) 1888x2880

AM_MEDIA_TYPE: 
majortype: MEDIATYPE_Video {73646976-0000-0010-8000-00AA00389B71}
subtype: Unknown GUID Name {31435641-0000-0010-8000-00AA00389B71}
formattype: FORMAT_MPEG2_VIDEO {E06D80E3-DB46-11CF-B4D1-00805F6CBBEA}
bFixedSizeSamples: 1
bTemporalCompression: 0
lSampleSize: 1
cbFormat: 193

VIDEOINFOHEADER:
rcSource: (0,0)-(0,0)
rcTarget: (0,0)-(0,0)
dwBitRate: 0
dwBitErrorRate: 0
AvgTimePerFrame: 0

VIDEOINFOHEADER2:
dwInterlaceFlags: 0x00000000
dwCopyProtectFlags: 0x00000000
dwPictAspectRatioX: 1888
dwPictAspectRatioY: 2880
dwControlFlags: 0x00000000
dwReserved2: 0x00000000

MPEG2VIDEOINFO:
dwStartTimeCode: 0
cbSequenceHeader: 61
dwProfile: 0x00000064
dwLevel: 0x00000028
dwFlags: 0x00000004

BITMAPINFOHEADER:
biSize: 40
biWidth: 1888
biHeight: 2880
biPlanes: 0
biBitCount: 0
biCompression: AVC1
biSizeImage: 0
biXPelsPerMeter: 0
biYPelsPerMeter: 0
biYPelsPerMeter: 0
biClrUsed: 0
biClrImportant: 0

pbFormat:
0000: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................
0010: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................
0020: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................
0030: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 60 07 00 00 40 0b 00 00 ........`...@...
0040: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 28 00 00 00 60 07 00 00 ........(...`...
0050: 40 0b 00 00 00 00 00 00 41 56 43 31 00 00 00 00 @.......AVC1....
0060: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................
0070: 00 00 00 00 3d 00 00 00 64 00 00 00 28 00 00 00 ....=...d...(...
0080: 04 00 00 00|00 33 27 64 00 28 ad 00 ec 05 a0 44 .....3'd.(*.ì. D
0090: 7d ff e0 00 80 00 62 00 00 07 d2 00 01 d4 c1 c0 }ÿà.€.b...Ò..ÔÁÀ
00a0: 40 00 13 57 28 00 02 6a e5 3e f7 06 02 00 00 9a @..W(..jå>÷....š
00b0: b9 40 00 13 57 29 f7 b8 14 00 06 28 ea 40 13 72 ¹@..W)÷¸...(ê@.r
00c0: c0                                              À

i tried to install xDiv codecs ( version1.2) but it seems to give no better results in my players...

Another information found on the wiki of this famous "codec"

The LGPL-licensed libavcodec includes a H.264 decoder. It can decode Baseline Profile, Main Profile and High Profile video, except PAFF interlaced video. It is used in many programs like in the free VLC media player and MPlayer multimedia players, and in ffdshow and FFmpeg decoders projects.

i think my video camera do not support the hole norm but provide interlaced images...
Could this be the problem???

[BJ_M]

like i said - install a h264 codec or ffdshow

[teroer]

Onece more thanks a lot for you help.
A your ecomended, i installed ffdshow, and now the behaviour of media player clasic is the same than VLC.. if i playa video the half part of the image arrives strangely and the player crashes...
concerning

a h264 codec

i thought it was what i did by installing xdiv 1.2 but of cours i was wrong... i will try it but while this time

i took a verry short video (1.6Mo) that maybe could explain my problem .
can you watch it ?
thanks a lot !


00069.mts

[BJ_M]

instead - use the MPEG-2 export with the output parameters set to 1920x1080, right now i can view your test clip (barely) - but the header is messed up bad ..

are you sure you are using the proper SD card reader ? because a standard one does not work --

nero will open this file - so does elcard pro --- I am using elcard demultiplex with mainconcept h264 codec ..

[Soopafresh]

The MTS AVC files use PAFF, of which there are few codec choices. There's no free decoder for PAFF until late summer (Summer of Code Project) The best choice for low CPU usage on PAFF h264/AVC files is CoreAVC pro.

[BJ_M]

well there you go -- i never thought much about because i had no problem working with them ...

sony vegas 7 with the update supports this format (oddly enough sony ships their AVC camcorder with a POS software bundle) but panasonic also has a crappy software bundle but recommends vegas anyway..

