.MTS to .MP4 Conversion Question

[redsfan2276]

Hello,
I recently converted some .MTS files to .MP4. I used the MTS Converter for Mac. I used a recovery program to find the original .MTS files because I deleted them, but I recorded new data on the SD card and I have since found it they will not be recoverable. But here is my main question. When I converted the .mts files, here is the procedure that I used:
1. Format: MPEG-4 HD Video, not H.264
2. I did not click on settings to get additional options, so I am assuming it would be their default of Medium Quality, 30 FPS, codec AAC, 48,000 hz, and 320,000 bps. The original footage was recorded at 24 MBPS MXP.
My question is, if I converted it using the above settings, will my converted .mp4 file be of lesser noticeable quality?
Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Dusty

[redsfan2276]

Also, I will be editing in FCP X so I am wondering if I can improve the quality once I put it in there.

[Baldrick]

Use mediainfo on the mp4 and post the details from the mp4.

But I guess you have played the mp4? Do YOU notice any bigger quality loss?

And you can't restore any quality. Maybe some filters to blur compression blocks/pixels.

[redsfan2276]

Thanks for the reply, I really appreciate it. Here is the information from MediaInfo:
MP4 164 MiB
Video Stream: MP4 Visual
Audio Stream AAC
Overall bit rate mode: Variable
Overall Bit Rate: 12.3 Mbp2
Writing Application: Lavf52.32.0
Video, 12.1 Mbps, 1920*1080 (16:9) @ 30 fps MP4 Visual (Simple@L3)
As far as noticing a quality loss, I don't have the original .mts to compare it to. The only difference I can really see is the bit rate is 12.3 MBPS and it was recorded at 24 MBPS. Thanks in advance for any feedback.

[redsfan2276]

Hello,
I have another question. I am comparing my .mp4 files on my desktop vs my .mov files from iMovie. It appears to me that the .mov files are actually better quality than the .mp4 files. Here is the information:

.mov:
MPEG-4 (QuickTime): 3.35 GiB, 4mn 32s
1 Video stream: AIC
1 Audio stream: PCMOverall bit rate mode: Variable
Overall bit rate: 106 Mbps
Encoded date: UTC 2013-05-14 03:24:22
Tagged date: UTC 2013-05-14 03:24:22
Writing library: Apple QuickTime
Video: 104 Mbps, 1920*1080 (16:9) @ 29.970 fps

.mp4:
MPEG-4 (Base Media): 398 MiB, 4mn 32s
1 Video stream: MPEG-4 Visual
1 Audio stream: AAC
Overall bit rate mode: Variable
Overall bit rate: 12.2 Mbps
Writing application: Lavf52.32.0
Video: 12.0 Mbps, 1920*1080 (16:9) @ 30 fps

If anyone could assist, I would greatly appreciate it because I am not sure what most of that means. Thanks!

[redsfan2276]

Oh also, the files that went into iMovie were initially .mts files. When I imported them into iMovie, I did not import the converted .mp4. I imported the .mts file directly into iMovie from my video camera.

[smrpix]

How did you do the conversion to mp4? You have the wrong frame rate and your data rate is half of the camera original. An export of your AIC files from FCP ought to be better.

[redsfan2276]

Thanks for the reply. I used the mts converter for Mac and I didn't realize it had additional options so it converted at the default settings (medium quality). I have the original mts files for most of my movie so I would want to use those instead of mov files in IMovie, right? And then use the mov files instead of the mp4 files for those that I don't have the original mts of? Rookie mistakes lol.

[poisondeathray]

yes you're losing quality each time at each stage in your conversions, even AIC for imovie . Each time it's degrading the footage

Also, I will be editing in FCP X so I am wondering if I can improve the quality once I put it in there.

You mentioned fcpx ; fcpx can edit mts avchd natively . Ditch imovie if you have fcpx

[redsfan2276]

Also does FCP have a built in tool to make the video more crisp because some of the footage was just a tad bit out of focus. Or do I need motion 5 to do that? Thanks.

[poisondeathray]

Also does FCP have a built in tool to make the video more crisp because some of the footage was just a tad bit out of focus. Or do I need motion 5 to do that? Thanks.

1) clarify if you have FCP (some version like 7) or FCPX. There are big differences.

FCP7 cannot edit AVCHD natively (you log & transfer to prores, but there is minimal quality loss, a lot better than AIC, and a lot better than imovie)

2) It depends what you mean by "out of focus" and by how much . You might be able to sharpen it a bit with a sharpening filter, but it doesn't have deconvolution filters or specialized filters . In the end, there is so much you can do with "out of focus" shots. Often the artifacts trying to correct it make it worse than the original out of focus shot

[Baldrick]

I'm moving you to our mac section.

