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MTS files to iPhoto - lossless - Help pls.

Hi


i have hundreds of mts files from a panasinc camcorder on my HDD and want to import them to iPhoto.

Which is obviously not supported.


What i tried:


1. Read th old threads on this forum for hours now. - No lossless solution found which i could get to work.

2. Convert them with several apps. The problem is they all recoded the files which means qualitiy loss.

Even with the passthrough option in iVi it changed the frame rate from 50 to 25 and recoded the audio.

3. Rebuilding the file structure of the SD card. - Couldnt get it to recognize it as a cam.



There has to be a way to import these without recoding just like iMovie does it when connected to the cam.

Maybe changing the Headers.


Thanks in advance, Chris

2008 Macbook Pro 15", Mac OS X (10.6.5)

Posted on Jul 13, 2012 3:04 AM

Reply
13 replies

Jul 13, 2012 5:52 AM in response to LarryHN

updated.


Red the article.

As i said the files are on my HDD not on sdcards or the cam anymore. So the article couldnt help me.

Thanks anyway.

I tried to put them back on the camera but they won't get imported. I suppose it's because once you delete them from them cam you cant put them back correcty because some thumbnails or metadate is missing. At least i havent figured out a way jet.


I little bit more backgound on this issue:


I was on holidays with my cam and no mac. I shoot 80gig of film during that trip and used a friends netbook to back them up.

Once home again i put that videos on my mac and tried to import them. That's where i got stuck.

Dec 22, 2012 4:56 PM in response to Hekarioth

The solution that works for me for .mts files that are not on the camera. This works when the files are on the hard drive and you are trying to import them to iPhoto or iMovie.


I use a free app called Media Converter http://media-converter.sourceforge.net to RE-WRAP the file into .mov extension. This is done within seconds and this does not convert or compress the .mts file. It rewraps it into .mov so the iPhoto and iMovies can import it. And you can also play the file on Quicktime.


Remember after downloading the Media Converter to also download the correct preset from the "Presets" tab on the website. The right one is "Re-wrap AVCHD for Quicktime - uncompressed Audio".


This has been working for me fine, with one drawback. Once you rewrap the file, it loses the correct date and time the video was taken. So I have to fix the date and time of the file in iPhoto.

Mar 1, 2013 6:41 AM in response to DanikG

To help with the file dates, I found an AppleScript that will copy the file date stamps from one file to another file. After using Media Converter, you should have new file(s) with the same name as the original mts file but with a different extension (e.g. - original file is "Movie1.mts", re-wrapped file is "Movie1.mov"). Using the script below, it will take the file-date from "Movie1.mts" and copy it to "Movie1.mov". Note: Put all files in the same directory.


You'll need to customize the script by changing a few lines:


  • MacHD:Users:Shared:MovieFolder-->change to the path where files are located on your Mac.
  • name extension is "avi" or name extension is "mkv" or name extension is "MTS" --> case sensitive, these should be file extensions of the original files you want to copy file-date FROM.
  • "mov'"--> this should be the file extension of the new files whose file-date you want to change
  • The 'label index' settings are just color coding of files to help identify processing status, you can remove those if you want. FYI - To change color coding on files you just right-click file and pick one of the colors under "Labels"



AppleScript below:


with timeout of (720 * 60) seconds

tell application "Finder"


--Get all AVI, MKV, and MTS files

set allFiles to every file of entire contents of ("MacHD:Users:Shared:MovieFolder" as alias) whose (name extension is "avi" or name extension is "mkv" or name extension is "MTS")


--Repeat for all files in above folder

repeat with i from 1 to number of items in allFiles

set currentFile to (itemi of allFiles)

try


--Set to gray label to indicate processing

set label index of currentFile to 7


--Assemble original and new file paths

set origFilepath to quoted form of POSIX path of (currentFile as alias)

set newFilepath to (characters 1 thru -5 of origFilepath as string) & "mov'"


--Start the conversion

set shellCommand to "touch -m -r " & origFilepath & " " & newFilepath & ";"


do shell scriptshellCommand

set label index of currentFile to 6


do shell scriptshellCommand

on error errmsg


--Set the label to red to indicate failure

set label index of currentFile to 2

end try

end repeat

end tell

end timeout

--end adding folder items to

Aug 7, 2013 10:43 PM in response to Hekarioth

Hi Hekarioth


From messing with .MTS on my Panasonic camera a while ago...


Drag the .MTS files onto your desktop. Using the Finder, select the file then choose "Show package contents" you should find the .MTS is just a container for another video format, possibly MP4 or MOV which can be dragged out onto the desktop; this should play OK in mts to avi for open it.

MTS files to iPhoto - lossless - Help pls.

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