Help with importing M2T files to X4

1940 wrote on 3/26/2014, 7:28 PM

Hi,

I have been given a Compact Flash Card with the files from a video cam and I have transferred them in their folders to my PC.

When I import them into X4 they are fine but when I try to join them together on the same timeline track., they do not match up perfectly as two inline clips should.

The 3 m2t files which I want to run as one file as the original 'live' show was. Usually I can do this with avi, mpeg etc.

There seem to be a few frames of black and silence before the second clip shows the continuation of the first clip.

I tried a few things and transitions etc but nothing works.

It should just keep going however I have never done this with m2t clips before.

The original from the flash card was in a folder /HDR/ and had the m2t files, an IDX file and a tracks.dat file.

Maybe somehow the idx and dat file tell the clips where to join?

Thanks

Comments

emmrecs wrote on 3/27/2014, 7:55 AM

Hi.

Not sure about the thought that the .idx and .dat files might help in this - think they are actually internal files for the camera - but the problem you are seeing is one very familiar to those of us who record "long-form" AVCHD video, producing mts or mt2s files! Whether,as in your case, the files are written to flash cards or, in my case, to the camera's own hard disc, there is always a degree of discontinuity between the point at which one file is "closed" (usually at the 2GB point) and the next one is started. And there's nothing that can be done about this at the camera!

BUT, there is a really simple solution that you can use once you have downloaded the files to your computer. (The folder structure from the camera is, I think, not needed, only the actual video files.) Find, download and install the free tsMuxeR program. It is rather lacking in "help" to the new user but all you need to do is "Add" the first file of the sequence, "Join" each additional file and then "Start muxing" (at the bottom of the program screen.) For output format I normally choose the "MT2S muxing" option; VPX/MEP seems to "prefer" it!

The result will be one continuous file containing all the footage from the previously-separate files which will play without those very annoying glitches at the original file boundaries. (Quite how it does it I don't know, but it works!)

HTH

Jeff

Scenestealer wrote on 3/27/2014, 1:47 PM

Have you tried selecting the clips, straight after dragging to the timeline, and right clicking > "Create frame table new" ?

emmrecs wrote on 3/27/2014, 3:57 PM

Hi

Have you tried selecting the clips, straight after dragging to the timeline, and right clicking > "Create frame table new" ?

Ss

Interesting idea!

Just tried it on two consecutive .mts files (from which I had previously created one continuous file using tsMuxeR) and then compared them. The two separate files, but with the new frametable, were certainly far "smoother" at the join than before but there was still a perceptible video "glitch" right on the "join", which was not visible on the "muxed" single file.

Jeff

johnebaker wrote on 3/28/2014, 12:31 PM

What you are seeing is typical of a camera that splits long recordings into seperate files because there of a 2 GB limit on file size.

The owner of the camera should have software supplied by the camera maker for reconstituting the video into a single file and transferring to computer.

If Carls suggestion does not work then you need this software and possibly the camera to transfer the video to your computer.

John

Scenestealer wrote on 3/29/2014, 2:16 PM

Hi Jeff

Did you try exporting a section at the transition to see if this glitch remained in the exported file? I often see slight disturbances (possibly remnants of the cut piece) at cuts in the preview , with mts files, which are not apparent after export or if you frame step across the cut.

Peter

emmrecs wrote on 4/1/2014, 9:00 AM

Hi Peter.

No I didn't try the export. Will do so at some point and report back!

Jeff