Playback of Raw AVCHD & motion jpg movies on conventional DVD players

[Sossity]

I recently purchased a Panasonic Lumix DMC-Zs7, & I am reading about it's video formats. It shoots AVCHD lite movies and motion jpg movies. I would like to be able to burn these raw movie files unedited to blank DVDs, so my family can view them right away, in the excitement of filming, they are eager to see the results. They do not like to wait for me to do the complex & tedious process of video editing with titles etc, to play. Being able to just burn the raw files for immediate viewing relives me of the burden of complex video editing, of which I do not enjoy very much, & makes family happy, to get the video out of the camera to the DVD player & TV. We have a Philips DVD player that says it can play Divx movies, & an analog tube TV.

So is there a quick painless way that I can get the raw files out of the camera and onto DVD for viewing on a TV. Or is the raw material only viewable on the camera & computer?

If the only way to get this material to DVD is by complex video edting, I could be stuck editing literally hours of footage that my family likes to film, they have the film bug, & like to film everything.

[admin]

Only mere days ago, I purchased a used Western Digital WDTV for under $50.
You can get one, too, from http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...SIN=B003O85A96

It looks like a standard external Western Digital hard drive, but it's about 50% in size. It also comes with a small remote (with buttons large enough for male hands!)

I've been using it for testing H.264 MP4 files that I encode, as well as watching XVID AVI and H.264 MKV files made by others. So far it has been wonderful. I use a 4GB thumb drive with it, but you can plug in external USB2 hard drives if you want. Your AVCHD movies would very likely fit onto a 16GB or 32GB thumb drive, but of which are very affordable these days.

Since I'm talking about thumb drives (flash drives), let me mention this real quick....

I highly suggest the HP thumb drives.
The 16GB drive is only $33 from Amazon with free shipping: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...SIN=B001QVN9Y6
And the 32GB drive is only $75 + $3 shipping: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...SIN=B0026RHE90

While the Lexar drives are maybe $5-10 less, they are not as well made. I could throw my HP at the wall, drop it from the roof of my house, and I know it would still be fine. If I so much as dropped the Lexar from my chest to the floor, I would be in fear of it being in 2-3 pieces. I once dropped my HP in the yard while walking to the car, was looking for it, and stepped on it in the process. It was still fine. I dare you to say that about any other flash drive!

The HP and Lexar drives also do not have those obnoxious (idiotic!) sliding USB ports. Nothing is more of a pain in the butt than being unable to plug in your flash drive because the port keeps sliding back into the shell, like a scared turtle. I eventually gave away all of my sliding drives -- even good ones! -- because I was tired of playing the "turtle game" every day. They also became loose and floppy after use, the plastic locks broke (when present).

... alright, enough about the thumb drives.

Back to the AVCHD files...

The upgrade from the WDTV box I bought, and linked to up top, is the WDTV Live Plus HD: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...SIN=B003MVZ60I

This one runs $120, and says that it supports "almost any type of media file". Now for me, that's not good enough. I have a lot of media types that probably would not play, so I'd like to know what can and CANNOT be played from it.

The WDTV non-Plus box that I have lists out "MPEG 1/2/4, WMV9, AVI (MPEG4, Xvid, AVC); H.264, MKV, MOV (MPEG4, H.264)" as its support formats. However, it's been mentioned that it might play more than this short list.

If you want to send me a tiny sliver of video, maybe 10 seconds, I'll be glad to test it in my WDTV non-Plus box. You can upload files to the forum, as long as they're under 8MB. I can give you FTP info for larger files (no more than 100MB, please!), just send a private message if that info is needed. And then I can email that clip to a friend, who can test it in his Plus box. I'll be glad to try both an MJPEG and the AVCHD for you.

Since I bought the WDTV, I stopped using the Divx function of my Philips DVD recorder. The WDTV plays the files more reliably. Sometimes the Philips would choke on slightly imperfect Divx encodes, while the WDTV will just play through the flaws.

[Sossity]

So essentially these formats are useless, and uncompatable, I dont know why manufacturers just go with mpg like my older sony digicams.

So there is no programs for either Mac or PC that can convert these to viewable formats to view on a computer or TV?

Buying thumb drives would not be very economical for me, at 30.00 dollars each, family often films about an hour or more of footage every time we go out. I would be buying a thumb drive all the time. I cannot believe that this format has not been dropped, it seems alot of cameras & camcorders have it, but it cannot be played raw on anything.

[admin]

Well, you'd only store them on thumb drives long enough to view them. I'm not suggesting you buy a thumb drive every time you shoot new video.