[BJ_M]

Soopafresh - why does Nero open these files but makes no mention of this support (that im aware of) ?

[teroer]

means that if i want to use see my video with the initial quality, i need to buy CoreAVC (8$)
or wait until another Free Codec manage this kind of format .
Im I right ?

[Soopafresh]

BJ_M - Wish I could tell you for certain. I fear Nero - anything that fiddles while my DVD burns I do know that some of the h264 team over there were involved in the X264 project before they were hired by Ahead. I guess I'm saying that they know what's going on, despite the "we're going to install tons of borderline malware apps" that the higher ups decided upon. Pretty forward thinking if that's the case. After all, many AVCHD cams record using AVC with PAFF. http://www.nero.com/nero7/enu/AVCHD_Authoring_and_Playback.html

teroer - the answer is .... plunk down the $20 for the pro version, unless you can wait until August. Here are additional AVC files with PAFF - I can play them with CoreAVC installed - nothing (free) works - (VLC Videolan, Mplayer, ffdshow). Same with your sample .MTS file you posted above.

2MB Download 720x576
http://samples.mplayerhq.hu/V-codecs/h264/PAFF/DVD500k.mp4

26MB Download 1440x1088
https://oncourse.iu.edu/access/content/user/rtknapp/outdoor.MTS

80MB Download 1440x1088
https://oncourse.iu.edu/access/content/user/rtknapp/00003.MTS

CoreAVC through MediaPlayerClassic


VLC


FFmpeg


Google Summer of Code Multimedia Wiki - PAFF support is project 3.3.6

http://wiki.multimedia.cx/index.php?title=Summer_Of_Code_2007

[jolson]

OK, so if someone buys CoreAVC one can watch the camera stuff on the computer. But if one wants to convert to a standard (MPEG-2) DVD for watching on the TV, will CoreAVC in combination with AVISynth and some other tools (which?) make that possible?

[Cornucopia]

Yes, with the right encoders installed. CoreAVC is just decoding. Once it's decoded, you have to re-encode to something else--CoreAVC won't affect that.

For ultimately DVD output, it should be possible to do:

AVISynth (via Directshow & CoreAVC) --> Frameserve to TMPGEnc (or similar) --> Encode to MPEG2
Then Author & Burn.

Scott

[jolson]

Thanks, I will look at mimicking the way DVD2SVCD converts XviD to DVD and use the same tools (HCEnc, MuxMan...)

[sireasoning]

Yes, with the right encoders installed. CoreAVC is just decoding. Once it's decoded, you have to re-encode to something else--CoreAVC won't affect that.

For ultimately DVD output, it should be possible to do:

AVISynth (via Directshow & CoreAVC) --> Frameserve to TMPGEnc (or similar) --> Encode to MPEG2
Then Author & Burn.

Scott

How do I do that? I have coreavc, avisynth, dotnet 2.0 and FAVC. If I open FAVC and try to do a .mts file, I get an error message that either avisynth is not installed or that a codec is missing. An example would be very helpful, esp if I need to commandline the .mts into FAVC with avisynth and coreavc.

[Soopafresh]

1) Install the latest version of Haali media splitter and associate it with TS files (you'll see the prompt during setup)

2) Then, make certain your system is working correctly by manually creating an .AVS file and successfully opening it in VirtualDub

Save as TestScript.AVS in the same folder where your .MTS file is located

DirectShowSource("Your_MTS_file.mts")
Bicubicresize(720,400)

#or whatever your mts file is named

3) Load TestScript.AVS in VirtualDub

Example:



If it works, you should be set to go in FAVC. If not, then you're either missing a component, or need to update your software.

[sireasoning]

I created the TestScript.AVS and tried to open in in virtualdub, but got the following error:

Avisynth open failure:
DirectShowSource: Could not open as video or audio
Video returned "DirectShowSource: Timeout waiting for graph to start."
Audio returned: "DirectShowSource: RenderFile, the filter graph manager won't talk to me"
(TestScript.AVS, line 1)

However TMPGEnc worked so everything should be setup properly... I do see the Haali media splitter icon show up and it is version 1.7.189.11

[Soopafresh]

Download Graphedit http://www.digital-digest.com/software/download.php?sid=82&ssid=0&did=1

Drag a .MTS file onto the program workspace. It will automatically show the links that are used to render the video. Mine looks like this:

[sireasoning]

My video portion was the same as yours. I currently don't have a sound card installed so that might be causing the problem?!?

