What I shold do with M2TS ?

[SmurfRecorder]

Hello. I have collection of recordings from HD Camcoder.

They are:
- family recordings mixed with landscapes, animals, nature, architecture.
- in M2TS format (+files like CONT , TMB , PMPD)
- mixed quality and They have recording date/time saved as subtitles.



I'd like to:
- have similar copies on BD and external HDD (many copies in different formats= more mess)
- being able to play them on stationary Blu-ray player
- being able to easy get some recordings for future projects.
- not separate useful videos from family recording, but keep their time line.


What Should I do?
- Should I create Blu-ray-Video disc?
- Or should I remux them to MKV or MP4?
- Should I join them into one file?
- Or something else?

Current problems I know:
- problems with editing M2TS in some apps
- problems with MKV/MP4 on some players (my current player plays them without problems but I don't know what player I will have in future)

So, what is the best way to archive them?

Happy coming New Year

[Sharc]

You could drag and drop the .m2ts clips onto the timeline of an NLE (Non-Linear Editor), like the free Shotcut or similar, make transitions, make edits and apply effects as needed, re-arrange the sequence of the clips, add text etc. etc. as you please for a convenient and pleasant viewing , and finally encode + output (=export, render) in a format and with a quality you prefer, like AVC(H.264) for video and AAC for audio in .mp4 container which is widely supported by TV players, PCs, mobile phones, etc. and which you can store on HDD or burn to a disc whatsoever.

Best way of archiving? I would just always keep the originals and copy (backup) the files to a safe place (external USB HDD, cloud storage...), as these files represent the untouched original source. Follow a similar backup and archiving strategy as you (should) already have in place for other important files.

Current problems I know:
- problems with editing M2TS in some apps
- problems with MKV/MP4 on some players (my current player plays them without problems but I don't know what player I will have in future)

.m2ts files from your videocam are rather edit-friendly, I would say. A simple and basic editor is usually shipped with the camera.
If you touch the files you should have at least some basic video processing and tools knowledge. It's easy to spoil something.
And how should we know what player you will have in the future?

[SmurfRecorder]

Thank you very much for the advices

[netmask56]

An artist friend of mine has left copies of his art works on a hdd with me for safe keeping. Likewise I've left a hdd of mine with him for sate keeping. To guard against theft or worse fire etc. Something to consider