.MTS To Lossless Avi.

[Metrostar]

I just got a new camcorder that outputs .MTS files and they dont play smoothly when I import them into Adobe Premiere. Are there any tried and tested ways of turning these .MTS files into lossless avi's and matching audio files? The camcorder records in 5.1 surround sound if that helps with the audio part of the question.

I'm filming some sporting activities and want to make a DVD to give to the coach of the team. I want to film a lot and then edit down the footage.

 

[TMBTM]

Try to open your .mts on vitualdub via an avisynth script.
Save the video as AVI.
Save the sound as wav.

(if I understood well the question....)

 

[ThrowgnCpr]

Yes, what TMBTM said. write an avisynth script in a notepad document, and save with the extension .avs. The script will look like this:

DirectShowSource("C:\YourDirectory\YourFile.mts", fps=23.976)

change the fps option to whatever your file is. You can check with mediainfo.

Open the .avs file in virtualdub. You can set the compression options to whatever you want. If lossless, I suggest going with lagarith. save as avi.

What kind of audio is it? If it is just stereo, you can do what TMBTM suggested and save as wav. You can set the options under the Audio menu of virtualdub.

 

[Metrostar]

That worked. Thank you! However, the 47 second clip I tried it out with came out at 5GB. I think I'm going to have to rethink how I edit these files. The audio is AC-3 6 Channel by the way.

 

[ThrowgnCpr]

That worked. Thank you! However, the 47 second clip I tried it out with came out at 5GB. I think I'm going to have to rethink how I edit these files. The audio is AC-3 6 Channel by the way.

Sounds like you left the compression setting as uncompressed (which would definitely result in ginormous file sizes). Even if 1080p, if you use the lagarith lossless compression, it should be much much smaller than 5GB.

For 5.1 AC3, I would extract from the MTS file using tsMuxer. You can split into 6 mono wavs using BeSweet.

 

[TMBTM]

I think virtual dub "save as .wav" option makes a 5.1 .wav.
When I open it under audacity I have all the 6 channels as separate audio.

 

[ThrowgnCpr]

I think virtual dub "save as .wav" option makes a 5.1 .wav.
When I open it under audacity I have all the 6 channels as separate audio.

nice, I did not know this.

 

[addiesin]

I think virtual dub "save as .wav" option makes a 5.1 .wav.
When I open it under audacity I have all the 6 channels as separate audio.

That's handy information for the future! I've been down-converting my surround to stereo because I don't have a proper system to test surround and because the concept of editing in surround generally confuses me (and I haven't had the time to figure it out in any of the editing software I've been using). Very cool info though, thank you!

 

[Metrostar]

Sounds like you left the compression setting as uncompressed.

I am not sure what you mean. I went to 'Compression' and selected the Lagarith codec. Then all that's left is to click on 'Save as AVI.' If there is a step inbetween, I can't find it.

 

[ThrowgnCpr]

nope, sounds like you did it correctly. just a bit confused about the size. i guess it could be. this is 1080p?

 

[Metrostar]

Yes it is. I tried another clip that I filmed at 29fps. That clip was 55 seconds and came out at just over 3GB. The original clip was at 60fps progressive.

 

[ThrowgnCpr]

I think virtual dub "save as .wav" option makes a 5.1 .wav.
When I open it under audacity I have all the 6 channels as separate audio.

I played around with this a bit last week. Virtualdub does create a 5.1 wav in your AVI container. There is a bit of an issue with this though (at least when editing in Sony Vegas). When you import your AVI into Vegas to edit, it does create 6 separate tracks for your audio. However, by default (as usual) it sets the track panning to center. There is no way to tell what track is what, so as far as I can tell, it is impossible to properly map the channels. I am not sure how this is handled in other editing programs. I'm also not sure if virtualdub properly creates the individual channels. By looking at the peaks, I couldn't tell which of the 6 tracks was the LFE, and those are usually able to be visually identified quite easily.

This is too bad, because it really would be a quick solution to getting your 6 mono tracks from your original HD video into your editing program. I guess for now I am going to have to stick with my method (described in the audio section here).

I'm curious to hear how others have worked with this, in other editing programs.

 

[TMBTM]

With Audacity you can turn each chanel to mono and save them individualy, but yes it's a longuer method.

 

[Captain Khajiit]

I'd be interested to hear about any editing program that can edit a six-channel file on a single track, as Womble can. I understand that it's often desirable to be able to manipulate tracks individually, but for simple editing it would be nice not to have to apply crossfades to all six channels separately.

 

[ThrowgnCpr]

With Audacity you can turn each chanel to mono and save them individualy, but yes it's a longuer method.

yes, but do you know which track is which (LFE, C, L, R, SR, SL) this way? Does Audacity correctly identify them?

with BeSweet (and Tranzcode for DTS) the channels are properly identified and labeled upon output (see image below) so you know how to correctly assign them in your NLE

 

[TMBTM]

No, indeed. I don't think so.
I only used this method to find the center audio chanel of a bluray and it was easy to find wich one it was but I guess it would have been difficult to find what was the left and right ones, indeed.

I personnaly use cinematize pro to extract the audio chanels with names on them. works with DVDs but not with bluray, I think.
That's why I used virtual dub and audacity for the bluray.

 

[ThrowgnCpr]

No, indeed. I don't think so.
I only used this method to find the center audio chanel of a movie and it was easy to find wich one it was but I guess it would have been difficult to find what was the left and right ones, indeed.

Ah, OK, good to know. I think it is best then if people do not use the virtualdub audio conversion

I personnaly use cinematize pro to extract the audio chanels with names on them.

Yes, this is another successful proven method for working with surround sound. This is what boon23 used for a long time. I have tried cinematize as well. I don't like it as much as the BeSweet method because it is not a free program, and is very slow to run. I dont mind paying for good software, but I get the same end result, faster and for free with BeSweet.

It's good to have options though

 

[TMBTM]

Ok, I checked back on audacity the 5.1.wav file from a bluray, made with virtual dub.
the center, right and left audio channels are panned and named the right way.
all the other ones are "mono".

 

[reave]

I'd be interested to hear about any editing program that can edit a six-channel file on a single track, as Womble can. I understand that it's often desirable to be able to manipulate tracks individually, but for simple editing it would be nice not to have to apply crossfades to all six channels separately.

For some stuff, yes, applying a single crossfade is great, but I have found so many instances in 5.1 where if I'm able to have the different channels crossing at different times/lengths of cross I can hide stuff that I couldn't in Womble. I guess we're saying the same thing, but I just like to have the versatility of being able to do it both ways.

 

[ThrowgnCpr]

For some stuff, yes, applying a single crossfade is great, but I have found so many instances in 5.1 where if I'm able to have the different channels crossing at different times/lengths of cross I can hide stuff that I couldn't in Womble. I guess we're saying the same thing, but I just like to have the versatility of being able to do it both ways.

I believe you can do this in Vegas, by grouping the 6 tracks. After they are grouped, any cuts and moves will be applied to all the tracks. So, it should be possible both ways.