VS X5 and Panasonic FZ1000

[Bytheseaside]

I'm running Video Studio Pro X5. I have recently purchased a Panasonic FZ1000 camera - very pleased with it too! Before heading on holiday to Kenya, I tested out which format of video recording of those offered by the camera worked best with X5, & settled on AVCHD Progresive 1920x1080, 50P, 28Mbps. When I returned, I loaded all the videos into X5. However, six of them refuse to load. I get the message: "Unable to open file XXXX.m2ts. File format mismatch." I have scores of video items from Kenya, all with the same file type - m2ts. All the rest have loaded with no problem. All the video files (including the six problem ones) load into VLC player & play, though jerkily. All the files are of various sizes - that doesn't seem to be a factor. The problem ones were taken on different days & are not consecutive - all very random!

Please can anyone suggest why the six problem ones won't load into X5? I have tried asking Panasonic, but have yet to receive a reply.

Is there a bit of free/cheap software that might convert my problem files into something acceptable?

As an aside, some of the video files seem to replay jerkily in X5 during editing. Most replay smoothly. It might be something to do with how much I have replayed: first ones work fine, later ones are jerky. I haven't tried any rendering yet.

Thank you.

John

I'm using a Shuttle Cube:
Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q9550 @ 2.83GHz
3.25 GB of RAM
Windows XP

[asik1]

On the face of it your system is not really the best for such files.
You better try to set smart proxy for them.
I will also advice to stop any unrelated software that is running while you use VSX5.

[Bytheseaside]

Thank you asik1. I've no idea what Smart Proxy is, but I see it is already set, with Auto generate proxy template also ticked.
I rather thought my system was pretty fast. Obviously things have moved on somewhat - again! However, as long as I can edit my movies & stills into a nice video & then burn it to BluRay, I'll put up with jerky editing. It would be a shame if I can't get at those 6 problem videos somehow: there is some good action on them.

John

[Ken Berry]

Since you mention VLC Player, you may not be aware that it has a Convert/Save function under File... so you could try that. Some of also use another freeware converter called Format Factory. As with a lot of freeware be careful when installing it to read each page of the installation routine carefully and untick any boxes asking if you want to also install other junk programs and toolbars...

[Bytheseaside]

Thank you for pointing that out about VLC, Ken - I didn't know that. I have now spent a very frustrating hour or more trying to save my m2ts files in a different format using VLC. I did't know which format or which settings to go for, so I tried all sorts. It was a failure. I found all the converted files had gone from several MB to a few KB, & the video was now just the first few frames, or black!

However, at some point, I suddenly realised that one file I had tried to convert was 14MB & had actually worked! I had saved it as MP4 (is this a good idea?) & I could load it into VS X5 - excellent. Unfortunately, I have no idea how I managed it & have been unable to repeat the conversion with any other file!! After a lot more failures, I moved to another tack: I downloaded a couple of free file converters. The first didn't recognise m2ts files, so was a waste of time. The second worked, but the best quality I could get were avi files (1280x720) & they also refused to load into X5 They only way I got my files into X5 was by converting to basic mpg files - rather poor quality considering the source.

The fact that I managed to convert one file using VLC suggests to me that VLC is my best option, but I need to know the settings so I can (hopefully) repeat the operation. All help gratefully received...

Thank you

John

[BrianCee]

You say you have downloaded a couple of converters - but you do not mention the one which Ken recommended in his post that is "Format Factory" - I and others on this forum are quite impressed with it and it is quite a powerful and useful converter for not only video but audio and pictures as well given that it is free it is a very good tool to have it certainly handles my M2TS files without any problems.

Please try downloading Format Factory from http://www.pcfreetime.com/

and I will also repeat Ken's advice about checking which boxes are ticked on the download pages - they are no worse than any other company but it is a fact of life that every one offering free programmes also wants you to have more than you asked for.

[Bytheseaside]

Thank you Brian. I should have tried that first. Trouble is, I spotted a couple of converters from sites I knew already - wrong choice. Just converted all the problem videos with Format Factory - took about 5 mins. All now work in X5. I'm still not sure of the best format to use though. I've used mp4 & they look very good, but is that the best one for my m2ts files?

Thank you

John

[BrianCee]

I would have propably chosen mp4 as well - choose whatever looks good for you

[Bytheseaside]

Thank you, Brian. I'll stick with mp4.

I'd still like to find out why those 6 files wouldn't load in X5 when all the rest did. Maybe Panasonic will respond...

John