Importing MTS files from Panasonic GH2 with or without proprietary software

[abolibibelot]

I purchased a used Panasonic GH2. The original CD is missing, so I don't have the dedicated software, which should be PhotoFunStudio 6.0, and I can't find it anywhere for download (I've searched twice already, just spent an hour searching with various keywords and came up with nothing relevant). On Panasonic's website, I can find an update for that software, but not the software itself, and of course the update doesn't work if the whole thing is not installed first. First, is there a reason for that ? Is Panasonic specifically preventing users from downloading their software for higher-end cameras ? For compact cameras like the ZS7 I could find and download the original software quite easily.
Then, if I really can't find that software, what is the recommended way of importing AVCHD / MTS files with this model ? Of course I can just copy the files as they are, but the naming scheme is not convenient, and spanned files won't be recognized as such. With the ZS3/ZS7, the PhotoFunStudio software imported the files in a convenient way, renaming them according to time of recording, along with three metadata files – although I don't know their exact purpose (one of them is just a thumbnail picture), it seems thorough, while being easier to handle than having to keep the whole AVCHD directory structure, which is often recommanded on forums when a similar question is asked. And spanned files are recognized as such, so they are exported with the same base name and an incremental number for each one after the first. Of course, the version of PhotoFunStudio which works with those compact cameras refuses to import the videos from the GH2. I also have a Panasonic camcorder, which comes with a different software, HD Writer, same functionality but no compatibility either. If AVCHD is a standard, how come there are no standard softwares to import those damn files and working with all camera models ?

[smrpix]

Any decent NLE software will handle your spanned files -- Avid, Premiere, Vegas Pro. (In this case do NOT use Resolve. It does not like many kinds of spanned files.) Yes, you should import the entire card structure.

For amateur NLEs, you should be able to butt the files together manually without too much trouble.

[abolibibelot]

Any decent NLE software will handle your spanned files -- Avid, Premiere, Vegas Pro.

Those are more than “decent” products.

Yes, you should import the entire card structure.

That's very inconvenient, because it prevents from sorting the files by category, or by date, or by anything other than “this was recorded on that card up until the totally arbitrary moment where it was transferred to the computer”. And it gets even more complicated when using the same card with different AVCHD devices, which all use the same nondescript five digits incremental naming scheme in the same “STREAM” folder. This is the only video format for which this is the generally advised method. Why is that ? I mean, many cheap camcorders record in AVCHD nowadays, and they are bound to be used by people who know close to nothing about those file format intricacies.

For amateur NLEs, you should be able to butt the files together manually without too much trouble.

With Magix Video Deluxe, I stitch spanned files with TSMuxer and it works well (except that it adds unnecessary clutter while editing), but one has to know which ones are spanned, which is tricky if they are named 00000.MTS ... 00025.MTS for instance. With the Panasonic ZS3/ZS7, using PhotoFunStudio, I got files named for instance :
20140821_153654.m2ts
20140821_153654(002).m2ts ;
and with the Panasonic SD90 camcorder, using HD Writer, I get files named for instance :
2018-05-17_142540.m2ts
2018-05-17_142540(1).m2ts ;
is there something that can produce a similar result with the GH2, beside that elusive PhotoFunStudio 6.0 software ?

[abolibibelot]

BUMP

Six months later I still haven't found either the native PhotoFunStudio 6.0 software for the GH2, or an alternative software doing that quite simple task just as well.

[aedipuss]

[Attachment 49390 - Click to enlarge]

might work

[jgg]

Please don't get mad; this is simply an idea: Have you tried contacting Panasonic?

Or how about a forum such as this one?
https://fourthirds-user.com/forum/forum/equipment/panasonic-lumix-cameras/lumix-dmc-gh2

[abolibibelot]

@aedipuss

might work

Won't work because version 6.0 BD Edition is not the same as 6.0 basic edition, and for Panasonic each camera model must have its dedicated software, even though AVCHD is supposed to be a standard. And one shouldn't have to pay for something like this anyway.

@jgg

Please don't get mad; this is simply an idea: Have you tried contacting Panasonic?

I know that they sell the CD for a quite hefty price, even to customers who purchased the camera new and lost the disc (for instance someone here mentions that they ask $14.95 for HD Writer AE 1.5 which is the equivalent software for the HDC-TM15 camcorder).
There's an entire thread on this forum dedicated to sharing Panasonic softwares for various device models (but mostly dedicated to camcorders), based on the fact that this particular policy is (for good reason) deemed outrageous on the part of the manufacturer.
https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/349814-Panasonic-HD-Writer-software-no-download-An...-other-options
Also, it's quite puzzling that there seems to be no proper third-party software to replace that kind of camera-specific utility, which could work with a variety of models, with a customizable file naming scheme and other options. The only one I could find is GH1Importer, which does work with the GH2 and “does the job”, although it doesn't preserve the timestamps and doesn't retrieve all the metadata files that would be created with the dedicated software (as I wrote in the first post, I'll admit that I don't know their exact purpose – with PhotoFunStudio 3.0 which I used for the ZS3 compact camera there was always a message at the end of the import should not be renamed for them to be recognized properly, but it didn't specify by what, as a matter of fact I edited those .m2ts files with a mid-range NLE which never complained that it couldn't find the accompanying metadata files).

