Mini Guide - AVCHD to Anything Using DGAVCdec

[Soopafresh]

Thanks, erik.

[Soopafresh]

erik, I downloaded the 00006.mts file. Definitely something wrong . It isn't the size of the file, as I also have a 200MB .MTS file which works properly.

I've been reading a little bit about HG10 file transfer from the camera to your computer hard drive. There are supposed to be two ways to do this - via the Canon backup utility or copying from the \AVCHD\BDMV\STREAM MTS files straight to your hard drive. Can you test both ways and see if there is a difference?

thanks.

[dererik]

Soopafresh,

bad luck, we used the camera at a scientist meeting and copied everything via USB. So, the error with the bigger files should also occur in the smaller ones - all the same method.

At the moment I do not have the possibility to test with the camera, only a harddisk full of mts -;

thanks for all your work!
erik

[Soopafresh]

No problem. I'm just wondering how 2 files coming from the same camera with the same settings could be so different. This is what we need to determine. The problematic MTS file is missing IDR keyframes, so DGavcIndex and Libavcodec can't index it properly.

And even trying to convert it via DirectShowSource and CoreAVC leads to this result:


00006.avi

[dererik]

When I open the *.mts in Vegas it is quite ok, in your avi the video is much faster then the audio. I will post the vegas result.

The clip is about 3 min in time, your avi shows all the video in fast motion and the audio unchanged, strange.

erik

[dererik]

Soopafresh, here is the converted mts (30mb):

http://www.erik.m13s10.vlinux.de/temp/test2.mpg

sorry, the content is really boring -; the video is nearly always the same, maybe that is the reason there are only few IDR keyframes?

Vegas says:

General
Name: 00006.MTS
Folder: C:\tools\video\avchd_convert_neu3
Type: MPEG-2 Transport Stream
Size: 183,69 MB (188.098.560 bytes)
Created: Donnerstag, 19. Juni 2008, 21:52:38
Modified: Sonntag, 15. Juni 2008, 12:12:40
Accessed: Samstag, 21. Juni 2008, 08:50:16
Attributes: Archive

Streams
Video: 00:02:45,120, 25,000 fps interlaced, 1440x1080x32, AVC
Audio 1: 00:02:45,120, 48.000 Hz; Stereo (stereo downmix), Dolby AC-3
Audio 2: 00:02:45,120, 48.000 Hz; Stereo, Dolby AC-3

ACID information
ACID chunk: no
Stretch chunk: no
Stretch list: no
Stretch info2: no
Beat markers: no
Detected beats: no

Other metadata
Regions/markers: no
Command markers: no

Media manager
Media tags: no

erik

[Soopafresh]

That's OK about the content I want to help you with the big files, but I think you might have the solution by importing them into Vegas and rendering to your output format of choice.

[bill5]

Hi,
I have a Canon HG10 that records in m2ts. format. (I can adequately edit and burn these to DVD with Ulead Movie Factory that was included with the camera.) I am really a novice and I would like to convert these m2ts files to a "You Tube" friendly format, such as wmv or avi. Is there a really simple tool to make this conversion? (I know that there are some pretty sophisticated tools discussed in this thread, however, implementation thereof is way over my head.) Really looking for a simple solution/tool, if there is such a thing.
Thank you very much!
Bill

[Soopafresh]

Hi bill, try the Vimeo edition at the bottom of the first post in this thread. Make sure your file has a .MTS extension.

If you want to make conversion to WMV absolutely simple, get a copy of VoltaicHD for $30

[bill5]

I'll give the Vimeo edition a try.
I've been the Voltaic HD route. When I attempt to convert to .avi, the converted file consists of just a few seconds of the original m2ts file. When I try to convert to .wmv, the resulting file is the full length is stretched vertically. I've followed their instructions for this, as stated on their FAQ with no success. They've been unable to resolve either issue, though they've tried.
Since I can burn my m2ts files to DVD, we're currently attempting a conversion of tje resulting VOD files to avi.
Thank you for your quick response and willingness to help

[bayme]

The HQ batch file uses a better (but slower, as in half as fast) deinterlacing method. It'll look better for videos with fast moving pans, etc. Try both and see if you notice a difference. If you don't, just use the regular one.

Most new camcorders record in progressive formats, there is no interlacing on the MTS files from my Canon HF 10, if I record in 25 fps FXP (1080p).

Maybe put another version of your scripts online without deinterlacing, with a slight unsharp mask filter?

_multi_demux_mts__PAL.bat

_multi_demux_mts_HQ__PAL.bat

Your output dimensions will be 1024x576 25 fps with PAL footage

It's more logical to use the exact half of the source (better divides with Lanczos4Resize), so to go with 960x540 pixels at 25 fps (from 1920x1080 PAL sources).

I think I'll release my own version of this script soon. I see too many settings I don't agree with
Thanks for the idea.

[Soopafresh]

It's more logical to use the exact half of the source (better divides with Lanczos4Resize), so to go with 960x540 pixels at 25 fps (from 1920x1080 PAL sources).

