GH1 AVCHD back to SDHC in a VIERA TV after editing?

[tflak]

We want to loop a video on multiple 46" Panasonic VIERA TVs. The plan is to be able to simply insert SDHC cards into these monitors for playback -- figuring this approach would simplify setup and transport by eliminating the need for the GH1, a computer, Blu-ray player or wired distribution to all the monitors. Have read a VIERA manual and it seems like they can loop a video, but since we don't currently have these sets there's no way to test. The manual we have is very skimpy on details.

First of all, does anyone see any problems with this approach? If so, what would you suggest instead? And, if not, what would be the procedure for editing and then getting the video back onto the SDHC cards for playback in the VIERA?

Planning on editing 720p in FCP3 (ProRes):
- What export settings should be used to get it into a format that will play on the VIERAs? I know they play AVCHD. Do they also play MPEG-2?
- What file structure needs to be present on the SDHC for the VIERA to recognize it? For AVCHD is it enough to just put an MTS file into a PRIVATE folder without any of the other stuff normally found in the PRIVATE folder? And what about MPEG-2 (if that is even supported)?

Like I said, we don't have the VIERAs yet and can't do testing to figure this out ourselves so any help is much appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Kerplunk]

File structure and data are problematic when doing this - both with AVCHD and MPEG2. The card contents needs to be structured the same way it would be for a camera - that's what the VIERA sets are expecting. Moreover, the data needs to be specific to the enclosed files so it's not just a simple matter of reconstructing the folders and contents and then sticking your edited files in there. I've read that there are ways to do this but it's somewhat of a hack and complicated.

There's a freeware app called multiAVCHD that can do it for you. But it sounds like you're on a Mac and it's PC only.

 

[ROne]

I echo this, I could not get my footage to playback on SDHC card, despite using multiAVCHD. The Tv would easily play the GH1 originated card though.

I did however manage to burn an MP2-DVD for playback to a BD player.

 

[Cranky]

1. MPEG-2 is not part of AVCHD.

2. I have a Windows machine. I generate .AVC files in Vegas, then generate .AC3 audio, then mux into M2TS with tsMuxer, then I use MultiAVCHD to author AVCHD on either SDHC cards or DVD discs that are playable in my BD80 Blu-ray player. The "NTSC" player won't accept "PAL" content, that is, it won't play 25p or 50i.

You may want to consider something like WDTV or Asus O!Play. It costs $100, add another $10 for a 4GB USB drive. These things play pretty much everything and have HDMI outputs. I use O!Play and I am very happy with it.

 

[tflak]

Thanks for the feedback and suggestions guys.

Turns out there may be people on this project who would be using iMovie and aren't especially technically savvy. So have decided to just attach an Apple TV to each monitor. That will make export simple, and no need for them to learn other software utilities, etc. We could even set up a closed wireless network for easy distribution and changes. It will be a bit more money for Apple Tvs versus just the cards or even disc players, but that's trumped by ensuring things are as simple as possible and thus increases the chances of things going smoothly.

Thanks again.

 

[Cavemandude]

Not sure if this is what you are looking for but I downloaded the trial version of CyberLink PowerDirector which allows you to output AVCHD projects to an SD Card complete with DVD menus. I've tested this on my Panasonic Blu-Ray DVD player which has an SD slot and it plays the video with no problems.

Randy

 

[Martti Ekstrand]

OK - here I go again: Toast on OSX have a 'AVCHD' archive function - never used it myself but perhaps that can be used to create a workable 'PRIVATE' folder from a edited video. Otherwise there are plenty of inexpensive playback devices for .mp4 files out there. My brother has one from Western Digital which he's very happy with.

 

[tflak]

Not sure if this is what you are looking for but I downloaded the trial version of CyberLink PowerDirector which allows you to output AVCHD projects to an SD Card complete with DVD menus. I've tested this on my Panasonic Blu-Ray DVD player which has an SD slot and it plays the video with no problems.

Randy

Thanks Randy, but we are strictly a Mac shop and that's PC only. Realize we could boot into Windows and use a PC solution, but hardly seems worth it.

 

[tflak]

OK - here I go again: Toast on OSX have a 'AVCHD' archive function - never used it myself but perhaps that can be used to create a workable 'PRIVATE' folder from a edited video. Otherwise there are plenty of inexpensive playback devices for .mp4 files out there. My brother has one from Western Digital which he's very happy with.

Haha...hey Martti, we do have Toast and I would have tried it except have read that the archive it creates is intended to simply copy the file structure from a camera to a disc. The value here being it creates previews that can remain on your hard drive instead of needing to load individual discs. Which is a cool feature.

The problem with this being that, once edited, the video file won't play back from an SDHC card because Toast doesn't create a new AVCHD file structure that is compatible with the newly edited video. In other words you can't simply substitute one MTS file for another - it's apparently a bit more complicated. At least that's what I've read.

That said, it's certainly worth a try and I would have done it but since we don't have a VIERA TV to test with I was looking for a method that someone else could verify works. Come to think of it I would guess that if it played back from the GH1, once modified, that might mean it would also work in a VIERA set.

As for the Western Digital player, I guess this is the WDTV that Cranky suggested (thanks also Cranky) and we'll check into that versus going with the Apple TV. Will also check out the ASUS O!Play, which Cranky also mentioned. Seeing how both of these players (and others) are half the cost of the Apple TV it does seem like a no-brainer, doesn't it?

