Please Help...Canon Vixia mts files to DVD

[Megan26]

I was so excited when we got the Canon Vixia HF20 but to my dismay when I tried to edit the video my program does not recognize the mts files. I have Nero 7 but haven't tried that as it is not loaded and I read it doesn't work anyway. I have Adobe premiere elements 4, Roxio Creator and Windows movie maker.

I used the software that came with the camera to transfer the files to my computer. No problem there.

My problem is that I would like to be able to edit the clips, put them together and burn to a DVD with menus and such for playback in a regular DVD. I don't believe that it is a HD DVD and I do not own a blu ray player.

What do I need to do please?

[edDV]

Return the camcorder?

Should have done your homework.

Please fill in your computer details.

[Soopafresh]

You're going to get some tuff love around here because we've heard this one so many times. In actuality, the camera manufacturer should put a sticker on the camcorder box - "You'll Need a Blazing Fast Computer if You Want to Edit Your Footage".

Depending on the speed of your PC, we'll suggest some options.

[Megan26]

Thanks Soopafresh. I wasn't expecting a reply like that from Ed. We did a lot of research on the camera as we wanted a good camera that was able to do a lot of things. Our old one didn't do what we wanted and it was on tape. I have burned a number of DVDs before with various files and didn't think the video files would not be searchable by my current programs. I thought my Adobe Premiere or Nero would work. I am thinking that all I need to do is upgrade to the latest version of Adobe Premiere which I would be willing to do if it will work.

I have added my computer details.

Thanks in advance.

[Gabriel]

I have a Canon HF100 that I bought a little over a year ago with some serious misgivings after reading all the negative comments here about editing AVC; however, I was so impressed with the image quality that I figured I would work around it. I’m not a big fan of Sony but I ended up buying Vegas Movie Studio Platinum 9. It does a decent job of editing for home use and allows you to make an AVC encoded DVD that will play in many Blu Ray players with really impressive quality. It also gives you the option of editing and then converting to standard DVD format. Most of these programs offer a free trial that you can download before buying.

[greymalkin]

Megan,

Just search this forum for people with HF10, HF100's etc. trying to edit and you'll see
1) The same people swooping in to tell them what a terrible decision they've made and how they should end their life now.
2) A workaround.

AVCHD is a beast and it gets grief because it is legitimately difficult to work with. But you've got Premiere and you can use intermediate formats..there are utilities on this site that will help you make them. You just need to have a good bit of extra hard drive space and the more processing power the better.

If you just need to trim the files up a bit that can be done very quickly, but for doing any sort of color correction/etc. you'll need to do a full edit and it will be slow to edit and slow to render to DVD.

[Megan26]

Thanks gabriel...that sounds promising.

Thanks gremalkin...so do I just need to upgrade my premiere software as my current one doesn't recognize the files.

When you say intermediate formats what do you mean?

[greymalkin]

If you want to use the tools you already have and fiddle with digital intermediates, this thread seems to have the good info on doing that:

https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/315132-Using-proxy-files-for-AVCHD-editing-conversion-software

I removed the other info because this is the best way that doesn't mean spending more money :P.

[Reelman472]

Head over to Grass Valley desktop solutions and download a 30 day trial of Edius Neo 2 Booster. Its great for avchd editing.

• Real-time Multi-Layer AVCHD Editing

• Real-time, mixed-format, SD/HD editing, including DV, HDV, AVCHD, MPEG-2, Windows Media, and QuickTime video
• Direct to Blu-ray disc and DVD timeline export with menus
• Quick Titler software, for real-time titling, including rolls and crawls
• Upgradeable to higher-end EDIUS software

• Real-time SD/HD effects, keyers, transitions, and titles, including new GPUfx (GPU-accelerated transitions)
• Supports Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP
• Supports FIRECODER Blu for hardware-accelerated encoding of H.264 and MPEG-2
• Supports HDSPARK for full-resolution HDMI monitoring
• Image Stabilization Software Included
• Additional transitions and video filters from proDAD

Its not cheap. $200.00 retail. You'll love it. It also comes with an itermediary codec if you prefer to edit in HD avi. Very fast and quality is excellant. With I7 or other quad cores compression is half realtime.

I love it.

Reelman

[edDV]

Thanks Soopafresh. I wasn't expecting a reply like that from Ed. We did a lot of research on the camera as we wanted a good camera that was able to do a lot of things. Our old one didn't do what we wanted and it was on tape. I have burned a number of DVDs before with various files and didn't think the video files would not be searchable by my current programs. I thought my Adobe Premiere or Nero would work. I am thinking that all I need to do is upgrade to the latest version of Adobe Premiere which I would be willing to do if it will work.

I have added my computer details.

Thanks in advance.

With that fast computer you have options. Since AVCHD is 1440x1080i or 1920x1080i and is highly compressed h.264, the computing job is considerable. If you want DVD, you need to downsize to 720x480i.

1. Upgrade Premiere Elements or consider Vegas Movie Studio Platinum. Both allow import of AVCHD but you will find the format sluggish to work with compared to your old SD camcorder.

2. Add Cineform Neoscene digital intermediate to Premiere or Vegas. This converts GOP based AVCHD to wavelet compressed frames giving all of the speed and procedssing efficiency advantages of uncompressed but without the need for a large RAID. Cineform compression expands the file size to around 60-80GB/hr but will work with a single drive. This drive should ideally be separate from the OS drive. Alternatives to Cineform are available from AVID and Grass Valley.
http://www.cineform.com/neoscene/features.php

3. Proxy editing substitutes an easier to use format for initial edit decisions, then when done, the original format is replaced for final computation. You would need to move up to Premiere Pro or Vegas Pro for proxy support. Most people have abandoned proxy editing for digital intermediates.

4. Other digital intermediate strategies. Some consumer programs convert GOP based AVCHD to GOP based HDV MPeg2 and then process as HDV. This adds a recode to the workflow lowering quality but keeps intermediate file size to ~13 GB/hr. Others have attempted Huffyuv, Lagarith, etc. as intermediates but decode performance is inferior to Cineform and conversion to RGB is required for all frames. You can compensate with a faster computer.

5. it would be possible to downscale AVCHD to 720x480i in AVISynth or other program first and then use your existing software to edit/author a DVD.

All of this has been covered many times hence my comment that you should have done your homework. Unlike HDV, there is no direct workflow path from AVCHD to a DVD. Downsizing interlace video is a complex process. The standard Elements or Vegas downscale processes are a lossy compromise. Correct procedure is to separate fields, downscale fields separately, then merge into 720x480i.


PS: I just noticed that your I1 720 computer is an Inspiron AMD AthlonTM 64 X2 1.83GHz laptop, not a fast Core2Duo desktop. This adds complication since it is slow, restricted to a single 5400 RPM drive and may seriously overheat with all the processing necessary to downscale and encode AVCHD. You should consider moving the project to a Quad core desktop or better. With Cineform Neoscene, you can get by with a Core2Duo desktop.