Not if you're planning to encode into PAL DVD format. Then you'd end up doing 2 vertical resizes.

I think I'll release my own version of this script soon. I see too many settings I don't agree with
Thanks for the idea.

Go ahead. I'll happily get this thread closed and then it can be all yours.

[bayme]

It's more logical to use the exact half of the source (better divides with Lanczos4Resize), so to go with 960x540 pixels at 25 fps (from 1920x1080 PAL sources).

Not if you're planning to encode into PAL DVD format. Then you'd end up doing 2 vertical resizes.

Yes, I see your point. You mean 576p. To be honest, I think the playback media restrictions are slowly dying. (For me they are anyway.) It's all going to be data playable hardware, from HDD, in the future. (Is my prediction.) So it doesn't really matter what the resolution is anymore, the bigger the better of course..

Did you put an old ffmpeg version in your packages? Because you use -acodec aac, while for the new ffmpeg releases it needs to be -acodec libfaac. Also, you might want to raise the audio-rate a little for the vimeo script. I mean, vimeo re-encodes it again, which would mean a third lossy compression of the source. I'd say at least -ab 112k

[Soopafresh]

Thanks bayme. I just upped it to 160k so the audio doesn't suffer after the transcode to flash by Vimeo.

[Soopafresh]

Updated to V6:

-Latest DGindex and Xport executables
-More output choices in the batch files


Updated Vimeo version to use X264 instead of ffmpeg

[ronpub]

Soopafresh, thank you for your work.

What i wanted to do:
- Automate conversion of mts file to compressed deinterlace HQ ones to store. The videos are small. Some with movements then I choose mcbob (nnedi). Very slow (up to 0.35fps) but don't care so much, the quality is great.
- There won't be edition and each computer on the network should read it easily, then I prefer to store with x264.
Moreover the videos could be distributed to person whom computers could be quite old. Then I wanted the creation of mpeg1 files too but in lower resolution.

x264 mod:
I wanted high quality then I set --qp 16 instead of --qp 64. But i'm not really sure of it.
I added --sar 4:3 to get the video displayed 16:9. That is strange for me. The original frames are 1440x1080 (SAR 4:3) and should be displayed 1920x1080 (DAR 16:9). Why put a setting at 4:3 to get the good dar and not 16:9 ?

What I didn't manage to do:
- First, convert to lagarith (no sound with avstoavi)
- Convert from lagarith or huffyvu avi to x264 (using x264.exe). Codec issue.


That is my script:

del *.aac
del *.h264
del *.avc
del *.dga
del *.ac3
del *.wav
del *.avs
del *.log

cls

or %%a in ("*.mts") do xport -h "%%a" 1 1 1 && ren bits0001.mpa "%%~na.ac3" &&  ren bits0001.mpv "%%~na.avc"
for %%a in ("*.m2ts") do xport -h "%%a" 1 1 1 && ren bits0001.mpa "%%~na.ac3" &&  ren bits0001.mpv "%%~na.avc"
for %%b in ("*.avc") do DGAVCIndex -i "%%b" -o "%%~nb.dga" -e
for %%c in ("*.ac3") do azid "%%c" "%%~nc.wav"
for %%a in ("*.wav") do normalize -l 0 --peak -v "%%a"
for %%a in ("*.wav") do faac -b 192 "%%a" -o "%%~na.aac"

REM plugins
for %%a in ("*.dga") do @echo SetWorkingDir ("%CD%") >> "%%~na.avs"
for %%a in ("*.dga") do @echo loadplugin("dgavcdecode.dll") >> "%%~na.avs"
REM - MVTools, preferably v1.4.13 (or newer)
REM - MaskTools v2.0
REM - nnEDI 1.3 +
REM - RemoveGrain/Repair package
REM - ReduceFlicker (if temp-NR for ME is used)
REM - MedianBlur by tsp
for %%a in ("*.dga") do @echo loadplugin("%CD%\deinterlace\RemoveGrain-10\RepairSSE3.dll") >> "%%~na.avs"
for %%a in ("*.dga") do @echo loadplugin("%CD%\deinterlace\RemoveGrain-10\RemoveGrainSSE3.dll") >> "%%~na.avs"
for %%a in ("*.dga") do @echo loadplugin("%CD%\deinterlace\mvtools.dll") >> "%%~na.avs"
for %%a in ("*.dga") do @echo loadplugin("%CD%\deinterlace\NNEDI\nnedi.dll") >> "%%~na.avs"
for %%a in ("*.dga") do @echo loadplugin("%CD%\deinterlace\mt_masktools-26.dll") >> "%%~na.avs"
for %%a in ("*.dga") do @echo import("%CD%\deinterlace\MCBob_v03u.avsi") >> "%%~na.avs"

REM source
for %%a in ("*.dga") do @echo AVCSource("%%a") >> "%%~na.avs"

