I've been transferring VHS video from a JVC HM-DH40000U using the Firewire interface directly to hard drive. The result is a M2T file that contains MPEG 2 video and then what appears to be MPEG 1 audio and another audio track which is PCM. The video is 480i NTSC 720 X 480 pixels.
I've done some research on this type of container and format and there isn't much info out there even though it doesn't seem too odd for a digital video format of that era?
What I'm having problems figuring out is the following:
- How to losslessly edit the M2T files (or do they need to be converted first?)
- What archival format to convert them to.
I've had limited success using
AVIDemux, but I don't think that can import the PCM audio which I think is the higher quality of the two. I also think
AVIDemux won't allow me to do simple editing without converting first? I'm less concerned about what archival format we end up with as long as it's not generating digital artifacts and it's not something proprietary. MPEG-2 broadcast or DVD maybe since the source is only 480i? The files are straight captures of entire tapes, so I'm not sure if there are timecode markers where the control track drops? If so, that might be handy for finding "chapters".
As far as enhancement, I think I can find most of that info here (like removing head switching) but first I need to learn to walk.
Here's the MediaInfo on the files I'm working with:
| General |
| ID : 1 (0x1) |
| Complete name : Sample.m2t |
| Format : MPEG-TS |
| File size : 24.2 MiB |
| Duration : 16 s 297 ms |
| Overall bit rate mode : Constant |
| Overall bit rate : 12.4 Mb/s |
| Maximum Overall bit rate : 12.4 Mb/s |
| Video |
| ID : 4096 (0x1000) |
| Menu ID : 1 (0x1) |
| Format : MPEG Video |
| Format version : Version 2 |
| Format profile : Main@Main |
| Format settings, BVOP : Yes |
| Format settings, Matrix : Custom |
| Format settings, GOP : M=3, N=15 |
| Format settings, picture structure : Frame |
| Codec ID : 2 |
| Duration : 16 s 250 ms |
| Bit rate mode : Constant |
| Bit rate : 9 550 kb/s |
| Width : 720 pixels |
| Height : 480 pixels |
| Display aspect ratio : 4:3 |
| Frame rate : 29.970 (30000/1001) FPS |
| Standard : NTSC |
| Color space : YUV |
| Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0 |
| Bit depth : 8 bits |
| Scan type : Interlaced |
| Scan order : Top Field First |
| Compression mode : Lossy |
| Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.922 |
| Time code of first frame : 00:00:05;00 |
| Time code source : Group of pictures header |
| GOP, Open/Closed : Open |
| Stream size : 18.3 MiB (76%) |
| Audio #1 |
| ID : 4098 (0x1002) |
| Menu ID : 1 (0x1) |
| Format : MPEG Audio |
| Format version : Version 1 |
| Format profile : Layer 2 |
| Codec ID : 3 |
| Duration : 16 s 224 ms |
| Bit rate mode : Constant |
| Bit rate : 384 kb/s |
| Channel(s) : 2 channels |
| Sampling rate : 48.0 kHz |
| Compression mode : Lossy |
| Delay relative to video : -172 ms |
| Stream size : 761 KiB (3%) |
| Audio #2 |
| ID : 4100 (0x1004) |
| Menu ID : 1 (0x1) |
| Format : PCM |
| Format settings, Endianness : Little |
| Muxing mode : SMPTE ST 302 |
| Codec ID : 131 |
| Duration : 16 s 249 ms |
| Bit rate mode : Constant |
| Bit rate : 1 536 kb/s |
| Encoded bit rate : 1 920 kb/s |
| Channel(s) : 2 channels |
| Sampling rate : 48.0 kHz |
| Bit depth : 16 bits |
| Delay relative to video : -220 ms |
| Stream size : 2.98 MiB (12%) |
| Menu |
| ID : 110 (0x6E) |
| Menu ID : 1 (0x1) |
| List : 4096 (0x1000) (MPEG Video) / 4098 (0x1002) (MPEG Audio) / 4100 (0x1004) (PCM) |
| Maximum bit rate : 12440000 |
