MPEG to AVCHD (going backwards)... is it possible?

Dabitz · Post by **Dabitz** » Mon Oct 06, 2008 4:17 pm

Last year I created MPEG files out of AVCHD and created a DVD 720px movie with these MPEG files. I was wondering, If using the same VS project, I could create the same project but using the AVCHD files, so I can have the same movie in High Definition. The file names should be the same as I converted them using SONY's program that came with the camera, and I have all the original AVCHD files. I know you guys like "challenging" questions, plus it would help me a lot. Last year I was hesitant to work with AVCHD so I went DVD. Now I regret and would love to have the same movie in HD. Thanks as always. Last project was created in 11.5, now I have x2 Pro.

Summary: created MPEG2 files out of my AVCHD original files, then edited the movie using these MPEG files and created a final DVD. Would like to do the same project but substituting the MPEG files for the AVCHD files.

Black Lab · Post by **Black Lab** » Mon Oct 06, 2008 4:38 pm

Why don't you be the guinea pig and try it out.

Dabitz · Post by **Dabitz** » Mon Oct 06, 2008 4:57 pm

I am willing to, but I am not sure how to approach it. I was just thinking I can create new HD MPEG files, save to a different folder, and then rename the folder with the original MPEG files and re-link the project to the newly created HD MPEG files. Sounds easier said than done. I was turly hoping for better input than that. LOL

Black Lab · Post by **Black Lab** » Mon Oct 06, 2008 5:03 pm

As you are well aware AVCHD is new, and you probably won't find many on this board, if any, that have tried what you are asking, hence my answer. BTW, I am still using old school SD, so that's the best answer you will get from me!

Post by **Ken Berry** » Mon Oct 06, 2008 8:26 pm

See this link to a response I just gave to another question about SmartProxy: http://phpbb.ulead.com.tw/EN/viewtopic. ... 308#169308

It does something similar to what you are talking about, though I am not sure it is exactly the same... But as Black Lab suggested, it would be nice if you were willing to be a guinea pig!

Dabitz · Post by **Dabitz** » Tue Oct 07, 2008 8:55 pm

Ok here is the guinea pig reporting back.

I renamed the folder where the original MPEG files were, so the relink option popped up when I opened the project. I looked for the mt2s files with the same name and to my surprise, it did relink them but most of them I had to do one by one. One problem is that some of them give me some kind of timing/length error so I had to link those to the MPEG files. It was something like file must be longer than 30 seconds or something like that.

I double checked the files that gave me an error and there shouldn't be any lenght issue with them. But anyway, for those I had to stay with SD. I tried to create an AVCHD DVD directly but sadly this morning, I found out that the program crashed while I was sleeping.

In all honesty, I totally expected that because of the mixing of AVCHD and MPEG video files. I also didn't turn off smart render. I will try to create a video file (per Ken's AVCHD file template) tonight and report again. I wonder if etech ran into this kind of "length" problem before.

bm707 · Post by **bm707** » Wed Oct 08, 2008 12:40 am

I have not had much success editing or rendering AVCHD files in VS 11.5 plus, so I usually convert the files to MPEG2 and smart-render them in VS. I use a different program to do the AVCHD to MPEG2 conversion in both 720 x 480 for DVD and 1920 x 1080 for Blu-Ray, and then use VS to render and burn the final video. If you can convert the AVCHD to high quality HD MPEG2 video, and swap the HD MPEG2 video for the SD MPEG2 video in your project, you may have better luck than trying to swap AVCHD for SD MPEG2. If you get it to work, please post back. Good luck.

Dabitz · Post by **Dabitz** » Thu Oct 09, 2008 2:26 am

Oh no... I created the file, imported into a new project then went to burn the AVCHD. Everything seemed to work but the disc won't play on the PS3. Could it be because the video is 50 minutes on a singler layer DVD (AVCHD)? This is stressing, the burning process ran smoothly for 3 hours but the disc won't play. Any ideas? Maybe I'll let it burning overnight on a dual layer DVD. The DVD I used is DVD+R. I have a 7 minute AVCHD DVD that plays well, a test I did with another movie. When burning the AVCHD VS said there was plenty of space for the 50minute video.