I am also trying to remove some artifacts from the videos without much success. It seems like there are lots of slender blocky sections that I am getting on the conversion (at least on the lcd monitor.) It seems to be really bad on the outline of arms, face, etc.

I am trying to convert with the highest settings I can think of, but I am not familiar with many of the formats. Ignoring time considerations, What are the best settings for getting the highest quality conversion to a DVD format? For now I am testing TMPGEnc until we get FAVC working or I become satisfied with the conversions.

[Soopafresh]

I am also trying to remove some artifacts from the videos without much success. It seems like there are lots of slender blocky sections that I am getting on the conversion (at least on the lcd monitor.) It seems to be really bad on the outline of arms, face, etc.

That sounds like interlacing artifacts. Two schools of thought in this regard - deinterlace or encode properly interlaced video. I personally like deinterlacing, as your source is 1440x1080 and you're encoding to 720x480. You won't be losing much information by deinterlacing. (Go ahead and skewer me, fellow videophiles)

[sireasoning]

I think I discovered my issue with Virtual Dub. I think my file size was too big for it. I used a smaller size and then I was able to get it to work. But how do I get it into FAVC though. That still fails.

On another note, I ran across another site that mentioned a virtualdub plugin called Deinterlace - smooth that looks like it will remove some of the jagged edges. It has also been ported over to Avisynth. How would I utilize it within either FAVC or TMPGEnc?
http://biphome.spray.se/gunnart/video/

I am assuming that one cannot create DVD files from within Virtualdub. It seems to be alot more responsive than TMPGEnc

[sireasoning]

I finally understand why I couldn't get FAVC to work. I was trying to open the file directly instead of via the Avisynth script.

How can I change the aspect in FAVC? My source is 16:9 but FAVC seems to automatically force it to a squished 4:3.

[Soopafresh]

Good question. Perhaps MrOdwin will chime in on this. It's because of the 1440x1080 dimensions, even thogh it should be 1920x1080. FAVC assumes it is 4x3. You can change the dimensions in an AVS script, then load the AVS script in FAVC. Try something like

DirectshowSource("mtsfile.mts",fps=29.97)
ConverttoYV12()
BicubicResize(960,540)

[sireasoning]

That seemed to do the trick.

For the most part I was happy about the encoding, but it seemed as if the color was not well saturated, needed maybe some other adjustments. Can these things be done? I know I can do it with TMPGEnc, although I felt that their encodes had more "mouse teeth".

[Mr_Odwin]

Good question. Perhaps MrOdwin will chime in on this. It's because of the 1440x1080 dimensions, even thogh it should be 1920x1080. FAVC assumes it is 4x3. You can change the dimensions in an AVS script, then load the AVS script in FAVC. Try something like

DirectshowSource("mtsfile.mts",fps=29.97)
ConverttoYV12()
BicubicResize(960,540)

The above should work fine. Perhaps a very slight refinement would be

DirectshowSource("mtsfile.mts",fps=29.97)
ConverttoYV12(interlaced=true)
BicubicResize(1920,1080)


Otherwise you're just resizing an interlaced source in a bad way; FAVC should deinterlace correctly given the above input.

[Soopafresh]

Thanks Mr_O

sireasoning, you can saturate the video with the Avisynth command Tweak()



DirectshowSource("mtsfile.mts",fps=29.97)
ConverttoYV12(interlaced=true)
BicubicResize(1920,1080)
Tweak(sat=1.2)

Open up the Avs script in Virtualdub just make sure the saturation level is correct for you. Above 1.0 means increase saturation, below 1.0 means decrease.

[sireasoning]

Finally got a sound card installed and confirmed it works. However, when I use graphit on my avs script, it shows no audio connections. I have coreavc and ffdshow installed.

[Soopafresh]

Tell ffdshow to decode AC3 and raw audio formats. Drag the mts file into graphedit.

[sireasoning]

I was using the stable version and it appears to not have audio. I upgraded to alpha and it works now.

BTW, Thanks so much for all of the help. It has been invaluable!

[sireasoning]

hmmm
Although I get audio showing up when I put the .mts file in graphit, I do not get audio when I place the avisynth script in there.