I'm not sure whether to direct this question to the OSX forum, the Premiere forum, or here. I'll start here.
Clips from my GH2 end up on my Mac as .MTS files and by default they show the VLC icon. I'd like to see a nice big preview image of each file, and the video details (duration, pixel dimensions) for the times when I'm hunting through my clips to find a particular clip.
Here is what happens with various programs:
VLC
If I leave the .MTS files to open in VLC, they open and play correctly but I do not see a preview of the clip and I do not see the video details. So, no good when hunting for a particular file.
Quicktime
If I use MediConverter to rewrap the files (set to passthrough for video and audio), and use the column view in OSX, I see a nice big preview and video details, but QT can't play the sound. However, if I rewrap the audio to PCM, everything is okay. But I'd rather not alter the sound just in case some problem or deterioration is introduced during the transcoding. I'd much rather archive the clips exactly as they came out of the camera.
Premiere
I've read that Premiere can open AVCHD clips (haven't tried it yet), so I tried setting the default opening program to Premiere, thinking that OSX would then display a nice big preview and video details, and I'd be able to play and hear the clips. But no, OSX keeps Premiere grayed-out when I try to set all .MTS files to open with Premiere.
Audition
Sometimes I may want to use Audition to play around with the sound inside a clip, but Audition can't open the AC-3 sound data inside .MTS clips. If I rewrap to PCM, fine. (But I'd rather not rewrap, see above).
PCM Signed Endian
I suspect I will probably have to rewrap: passthrough the video and transcode the audio. Now, the Audition manual says this about PCM:
SUMMARY
This is about archiving. In OSX I'd like to see previews of my clips, with video info (duration and pixel size). I'd prefer not to rewrap or transcode, but I will do so if necessary. I'd like to open the files in QT/VLC/Audition/Premiere. What is the best way to achieve that result?
Clips from my GH2 end up on my Mac as .MTS files and by default they show the VLC icon. I'd like to see a nice big preview image of each file, and the video details (duration, pixel dimensions) for the times when I'm hunting through my clips to find a particular clip.
Here is what happens with various programs:
VLC
If I leave the .MTS files to open in VLC, they open and play correctly but I do not see a preview of the clip and I do not see the video details. So, no good when hunting for a particular file.
Quicktime
If I use MediConverter to rewrap the files (set to passthrough for video and audio), and use the column view in OSX, I see a nice big preview and video details, but QT can't play the sound. However, if I rewrap the audio to PCM, everything is okay. But I'd rather not alter the sound just in case some problem or deterioration is introduced during the transcoding. I'd much rather archive the clips exactly as they came out of the camera.
Premiere
I've read that Premiere can open AVCHD clips (haven't tried it yet), so I tried setting the default opening program to Premiere, thinking that OSX would then display a nice big preview and video details, and I'd be able to play and hear the clips. But no, OSX keeps Premiere grayed-out when I try to set all .MTS files to open with Premiere.
Audition
Sometimes I may want to use Audition to play around with the sound inside a clip, but Audition can't open the AC-3 sound data inside .MTS clips. If I rewrap to PCM, fine. (But I'd rather not rewrap, see above).
PCM Signed Endian
I suspect I will probably have to rewrap: passthrough the video and transcode the audio. Now, the Audition manual says this about PCM:
Choose the Little-Endian method for systems with Intel processors and the Big-Endian method for systems with PowerPC processors.
So if I decide to transcode the sound using MediaConverter, what sound format should I transcode to so that the sound is readable by most programs? Has to be lossless. The bit-depth and sampling rate I can handle, but signed or unsigned? Big Endian or Little Endian? Any options other than PCM?
SUMMARY
This is about archiving. In OSX I'd like to see previews of my clips, with video info (duration and pixel size). I'd prefer not to rewrap or transcode, but I will do so if necessary. I'd like to open the files in QT/VLC/Audition/Premiere. What is the best way to achieve that result?
