How to put .mts file on card for GH1 to playback?

B

beaglesd

Member
Copied only .mts files to my PC. Now I want to put them back on the SD card in way that the GH1 can read and playback via HDMI to my TV. Tried dumping them in a freshly formatted card in the stream folder. Doesn't work. Ideas?

I don't have the original full AVCHD folder structures, seemed useless and awkward to store them...

Thanks

beagle
 
advs probably has the best suggestion. The problem is the .mts file complies with the overall structure & format of AVCHD, and this has, by design, a file and directory/folder structure that is complicated, not documented, and obscure. It is based on the file structure used on Blu-Ray discs, but it is not identical to the Blu-Ray format. The bottom line is it is virtually impossible to add just a new .mts file to any existing media. For it to work correctly you need the whole associated AVCHD file structure, and this is not something normal people can become aware of.

A notable exception to all the above is a PS3 game console. Because PS3's contain a Blu-Ray player they have the software necessary to decode AVCHD files. This means you can put an .mts or .m2ts on a flash drive (by itself), stick this into a PS3, and the PS3 will play it just fine. I suspect this might also work on any Blu-Ray player that has a USB slot, but I don't know if current Blu-Ray players have these.
 
To confirm bbinard's observations: you must rebuild the full AVCHD directory structure and files (including metadata, titles, and thumbnails) to play a movie from an SD card on the GH1 or on any of the Panasonic blu-ray players.

If you use Panasonic's photofunstudiohd to acquire your movies from the camera or sd card, it will copy the four important files for each movie you take. Then you can use photofunstudiohd to write your movies to a new sd card with the proper structure.

Or you can use an AVCHD authoring tool to write the mts file to the sd card and build the required directories and associated files. I haven't used it myself, but a free tool called multiAVCHD http://multiavchd.deanbg.com/ is designed to do exactly this, and has received favorable user reviews on this site. Check the AVCHD forum on this site for other recommendations.
 
tried and still no joy.

tried and still no joy.

Thanks for the advice, seems so simple a thing to do... alas it's not.

Tried advs plan and recorded a short flim. replaced the .mts file, hit play and.... go the GH1 to freeze - needed a hard reboot! Pulled the battery out.

Then tried multiAVCHD and have been playing with a few options, but none seem to work yet, camera says no valid picture to play. Anyone know of someone that's used multiAVCHD on a GH1?

I guess we should use photofunstudio to download everything.

Not easy to have a portable high-quality avchd player and the GH1 itself would be the best tool-if I can get my files back onto it!

beagle
 
I've been meaning to test out muliAVCHD and also Edius Neo 2 Booster, which is supposed to include an AVCHD authoring capability.
 
Has anyone successfully been able to use multiAVCHD (or any other software) to get their *.MTS files back on a SD-card that is playable on the GH1?

When I try the multiAVCHD software and use the “export to Pansonic Viera/Camcorder SDHC-card” option I end up with the GH1 telling me it’s unable to play the file.
When trying to re-import the files using Photo Fun Studio I get a message: “the files where not created on a Panasonic camcorder and cannot be imported”.

With my old Sony SR7 HD camcorder this was never a problem. I would simply put a *.mts (or*.m2ts) file into the supplied sony software and it was able to recreate the needed system file structure and re-export video files to the camera for viewing.

What I eventually want to be able to do is to use the GH1 as a player for videos that I have created and edited. It worked fine with the Sony, but with the GH1 it doesn’t seem to be that easy…
 
i think it would be easier to convert then stick it on your iphone if you have one =) gh1 seems quite pedantic about file structure and data matching.
 
Well my Iphone is nice, but it's no portable AVCHD player that can be connected to a TV-set using HDMI-connection...

However, I’m still interested to know if anyone has been able to do what multiAVCHD say's it's capable of doing in re-creating the needed file format/structure that the GH1 needs to able to play files.
 
The answer how to put videofiles back on an SD card and playback with the GH1

The answer how to put videofiles back on an SD card and playback with the GH1

Hi,

I had the same problem and I did some tests.
For me, they were successful, at least it works on my camera.


Here is what I had to do to make it work.

1) I formatted the SD card in the GH1. Maybe not necessary, but I did it and it worked.

2) Check, how large the file is, that you want to have back on the GH1. This is important! Let us say it is 150 MB large.

3) Film a clip with the GH1, that in the end is at least 150 MB large, or larger.
You have to test it. It has nothing to do with the length of the Clip. If there is no changes in the picture, the file will still be relatively small, even though it might be the same length as the one you want to replace, due to the way, AVCHD works.
So you just have to test, put the SD Card in the computer and check, if the filmed clip size is larger than your file, that you want to put back ion the GH1.
You find the file .MTS in this folder on the SD card:
PRIVATE\AVCHD\BDMV\STREAM

4) If you have a file like that, copy the file you want to play back on the GH1 to the SD card in the same folder.

