Understanding the PRIVATE folder structure and AVCHD files?

P

Picturequest

Well-known member
In the beginning, I would just copy over the STREAM folder containing the AVCHD .MTS files. Not understanding or wanting to clutter my harddrive with other directories.

I mainly wanted to see if it was possible, as with a STILL's EXIL info that you can later review the shutter, f-stop, ISO lens etc.

I haven't been able to look at the metadata for the .MTS, other than the resolution, and frame rate. I was hoping to compare different clips ISO, f-stop and SHUTTER.

After a bit of googling I discovered that in a separate folder are, .cmi files, which are supposed to contain "METADATA?".

Now I would like to know if there is anyway to READ the CMI files and if they indeed store the data I seek?

As I've done my research, I was wondering if anyone knowledgeable can describe the other directories and what those files contain or do?

Also, are there any apps or players that can show this metadata for MGPEG as well?

Here is a diagram which describes the folder structure of the AVCHD PRIVATE folder.

File organization on Panasonic and Canon solid-state AVCHD camcorders

Thank you!

Max
 
When I first got a GF1, I only copied the MTS files over without the corresponding folder structure. Now I can't edit those clips in iMovie 9. However, if I copy the entire PRIVATE folder into a disk image, iMovie has no trouble loading it. I haven't looked at the metadata to see if they eactually contain EXIF-style info though. I'd also like to be able to create a dummy folder structure where I can drop in previously copied MTS files so I can work with them in iMovie.
 
There is meta data in two files (besides the .mts file) -- the .cpi file associated with each .mts file and the .mpl (playlist) file. Unfortunately there is little to no documentation available on these files. To make the importer work, I reverse engineered the files to get the info I wanted and that was it. Some people have gotten more information than I have, but no one is publishing much because of the work involved.
 
Phil Seastrand said:
There is meta data in two files (besides the .mts file) -- the .cpi file associated with each .mts file and the .mpl (playlist) file. Unfortunately there is little to no documentation available on these files. To make the importer work, I reverse engineered the files to get the info I wanted and that was it. Some people have gotten more information than I have, but no one is publishing much because of the work involved.
Click to expand...

I'm a big fan of your importer, Phil, and I was wondering why you added an option to import the .cpi files. I cannot find any program that will open them (other than editor, of course, but the contents consists of unreadable symbols). PhotoFunStudio won't open them either. Is there a reason you included them?

Thanks again for writing a great little utility.
 
emory said:
I'm a big fan of your importer, Phil, and I was wondering why you added an option to import the .cpi files. I cannot find any program that will open them (other than editor, of course, but the contents consists of unreadable symbols). PhotoFunStudio won't open them either. Is there a reason you included them?

Thanks again for writing a great little utility.
Click to expand...
Someone asked for that feature to keep the meta data with the video files for any possible future use. They didn't want to lose that data if/when a tool became available that could read it. Since they are small files, it's very little cost to keep them.
 
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