REM deinterlace
for %%a in ("*.dga") do @echo MCBob() >> "%%~na.avs"
for %%a in ("*.dga") do @echo SelectEven() >> "%%~na.avs"

cls


for %%a in ("*.avs") do x264.exe --qp 16 --bitrate 12000 --ref 10 --bframes 0 --b-pyramid --b-rdo --bime --weightb --subme 6 --trellis 1 --partitions p8x8,b8x8,i4x4,i8x8 --8x8dct --threads auto --thread-input --progress --no-psnr --no-ssim --sar 4:3 --output "%%~na.h264" "%%a" 

for %%a in ("*.h264") do mp4box -add "%%a" -add "%%~na.aac"  -new "%%~na_x264_1920_highdeint.mp4"

for %%a in ("*highdeint.mp4") do ffmpeg -i "%%a" -vcodec mpeg1video -s 1024x576 -b 12000k -y "%%~na_mpeg1.mpg"


del *.aac
del *.h264
del *.avc
del *.dga
del *.ac3
del *.wav
del *.avs
del *.log

[Soopafresh]

Thanks ron, I'm waiting for nnedi v2.0 to be released. Another function that works really nicely with this type of footage is TemporalDegrain(). Of course the best deinterlacers (mcbob) and noise reduction apps are slowwww, but if you have the hardware, then by all means

[ronpub]

Of course the best deinterlacers (mcbob) and noise reduction apps are slowwww, but if you have the hardware, then by all means

I just launch my big batch of files for the night. I fear that tomorrow my computer will still work. Finally, I think mcbob with nnedi is quite too slow for real production for me. But I would like to use that as I really enjoyed this deinterlacing method. Something 2 to 4 times quicker (near 1 fps) would be good for me despite the loss of quality.
I'got some artifacts on fast moving parts with Yadif then I prefer to avoid it.

[ronpub]

It just took me about 23h to do the job with my script for 1663Mo of videos on a Core2Duo 8400 @ 3.55Ghz

But it done good results for me even with moving parts at 25.4 items/second (As the camera is 25fps, that done a stromboscopic effect). I'm very satisfied.

On some videos, I got some errors. I will investigate.

EDIT: error: "CAVIStreamSynth: System exception - Access Violation at 0x0, reading from 0x0"

[Soopafresh]

Cool. Sometimes when I've used Mcbob, I've run out of memory and fixed it by adding this to the AVS script

SetMemoryMax(768)#or 75% of your total RAM

[s0tt0]

First of all i want to thank soopafresh for making these *.bat scripts.

What is the best way to "convert" those avs and ac3 files I get into mkv container without quality loss?

And another question. AVCHD camcorders usually make several .mts files, is these a way to bind them or append them so I only get 1 mts file?

[Soopafresh]

Hi s0tt0


You can join your MTS files via the command line like this:

Copy /b 00001.mts+00002.mts+00003.mts output.mts

The only lossless method I can think of to convert .MTS to .MKV is to use an app called Gdsmux.exe , found in the Haali media splitter folder. No need to use the batch files, you only have to add the .MTS file and save as a .MKV



You can also use RipBot 264 to convert to MKV, but it will re-encode the video

[s0tt0]

Haha (@me )

Thank You for the info. It made my life little easier

[bayme]

Thanks bayme. I just upped it to 160k so the audio doesn't suffer after the transcode to flash by Vimeo.

Great work.

If you're curious, here's an example source MTS from a Canon HF 10. Pretty popular sell these days, and I've had some issues demuxing audio from that. Apparently Canon yet again uses a different 'standard' AVCHD formatting.

[Soopafresh]

Thanks bayme, I downloaded the file. That's a nice camera. Really impressive quality. Progressive source, yes?

00003.mp4

[avnishb]

Soopafresh,
I had been using your batch files to convert my Sony HD camcorder files to avi. Recently I bought Panasonic SD9 HD camcorder but the converted files are very pixlated especially where there is movement I see square boxes. Can you tell me what the reason is ? I am attaching the source file and if you see the man moving at the bottom after the conversion you will see squares popping up around the edges.

Thanks for all your help ...
Avnish

9.mts

[Soopafresh]

Hello Avnish, the file you posted is only 27kb in size. Would you post it to http://www.mediafire.com/ instead ?

[bayme]

Progressive source, yes?

Yes, 25 fps PAL 1920x1080. You can also record at 50 fps for this EU model, in which case it is interlaced (I think, I never used it).

[avnishb]

Soopafresh,
Sorry for not uploading the file properly. I didn't know there was limit of 6 MB on videohelp. Anyway, here is a link to that file as requested.
http://www.mediafire.com/?ytzmmglyogg

[s0tt0]

I have question about the *.mts and *.m2ts file formats. I know that the first one is container used by camcorders and the other is when I import (or capture) the video into my computer.

But is the binary structure the SAME in both containers or the capturing to *.m2ts changes something in the code? In other words can I just rename *.mts to *.m2ts and everything is still like it should be?

I just want to confirm this becuse Sony just wont support 64bit OP systems (don't know why...) and I cannot use Sony's programs to import AVCHD files from my camcorder. I have to "hardcopy" them into my HDD. This means files are named with *.mts format.