5) Copy the name of the newly filmed GH1 clip (rename it to anything, not important), and rename your clip you wan to playback with this name. When it is the first clip on a newly formatted card, it will be "00000.MTS". If you already have clips on the GH1, be sure, that the numbers are continuous, when you rename. There should not be a numbering gap.

6) delete the old file that you had renamed with "anything"

So now you have the file, that you want to playback on the GH1 with the filename of the newly filmed clip, that is larger than the file, you want to playback on the GH1.

7) Put the SD card back in the GH1. You can now playback the file.

8) You can do that also, if you want to have several files back on the GH1.
You just have to film the same number of clips that you want to play back on the GH1 with the relevant file sizes. Be sure, that the clip names have continuous serial numbers. Otherwise it did not work on my camera.


Note, that when you are in the overview mode, when you see the icons of the clips, the icon will still be of the newly filmed clip. But when you play the file, it will play the file, you want. So the Camera still "thinks" it is playing the newly filmed clip as it "reads" that file number, but you have changed the content.

If the file size of the new clip is smaller than the one that you wan to playback, then the GH1 only plays a part of clip and then shows a mistake warning. "File problem, check the SD card" or something like that.

For example, the clip you want to playback on the GH1 war 150 MB, and is 3 minutes long, but the new clip of the GH1 is only 50 MB large. If you do the things I have written above, the GH1 will only play up to 50 MB, so only 1 minute of the 3 minute clip. The you get the mistake warning.
This is why your new file has to be at least the same size as the file, that you want to play back on the GH1.


I hope this works for you as well as it does for me.

This camera has to be fooled to playback the clip.
So fool it.


Greetings from Germany

Dieter
 
Last edited:
AKED said:
Hi,

I had the same problem and I did some tests.
For me, they were successful, at least it works on my camera.


Here is what I had to do to make it work.

1) I formatted the SD card in the GH1. Maybe not necessary, but I did it and it worked.

2) Check, how large the file is, that you want to have back on the GH1. This is important! Let us say it is 150 MB large.

3) Film a clip with the GH1, that in the end is at least 150 MB large, or larger.
You have to test it. It has nothing to do with the length of the Clip. If there is no changes in the picture, the file will still be relatively small, even though it might be the same length as the one you want to replace, due to the way, AVCHD works.
So you just have to test, put the SD Card in the computer and check, if the filmed clip size is larger than your file, that you want to put back ion the GH1.
You find the file .MTS in this folder on the SD card:
PRIVATE\AVCHD\BDMV\STREAM

4) If you have a file like that, copy the file you want to play back on the GH1 to the SD card in the same folder.

5) Copy the name of the newly filmed GH1 clip (rename it to anything, not important), and rename your clip you wan to playback with this name. When it is the first clip on a newly formatted card, it will be "00000.MTS". If you already have clips on the GH1, be sure, that the numbers are continuous, when you rename. There should not be a numbering gap.

6) delete the old file that you had renamed with "anything"

So now you have the file, that you want to playback on the GH1 with the filename of the newly filmed clip, that is larger than the file, you want to playback on the GH1.

7) Put the SD card back in the GH1. You can now playback the file.

8) You can do that also, if you want to have several files back on the GH1.
You just have to film the same number of clips that you want to play back on the GH1 with the relevant file sizes. Be sure, that the clip names have continuous serial numbers. Otherwise it did not work on my camera.


Note, that when you are in the overview mode, when you see the icons of the clips, the icon will still be of the newly filmed clip. But when you play the file, it will play the file, you want. So the Camera still "thinks" it is playing the newly filmed clip as it "reads" that file number, but you have changed the content.

If the file size of the new clip is smaller than the one that you wan to playback, then the GH1 only plays a part of clip and then shows a mistake warning. "File problem, check the SD card" or something like that.

For example, the clip you want to playback on the GH1 war 150 MB, and is 3 minutes long, but the new clip of the GH1 is only 50 MB large. If you do the things I have written above, the GH1 will only play up to 50 MB, so only 1 minute of the 3 minute clip. The you get the mistake warning.
This is why your new file has to be at least the same size as the file, that you want to play back on the GH1.


I hope this works for you as well as it does for me.

This camera has to be fooled to playback the clip.
So fool it.


Greetings from Germany

Dieter
Click to expand...

Very cool, thanks sharing in the trickery!
 
I think I have already tried something like this, but I have to try it again!

However since posting here I have also started a thread over at multiAVCHD-forums and the developer of multiAVCHD is currently trying to adapt the software to able to recreate the file structure that the GH1 needs. So far he’s been unsuccessful, but the development seems to be ongoing.

You can check out the thread at http://multiforum.deanbg.com/ (klick AVCHD support in Panasonic camcorders)
 
I have now tried the method described here, and it does work! :thumbup:

However I immediately started testing to see if it also was possible so export video that has been edited.

I tried to render my video in Vegas Pro 9 with identical settings as the GH1 outputs. However I found out that Vegas Pro can only render 1280x720 50p AVC-files in “mainprofile 3.2” and since the GH1 wants the file to be encoded in “high profile 4.0” I have not yet successfully transferred edited video to the GH1 for viewing.
 
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