Importing .mts files

[GerryB]

A friend of mine has turned up with some videos in .mts format, HD settings on a Panasonic camera. The HD Easy Edit software provided by Panasonic is very clunky and I could not make sense of it, editing clips seemed to be very rudimentary. [His laptop is low on RAM but he is upgrading to a desktop, so funds are tight.]
The software allows the files to be exported to MPEG2 but seems to run at 1% per minute [on his laptop] so the whole process from recording through conversion to editing and finally burning a DVD will be an epic affair.
The alternative is to convert the ,mts file to another format and import to Premier Elements of other sensible video editor. I cannot import to PPro or PEl as the format is not recognised.
Can anyone suggest a software package to run the convert, then basic editing & DVD creation? Corel/Ulead may be able to do it but it requires investing in an upgrade @ £70 odd and this is not an acceptable expense for my friend, on top of a new PC.
Will Adobe be adding a converter for .mts in the next release????
Many thanks,
Gerry

[Steve Grisetti]

.mts files are just AVCHD video, Gerry.

You should be able to just load them into a Premiere Elements AVCHD project and output what you need from there.

If your machine is stressed by the excessive demands of AVCHD, you can use one of these converters to turn it into something more manageable.
http://forums.adobe.com/thread/390605?tstart=0

[GerryB]

Steve,

Many thanks for the pointers.

First, I missed the obvious before!! I tried to import the .mts files into a SD configuration in PPro on my PC. Once I set up a AVCHD project with PPro all was well. Well it worked in so much as my dual core is not really up to AVCHD files and I'm not planning to upgrade to HD in the near future but the exercise was worth while. The secondary costs of the upgrade cannot be justified.

Now, his laptop.
In the Panasonic Easy Editor there is a facility to output the .mts files to MPEG2 but the conversion ran so slow it was painful. The MPEG2 files played when the conversion was complete.
He has decided to buy a new PC and I have pointed him in the direction of a quad core with 4GB RAM, other bits and pieces need to be confirmed.

In you reply you say that a MPEG2 file can be imported in to Premeier Elements. When I tried this on his PC, he has PE3 on the laptop, the file appeared but there was no image to be seen when it was played. Could this be a function of the low RAM etc.?
Or, does he need PE8 to run AVCHD files in Elements.

Best wishes,
Gerry

[Steve Grisetti]

If the MPEG2 is a HDV (hi-def video) file then, yes, you will not be able to edit it in version 3 of the program.

The last few versions of Premiere Elements, though, do offer HDV support.

[GerryB]

Steve,

Many thanks, he is off to sort out this new PC and I think he should start with PE8 as your book will guide him through.

That brings me to another question; when will your book on PPro (CS4) and Encore be out? You are writing one, I hope! The Adobe book leaves a lot to be desired and the pdf book (download) is not much better.


Best wishes,

Gerry

[Steve Grisetti]

The professional products are pretty well covered by big publishers, Gerry. We wouldn't have a chance competing with them -- although you do do me a great honor by suggesting that I should!

As an alternative, you may want to check out Peachpit's Visual QuickPro Guides. They're very thorough and relatively easy to understand.

[JohnnyO]

AVCHD files take a lot of resources. I do recommend converting them to MPEG2s. However, I think the quality of the AVCHD files is much better tnan the MPEG2s. But if you have a slower machine, you will need to use proxy editing.