You'd archive them on larger hard drives (2TB drives, for example). Some advanced models of the WDTVs can stream across a network, if you want to set that up. Wired, not wireless, for best quality. Or you can just move the large hard drives back and forth, between your computer and the WDTV.

Unlike VHS/8mm cams of yesteryear, digital video cameras were made for people who planned to shoot and edit later. This includes the DV format that's been around for about 10 years now. They figured anybody that wanted to watch the raw footage would simply keep the tapes and watch them in the camera. As cameras went tape-less, they figured people who just cram the recordings onto their ever-growing hard drives. And they further expected people would just watch the tape-less digital videos on their computers -- an assumption that is proving to be very incorrect on their part!

Aside from computers plugged into a TV (which is sort of what a WDTV is), there is nothing out there that will play raw files. Beyond that, most raw files are really big. A 4.38GB DVD is often not large enough to hold more than a few minutes of video, depending on the format and the specs of the file.

AVCHD (H.264) is a highly compressed long-GOP video format, and it's not ideal for heavy editing. When it comes time to edit on the computer, it takes extra effort and is generally relegated to minimalist editing (removing unwanted footage, re-arranging footage).

But many (most?) consumers don't care about quality, so a highly compressed video recording is "fine" with them. Most of it is garbage that just ends up on YouTube or Facebook, as opposed to "family movies" we all had cameras for in years past.

Many modern shooters don't edit it either, although quite a few try. Most of these consumers just further butcher the quality, using the very crappy Windows Movie Maker or iMovie that came with their computer, or some $25-50 junkware made in China and sold online only -- instead of something decent like the $75-100 range products from Adobe or Sony (companies that built their reputations on quality video editing). Alas, even those higher-end consumer editors have trouble with the highly compressed formats recorded by some cameras.

I'd also mention that the Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS7 is a still camera that also shoot videos. It's not a video camera. These "extra functions" on point-and-shoot non-professional cameras are generally very limited compared to dedicated video cameras, or even pro DSLR's that have video abilities.

That kind of camera is made for somebody that want to shoot better-than-average photos, without using a DSLR. And then video is an added feature, in case you want to record a dog chasing it's tail, and put it on YouTube with a funny caption. It was never really designed for making movies that you'd watch on your TV.

[Sossity]

I did discover that the panasonic can shoot video in .mov format, which is a little better, at least I can see this on my computer, but still need to be able to convert it to a playable format on a DVD player, I looked up the model of DVD player I would be playing the movie files on, & it showed it supporting .mpg, .avi, & divix. So I may just convert the clips to .avi, using a program I have on my mac, called mpeg stream clip.

are there any particular settings to use to convert to my .mov movies to .avi

I am aware of the limits of video on digicams, but I dont want to lug around 2 different items for each purpose. A large camera like a DSLR is also too heavy to carry around in my purse.

[admin]

To play it on a DVD player, you'll have to spend time converting it to something the player can play. A standard DVD-Video would be my suggestion.

MOV and AVI are just wrappers, not video formats. It's about on par with going to a restaurant and ordering "a glass of liquid and a plate of food". It's very generic. MOV and AVI files can hold many formats of video, be it H.264, Divx, Xvid, HuffYUV, YUY2 uncompressed, etc. Other containers include FLV (Flash Video), MP4 (MPEG-4), and MKV (Matroska).

DVD players generally do no support AVI files. A few will accept Divx or Xvid inside of the AVI wrappers. This is most assuredly what you have. (A .divx file is still probably an AVI file, but misnamed with the wrong extension.)

Given that you have a Mac, this may be more complicated than you're wanting to get involved in. Macs have far fewer choices for video software compared to Windows, for most workflows. That would include a Divx/Xvid workflow. Macs are best for DV input and making DVDs, and that's about it.

The obvious choice would be the official Mac Divx software: http://www.divx.com/en/software/mac

A few more choices would include:

• D-Volution: http://www.objectifmac.com/dvolution.php
• Avidemux: http://avidemux.sourceforge.net/
• Datura: http://datura.sourceforge.net/

I've not personally tried any of these before. I don't currently have a Mac, so I can't test them right now. I would suggest the Divx software first. Then maybe try the others.

In terms of settings, keep the video to 640x480 or smaller (512x384 is a commonly-used good size) for 4x3 content, and stick to matching your other source specs. NTSC 29.97 or 23.976, or whatever the camera makes. For 16x9 or HD resolution source, 640x360 Divx output is standard. The good news is most P&S cameras don't do interlaced recordings, so that's one less issue to worry about for Divx conversion.

Note: Divx and Xvid are two versions of the same thing. You can use either of them.