[redsfan2276]

Ok great. Thanks for the advice. I am using FCPX. The shots aren't extremely out of focus but I do want to touch them up of I can. I have read that Motion 5 is the option to do that but I hate to buy it if it just needs subtle touch ups. So FCPX has that option? How do I find it? Also you mentioned degrading the quality. I imported the mts files directly from my video camera straight into iMovie and the mp4 files were just my backups. So am I safe to say that since I didn't use converted files on import to iMovie that the mov files imovie created will be pretty close in quality to the original mts?

[smrpix]

For backups just make exact copies of your camera original files. No conversion necessary.

[poisondeathray]

Yes you can sharpen in FCPX or use motion templates, and if it's just slightly out of focus it might be enough

In FCPX, the sharpen is actually accessed through the blur effect

Also there are bunch of 3rd party sharpen filters (many of them are free) that you can download or customize that probably produce better results, do a search or search google for tutorials

eg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8CEb0K_IZo

So am I safe to say that since I didn't use converted files on import to iMovie that the mov files imovie created will be pretty close in quality to the original mts?

It depends on what settings were used for the mov exported by imovie, vs . the original mts characteristics

e.g. if you used low quality mov export settings, the quality will be low

[redsfan2276]

Thanks for the reply and thanks for the YouTube link. I actually never exported in iMovie once I found out about FCP so I would be using my .mov files in my iMovie temp folder and just doing a direct import to FCP. Would that be the best option for best quality?

[poisondeathray]

ok , do you mean the AIC converted files from imovie ? (because you don't have the MTS files anymore? )

The quality for AIC is decent, but still worse than if you had used prores in FCP/ FCPX , or the native MTS files

Do you mean these ones ? (This is what I'm referring to as "AIC" or Apple Intermediate Codec)

.mov:
MPEG-4 (QuickTime): 3.35 GiB, 4mn 32s
1 Video stream: AIC
1 Audio stream: PCMOverall bit rate mode: Variable
Overall bit rate: 106 Mbps
Encoded date: UTC 2013-05-14 03:24:22
Tagged date: UTC 2013-05-14 03:24:22
Writing library: Apple QuickTime
Video: 104 Mbps, 1920*1080 (16:9) @ 29.970 fps

Do you have any of the MTS files from that shooting day ?

Were these 1080i59.94 MTS files to begin with ? or were they 1080p29.97 ? can you open one of the MTS in mediainfo (view=>text) and copy & paste the text back here ? imovie has a habit of deinterlacing or drop field discarding (throws away 1/2 the information)




AIC is an old codec, it was developed for ease of editing HDV many years ago - basically it's not used anymore if you have a choice, Prores is much better in terms of visual quality.

AIC is not full raster - e.g. if you have 1920x1080 it will resize it to 1440x1080 but with 16:9 flags anamorphic (ie. will display as 1920x1080) , eitherway it's a loss of horizontal pixels

AIC is 8bit and 4:2:0 and tends to "fall apart" if you grade it heavily compared to prores (10bit 4:2:2) , even from an 8bit source

The higher the quality the camera,sensor, lenses etc... the larger the differences you will see between prores and AIC . It might be that on some lower quality footage, or lower quality cameras, the difference might be less noticable

Do a search, for some old apple threads, there were many comparisons posted years ago. Basically no serious editor uses AIC if they have access to prores (e.g. if you only have imovie, AIC is what is used, prores comes with FCP)

[redsfan2276]

Thanks for the reply. Yes, for the lost mts files. I was going to do a direct import from my iMovie folder (not an export from iMovie) to FCPX and then for my original .mts files (which luckily I have most) I was going to import those. Here is the comparison of one of the clips for the original mts file vs the mov file that iMovie created:
Original MTS File:
BDAV: 1.74 GiB, 10mn 34s
1 Video stream: AVC
1 Audio stream: AC-3Overall bit rate mode: Variable
Overall bit rate: 23.5 Mbps
Maximum Overall bit rate: 24.0 Mbps
Video: 22.3 Mbps, 1920*1080 (16:9) @ 29.970 AVC (High@L4.0) (CABAC/2 Ref Frames)

Same clip produced by iMovie:
MPEG-4 (QuickTime): 5.07 GiB, 10mn 34s
1 Video stream: AIC
1 Audio stream: PCM
Overall bit rate mode: Variable
Overall bit rate: 68.6 Mbps
Encoded date: UTC 2013-04-25 20:06:29
Tagged date: UTC 2013-04-25 20:06:29
Writing library: Apple QuickTime
Video: 67.0 Mbps, 1920*1080 (16:9) @ 29.970 fps, AIC

