Help with audio problem in playing AVCHD files with Nero 8

[Ollie6431]

I recently downloaded the trial version of Nero 8 to play AVCHD files (m2ts files) recorded with my Panasonic HDC- SD1 camcorder and copied to my PC's hard-drive. The video played by Nero ShowTime on my 3 year-old Pentium 4 (3 GHz, 1 GB RAM, GeForce 5950 FX) is remarably smooth considering how highly compressed the AVCHD files are. I have tried other options (PowerDVD, Elecard) with very choppy video display. The unexpected problem that I have right now is choppy audio (also out of sync) of the AVCHD files played with Nero ShowTime. To trouble-shoot this audio problem, I used Nero 8 to convert the m2ts videos to standard-def videos to be included in a standard-def DVD. This DVD plays without problems on a DVD player and also on my PC. I would appreciate any advice and suggestion as to how to fix this audio problem.

[Soopafresh]

You can try to remux the original .MTS files with TSremux. See if it helps.

[Ollie6431]

Soopafresh:
Thanks for your quick advice. I will download and try this software (TSremux) to see if it can fix the audio problem. Since Nero 8 can play AVCHD files (the video part) well, I believe that sooner or later more media player may be available without the audio problem. For the time being, we just have to do some tweaking.

[Soopafresh]

AVCHD audio is tough to play back for some reason. MediaPlayer Classic doesn't seem to play it back, but the inferior Windows Media Player does.

[Ollie6431]

I used TSremux to demux an m2ts files (with sound problem) to 2 separate m2ts files, one for video and one for audio. Both of these played with no problems on Nero ShowTime, one with only video and one with only audio. Interestingly, after I muxed them back again into one m2ts file (using Nero Vision), the choppy sound problem came back. The video part still played smoothly. I have no idea what this means.
Other players that I have tried (Elecard, PowerDVD, Windows Media player, VLC) have problem with choppy/frozen video due to AVCHD's heavy compression, but audio plays very smoothly. Nero ShowTime (in Nero 8 version) seems to be the only one that plays video well with my current PC hardware config, but I am currently stuck with this audio problem! Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[Soopafresh]

1) You just might not have the horsepower.

or

2) Your media splitter software might not be up to snuff. Try Haali Media Splitter, make sure you check the "associate with TS files" button during install.

[Ollie6431]

Soopafresh:
It is probably the hardware limitation of my PC. I will try to play the AVCHD files on an accessible PC with more horsepower (Pentium 4, 3.4 GHz, 2 Gb RAM, Radeon X800XT). That may make a difference. If it does not, I will try Haali Media Splitter per your advice. Thanks again.

[Ollie6431]

Today I tried Nero 8 (Showtime) on m2ts files on a better PC (about 2 year-old: Pentium 4, 3.4 GHz, 2 Gb RAM, Radeon X800XT). The video and sound are both smooth. You are absolutely right! We need a PC with lots of horse-power for playing (and even more for editing, of course) AVCHD files.

I made a AVCHD-DVD for the m2ts files using the supplied HDWriter software (in the Panasonic HDC SD1 package). This program requires that you write on a DVD-R, to be played on a Blueray player (or PS3). HDWriter did a good job of writing the DVD with a simple menu and no video/sound editing (fairly quick). Out of curiosity, I put this DVD in the regular DVD drive and used Nero Showtime to play directly from the DVD drive. Interestingly, it plays from the starting menu, very much like a Blueray player. The video and sound are both choppy, however.
I still want to wait for Blueray players to go down in price (if the format is still around!) before buying one.

Overall, it has been an interesting learning experience. Thanks for all the input!