This is something I'd do on a Windows machine, using Procoder, MainConcept or even VirtualDub. And then there's MANY freeware choices, through quality will vary between them. Xvid4PSP is a common Windows software suggestion: http://www.videohelp.com/tools/XviD4PSP

If you have Windows on your Mac, either in Bootcamp or via virtual machine (Parallels, VMWare Fusion), then you have more choices.

I can understand the desire to travel light.
While I'd prefer to keep a Nikon D3 or D200 on me at all times, sometimes I just need to settle for a Sony point-and-shoot pocket cam.

Hope that helps.

[Sossity]

which sony pocket camera do you have?

I downloaded & installed xvid4PSP, opened one of my movie files & tried to convert 2 times, with no luck, they both errored out. I tried mpeg2NTSC & let it choose all the default settings.

I may have to abandon this camera & it's incompatible nonconvertible formats, my 2 previous sony's recorded video in VGA .mpg format & it has worked out well, much simpler & less hassle.

I have this sony; http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/H5/H5A.HTM

I like it, but it is a bit heavy to carry around in my purse.

I recently bought this camera; http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/ZS7/ZS7A.HTM

it has the 12x optical zoom in a compact body, but its movie modes cannot be moved onto anything off the camera, the movies are not easily or able to be converted quickly & easily to DVD that can be played on conventional DVD players. The picture quality is good, but so good in low light. Oh well, I was hoping I would be able to get a pocket camera with a big zoom, good image quality, & easy, good quality movie mode.

Another note, I should mention is I have an older PC I am doing these conversions on; it is a pentum 4 processor, not a dual core processor, & 1 gb of RAM. the mac is not mine in my house so I dont use it as much.

I dont understand why Sony & other camera makers dont keep the .mpg format movie mode, it was so much simpler & better, all I had to do was download the movies, & burn them to a blank DVD-R using image burn, all in about 10-15 minutes & they were playable on the family DVD player.

[admin]

I have this Sony camera: http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.ht...reative=390957

It has shutter lag, and the best images are at low ISO, like any other standard P&S camera. It does some video recording, but it's mostly only good in daylight for video quality. It shoots for 10 minutes max, then stops. I have to start recording again for longer events. I recently shot an interview with a rare celebrity appearance (unscheduled!), and have 7 recordings for his 70 minute speaking session. It's 640x480 MPEG-1 30fps, and this outside recording looks and sounds decent. It's good enough for Youtube and web viewing, which is its ultimate destination. I've not yet watched it on TV, although I'd say it's about on par with a VHS tape, given the clarity on the computer LCD. Maybe somewhere between VCD and VHS (VCD is half the quality of VHS). This isn't the camera I'd want for shooting family home movies.

The Panasonic camera you have is probably better image/video quality than my Sony (or your older Sony), but it's just harder to work with because it's H.264/AVC HD.

Older computers are not going to work well with HD or AVC sources. It's going to be a slow conversion, in general.

Not owning that specific camera, or having files I can test with, it's really hard to say what will and will not work very easily. It should be possible to convert, I can say that much. But it's probably going to take several steps, and some time to wait on the encodes. It's surely going to take longer than it did on the older Sony you had.

[Sossity]

Quote:

Originally Posted by admin

I have this Sony camera: http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.ht...reative=390957

It has shutter lag, and the best images are at low ISO, like any other standard P&S camera. It does some video recording, but it's mostly only good in daylight for video quality. It shoots for 10 minutes max, then stops. I have to start recording again for longer events. I recently shot an interview with a rare celebrity appearance (unscheduled!), and have 7 recordings for his 70 minute speaking session. It's 640x480 MPEG-1 30fps, and this outside recording looks and sounds decent. It's good enough for Youtube and web viewing, which is its ultimate destination. I've not yet watched it on TV, although I'd say it's about on par with a VHS tape, given the clarity on the computer LCD. Maybe somewhere between VCD and VHS (VCD is half the quality of VHS). This isn't the camera I'd want for shooting family home movies.

The Panasonic camera you have is probably better image/video quality than my Sony (or your older Sony), but it's just harder to work with because it's H.264/AVC HD.

Older computers are not going to work well with HD or AVC sources. It's going to be a slow conversion, in general.

Not owning that specific camera, or having files I can test with, it's really hard to say what will and will not work very easily. It should be possible to convert, I can say that much. But it's probably going to take several steps, and some time to wait on the encodes. It's surely going to take longer than it did on the older Sony you had.

I found something called DVD flick, & had it convert 4 of my .mov movie files, & it worked out ok, it created an mpg 2 movie out of them, an ISO file that I could use image burn with. I burned them to a disc & it played in my DVD player.

[Noel]

Hi Mate
I don't there is way out to direct method that you can put the raw files from camera from on to DVD .I think you have to edit the file from camera before it is put on DVD.