So I am just playing around with FCPX before I do any importing and I notice that you can customize the settings. I chose 1080p, 1920*1080 and I'm not sure what to use on the rate since the mts file above shows it was recorded at 22.3 Mbps. Would using 29.97 be my best option or should I chose a different option?
Also, I have read tons of articles on how to import isolated mts files (my mts files are currently on an external hard drive and the SD card has all of the data now deleted from it) into FCPX and I still haven't figured out the best way. My thought although time consuming is to put all of the mts files back on to the SD card, put the SD card into my video camera and hook the camera up to my computer via USB so FCPX can read the files from my video camera that way. Is there a more efficient option?

[poisondeathray]

You should always use settings that match the assets, so 29.97 for the frame rate. Don't confuse bitrate 24Mbps with the frame rate 29.97

Don't import individual mts files if you can, import the folder with the entire structure, that way the metadata is preserved (important for file spanned clips) . Although you can import individual clips, sometimes you get glitches where they join if you don't have that metadata (same with other editors)

e.g
http://daredreamermag.com/2013/06/04/importing-avchd-video-into-fcpx/

I usually dump cards onto something else , but you can do it directly from the camera if you want

[redsfan2276]

Thank you so much for the answers. That helped clear up all of my questions. Thanks for the article as well regarding the Root Structure. I will do it that way rather than importing individual clips. Thanks again!

[redsfan2276]

Ok so I was going to import using the Root structure and I do not have the root structure. I initially moved the mts files to an external HD and then deleted the root folder. So is my only option now to put the mts files back on the SD card and import to FCP with my video camera?
Also my sd cards are 32g so I am thinking that I would have to copy some files to my sd card, import to fcp and then delete the sd card to free up space and repeat the same procedure. My movie is 1.5 hours so I have a lot of media to import.
What I am afraid of is if I add files to my sd card then I delete them and add new files on the same SD card that my backup mts files will no longer function.
You had mentioned that importing direct mts files can cause glitches so that concerns me too. Sorry these should be my last questions.

[poisondeathray]

You can try restoring the folder structure
This goes over some of your options
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2SfAu3J1Tg

[redsfan2276]

Thanks, I tried downloading the program and it would not let me. I am running OSC Lion version 10 and I read that it is not compatible.
Would it be ok to stick to my plan to just put the files back on SD card and import with video camera? I have backup copies of the mts files on an external hard drive. Here is what I posted just a while ago:
Also my sd cards are 32g so I am thinking that I would have to copy some files to my sd card, import to fcp and then delete the sd card to free up space and repeat the same procedure. My movie is 1.5 hours so I have a lot of media to import.
What I am afraid of is if I add files to my sd card then I delete them (after I import them to FCP) and add new files on the same SD card that my backup mts files (that I have backed up on my external hard drive) will no longer function.

[poisondeathray]

Not sure , it should work. I've always used the folder structure intact, because individual clips can have glitches when the span (in all software, it's not like a mac or a specific software issue) . There might be a better way to import individual clips directly without the card (directly from HDD), like other programs, not sure. I actually don't use FCPX much, I'm more PC oriented

[redsfan2276]

Sounds good. I'm still unsure of the answer to my other question:
What I am afraid of is if I add files to my sd card then I delete them (after I import them to FCP) and add new files on the same SD card that my backup mts files (that I have backed up on my external hard drive) will no longer function.

[poisondeathray]

Not sure

I think there is a "create archive" button somewhere , I think in the "import camera " section . Also "open archive". I think this is what you want to do, but not sure if it works without the root/folder structure

[redsfan2276]

Ok thank you. I have one more question. I have some mts files that appear to be corrupt. I had mts files on my computer that I recorded from my video camera to an SD card. I converted the files to a mp4 file. After I did that, I deleted the mts files thinking I would no longer need them. Then I used the same SD card to record new data.
When I realized that I needed the mts files, I ran a program from Remo Recovery and it restored most of the mts files. Is there any other way to recover the initial mts files? And is there any way to restore the root structure for my current mts files that I was able to recover because I did not keep the root structure, but rather copied them to an external hard drive.

[poisondeathray]

I thought the last question was your last question

I don't know the answer

But in general, when you have file corruption and do file recovery , you don't want to write to the card at all. The more you write, the higher chance of *reall*y writing over the old files, and greatly diminishes your chance of even partial recovery . Other than that utility in the video, I don't know of other ways to re-generate the root folder structure