In any case, these players are certainly a much more flexible solution than going with the card playback. That just initially seemed like a fairly simple and inexpensive idea.

 

[Cranky]

Not sure if this is what you are looking for but I downloaded the trial version of CyberLink PowerDirector which allows you to output AVCHD projects to an SD Card complete with DVD menus. I've tested this on my Panasonic Blu-Ray DVD player which has an SD slot and it plays the video with no problems.

You have AVCHD or card WITH MENUS? MultiAVCHD cannot do that, I thought that menus are not allowed for cards. Great news then.

 

[Cranky]

As for the Western Digital player, I guess this is the WDTV that Cranky suggested (thanks also Cranky) and we'll check into that versus going with the Apple TV. Will also check out the ASUS O!Play, which Cranky also mentioned. Seeing how both of these players (and others) are half the cost of the Apple TV it does seem like a no-brainer, doesn't it?

In any case, these players are certainly a much more flexible solution than going with the card playback. That just initially seemed like a fairly simple and inexpensive idea.

These players can play bare MPEG-4/AVC files, just drop them into a directory. On my O!Play I tried MPEG TS with AVC and MPEG-2 content, with MTS or M2TS extensions. Matroska also works. O!Play does not see files with M2T extension (usually HDV streams) but when renamed to M2TS they work flawlessly. 60Hz/50Hz - no problem on my 60p plasma panel. O!Play also has 1080p24 native output. It is not perfect, it deinterlaces native interlaced video quite well, but if you have 2-3 pulldown in 60i stream, it fails to reconcile 24p from it. So it is best used either for native progressive or for native interlaced.

I am not sure that it can loop a track, though. I need to verify.

 

[tflak]

These players can play bare MPEG-4/AVC files, just drop them into a directory. On my O!Play I tried MPEG TS with AVC and MPEG-2 content, with MTS or M2TS extensions. Matroska also works. O!Play does not see files with M2T extension (usually HDV streams) but when renamed to M2TS they work flawlessly. 60Hz/50Hz - no problem on my 60p plasma panel. O!Play also has 1080p24 native output. It is not perfect, it deinterlaces native interlaced video quite well, but if you have 2-3 pulldown in 60i stream, it fails to reconcile 24p from it. So it is best used either for native progressive or for native interlaced.

I am not sure that it can loop a track, though. I need to verify.

Great info Cranky, and much appreciated. It would be great if you can verify looping since it's essential for this project.

Speaking of looping, the original Apple TV apparently didn't have this feature but you could save the movie in QuickTime Player with the Loop option in the View menu enabled and it would cause the movie to loop once played via Apple TV. I think Apple has since added a loop feature to the Apple TV, but not sure about that.

 

[Martti Ekstrand]

As for the Western Digital player, I guess this is the WDTV that Cranky suggested (thanks also Cranky) and we'll check into that versus going with the Apple TV. Will also check out the ASUS O!Play, which Cranky also mentioned. Seeing how both of these players (and others) are half the cost of the Apple TV it does seem like a no-brainer, doesn't it?

Sure does. To clarify the one my bro has is this: http://westerndigital.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=734

They also have a new model 'WD TV Live' which can hook up to the intarwebs without a computer and play back online videos like YouTube. It can also play media from a network which may be of interest for your project.

 

[Cranky]

I just check my Asus O!Play, it can loop one file, a set of files (a directory?) and no looping of course. I tried looping one file, it was seamless.

 

[tflak]

I just check my Asus O!Play, it can loop one file, a set of files (a directory?) and no looping of course. I tried looping one file, it was seamless.

Thanks, Cranky - checked it out and this looks like a really nice unit. But think we're going with the "WD TV Live" since it supports wireless and seems to have a few more features than the O!Play.

Sure does. To clarify the one my bro has is this: http://westerndigital.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=734

They also have a new model 'WD TV Live' which can hook up to the intarwebs without a computer and play back online videos like YouTube. It can also play media from a network which may be of interest for your project.

The "WD TV Live" looks like the one we'll go with. Even after adding a wireless adapter it's still about $75 cheaper than the Apple TV. Thanks again for your help with this.

This forum is the best. Thanks again to everyone for your help.

 

[Cranky]

TFlak, that is cool. I bought the O!Play mainly because I wanted to try it out, I would send it back if it were no good, but I liked it and kept it. I don't care much for the network let alone wireless, I watch all my stuff from two 500GB hard drives The WDTV Live is a good choice. At the time I bought the O!Play, the WDTV could not play DVD-video image files. The O!Play supports non-latin characters for file names, I am not sure about the WDTV.

These both are great players and for $100 you cannot go wrong with either of these if you don't need a disc drive.

 

[tflak]

TFlak, that is cool. I bought the O!Play mainly because I wanted to try it out, I would send it back if it were no good, but I liked it and kept it. I don't care much for the network let alone wireless, I watch all my stuff from two 500GB hard drives The WDTV Live is a good choice. At the time I bought the O!Play, the WDTV could not play DVD-video image files. The O!Play supports non-latin characters for file names, I am not sure about the WDTV.

These both are great players and for $100 you cannot go wrong with either of these if you don't need a disc drive.

Looks like the O!Play supports eSATA which a great feature the others don't have, and I'm assuming you're using that with those drives. Sounds like a cool set up.