[nharikrishna]

I went through the same hassle, and finally ended up purchasing TMPGenc Smart Renderer. It worked very well for this purpose (for joining MTS files). It also has some extra functions which you might find useful. It is not an editor per se.

I tried TsMuxer but never succeeded, it simply doesn't let me add multiple files at the same time (drag and drop).

The "importing" part: I didn't use any software for importing the files from the SD Card, just simply accessed it in Windows Explorer and then did a copy-paste.

Hope this helps.

[abolibibelot]

TSMuxer does work very well for appending spanned MTS files : the first file can be added by drag-and-drop, but the next segment(s) ought to be added with the “Join” button. Then select “M2TS muxing” (if I remember correctly) and it quickly outputs a single M2TS file with a size equal to the sum of the sizes of all input files (so no transcoding involved and no quality loss whatsoever), with no playback issue and correctly loaded into an editor (at least the Magix editor I use).

The problem is to easily determine which files are spanned. Normally a recording gets spanned once it reaches a 4GB size, so any file reaching that size should be spanned into the next one, and the next one if the second one also has a 4GB size, until the last segment which should have a less-than-4GB size, but this is neither practical nor methodical. For the ZS3 compact camera, PhotoFunStudio 3.0 imported the 00000.MTS ... 00025.MTS files as, for instance, 20100101_120000.m2ts ... 20100131_235959.m2ts, and if a recording was spanned it added a specific number to files which were extra segments of the same recording, like 20100115_143000.m2ts, 20100115_143000(002).m2ts. This is obviously much more convenient for editing, and also for long-term archiving, as opposed to a gazillion of files with nondescript names in nondescript AVCHD folders. One quick-and-dirty solution would be to rename files according to their modified date with a batch script. Or use GH1Importer, but as I said it doesn't preserve the actual timestamps of the imported files {*}, and it may not work with newer camera models.


{*} As a side note, PhotoFunStudio 3.0 did preserve the timestamps of imported files, but HD Writer, which I'm using to import MTS files from a Panasonic HDC-SD90 camcorder, does not. Since I consider timestamps to be important information, I found this workaround :
– I import the files with HD Writer.
– Then I temporarily move them to an empty folder and temporarily rename them to match the names of their counterparts on the memory card (it can be automated, either with a file renaming tool like Lupas Rename or, more complicated but more reliable method, with a combination of a duplicate file finder named DoubleKiller, set to do a quick size + date analysis, and TEDNotepad to create a batch script based on DoubleKiller's report – I can detail if someone is interested).
– Then I run a Robocopy command :

robocopy "L:\PRIVATE\AVCHD\BDMV\STREAM" "H:\Panasonic HDC-SD90\temporary" /CREATE

With the /CREATE switch, it will not rewrite the files (by default it would as the modified date is different between the source and the destination), but it will instantly correct the timestamps (modified date / creation date / last access date). Be sure to double-check if all files are named according to their counterparts (it can be quickly verified with WinMerge in “size” mode) before running the command, and do some tests before running it for real.
– Then I rename the files as they were imported (either by cancelling the rename operation by Lupas Rename, or with a reverse batch script, once again using TEDNotepad and its “Columns, Numbers” feature), and move the files back to the import folder.

[nharikrishna]

TSMuxer does work very well for appending spanned MTS files : the first file can be added by drag-and-drop, but the next segment(s) ought to be added with the “Join” button. Then select “M2TS muxing” (if I remember correctly) and it quickly outputs a single M2TS file with a size equal to the sum of the sizes of all input files (so no transcoding involved and no quality loss whatsoever), with no playback issue and correctly loaded into an editor (at least the Magix editor I use).

Thank you. I will try this.

[abolibibelot]

It may also work (although I haven't tried this) by simply using the copy command from Windows command prompt, with the /B switch (for “binary”) :

copy /B 00009.MTS+00010.MTS 00009+10.MTS

But this doesn't solve my problem... é_è
(I tried asking people who are currently selling a GH2 on a classified ads website if they had the original CD and could send me a copy of the PhotoFunStudio install file, or better yet an ISO image, but most didn't reply, some who replied no longer had the CD, one replied a few weeks ago that he was very busy and would try to do it, I asked again more recently, he did send me a file, but alas it was another software, SilkyPix, which I don't need, and he's that busy I feel a bit bad about asking him again to send me that other file which I requested in the first place... Surprisingly noone proposed me to send a copy for a hefty price – perhaps there's a bit of hope for humanity and morality.)