Post by **Ken Berry** » Thu Oct 09, 2008 3:14 am

No, my very first AVCHD hybrid disc was 56 minutes long and on a single layer DVD, and the PS3 played it with no difficulty. It was just that I did not like the quality so much. So I now opt for the highest quality settings, and settle for 22 minutes of video per disc.

Can we assume that after you prepared the file (whatever it is -- I am a bit lost in the labyrinth you described above!

), you simply chose Share > Create Disc > AVCHD? Then inserted the new file. But did you change any of the settings in the burning module e.g. in the second icon in the bottom left of screen? Did you build a menu (which you can for an AVCHD disc...)?

And if you open the file structure on the disc in your computer, then in the BDMV folder, choose the STREAM sub-folder (where the video is located). Can you navigate a software DVD player capable of playing AVCHD/Blu-Ray to one of the files to see if it will play...

Dabitz · Post by **Dabitz** » Thu Oct 09, 2008 4:57 pm

Hi there Ken. Some of my clips on the movie are SD, some are AVCHD. I first rendered an mpg file using the AVCHD template I created as you explained on another thread. Then used that rendered file to burn the AVCHD. Yes I created menus and everything. I don't see any folders when opening the disc on the computer, but the disc looks like it was recorded on. I had created a 10 minute sample movie from a pure AVCHD project I am working on using the same process, and it worked fine. If I try to create the DVD directly before first rendering a file, the program crashes. Last night I downloaded the latest version of Divx. I am totally clueless. Maybe I should try to render the file in some other version of HD, like using the HDV template or something. I tried burning to a dual layer disc but the results were the same.

Post by **Ken Berry** » Thu Oct 09, 2008 10:08 pm

I personally burn direct from the project in the timeline (something I never do with standard def video!

) And that always works...

But it seems very strange that you cannot see anything on the disc... Were you looking at it in My Computer/Windows Explorer? If so, it absolutely should have a single folder called BDMV, with several sub-folders in it, one of which is the STREAM folder I mentioned above...

Dabitz · Post by **Dabitz** » Mon Oct 13, 2008 7:28 pm

I am working on a separate project using strictly AVCHD files using Smart Proxy for all of them. I am down to 15 minutes of video. I rendered the file using the AVCHD template you helped me create, and burnt the AVCHD disc with no problem at all.

Regarding the other project discussed on this thread, I think I am either doing some rookie stupid mistake, or I might have discovered that you cannot have a project that has both AVCHD (HD) and MPEG files (SD).

The rendered file seems to be ok, but the AVCHD disc cannot be read either on the player or the computer. So without having all the original clip files in AVCHD format, I won't be able to do an HD project. Remember the problem came when relinking the old mpeg files to new avchd files, some of the files gave me lenght problem or some kind of timing error (file was not long enough), so I had to link those particular clips to the SD files. I double checked the AVCHD files and they were ok. Perhaps I'll be able to rebuild those section of the video (re-edit) without screwing up the timing on the time line.

By the way, I cannot play rendered files on windows media player. They just show as a grayed screen. But they do play fine on VS12.

Post by **Ken Berry** » Mon Oct 13, 2008 8:58 pm

I don't think WMP is rated to play AVCHD/Blu-Ray. You need something like WinDVD 9 or PowerDVD 8.

Did you check on that AVCHD disk like I asked, to see if there was that hybrid Blu-Ray structure of folders on it?

Dabitz · Post by **Dabitz** » Mon Oct 13, 2008 9:43 pm

Yes, yes, no structure at all. My vista machine sees no folders in the DVD.

I meant WMP won't play the rendered MPEG file (AVCHD template). I was hoping to play wireless over to the PS3, but that's secondary now. I wonder if they issue could be that SD is lower field and HD is upper. The weird thing is the rendered file looks ok on VS.

Post by **Ken Berry** » Mon Oct 13, 2008 9:50 pm

And I repeat, WMP itself is not rated to play AVCHD or Blu-Ray video.

However, WMP, when used in server mode to connect with your PS3, does not actually *play* the file. It merely streams it to the PS3 which *can* play AVCHD. In fact, just last night, I was doing just that, using WMP in server mode. It shows up immediately in PS3 when I turned that on, and in VIDEO mode, detected all my AVCHD files and played several of them... Using Nero 8 MediaHome as the server has the same results.