.m2t files

michaelt wrote on 1/21/2008, 12:35 PM
Hello all,

I recently purchased HV20 and it works absolutely great with VMS Platinum 8. So far I have been importing the recorded footage to computer, editing it, and printing it back to HV20 tape to watch via HDMI on HDTV.

A few more things I'd like to do:

1) Is it possible to play .m2t files on the computer? I noticed Windows Media Player does not recognize them, so I guess it is missing a codec or I need another media player. Can anyone recommend any?

2) I would like to record a VMS-edited movie (.m2t) to a DVD (4.7GB). I assume that current Blu-ray players (including PS3) can already play them, and will definitely be able to play them in the future - is it true? Is the quality the same as playing VMS-printed tapes from HV20?

3) And finally, is it possible to watch a VMS-edited .m2t movie burned on a DVD through a computer connected to 1080i HDTV via VGA cable (assuming I can find a media player for .m2t files)? In terms of quality - would VGA be (much) better or (much) worse than HDMI ?

Thanks a lot in advance for any advice.

Michael.

Comments

Kennymusicman wrote on 1/21/2008, 12:58 PM
1) yes - just try playing it, and select open with media player.
Eugenia wrote on 1/21/2008, 1:58 PM
1. You need a codec to play it on WMP. Download ffdshow (generic stable version): http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=173941

2. Quality is the similar, yes. If you have a PS3 though, don't bother with blu-ray/dvd disks. Simply export at 720p or 1080p WMV and play it back on the PS3's hard drive (firmware version 2.10+)

3. VGA is worse than HDMI, but not by that much, you will hardly tell the difference. If your graphics card has an HDMI-out or VGA-out and your HDTV has HDMI or VGA-in, you can set the "playback monitor" to your HDTV. With GeForce drivers it's possible to direct the video playback output to another monitor. However, as I said, if you have a PS3, don't bother with this, just use the PS3 with .mp4 h.264 movies, or WMV. The PS3 also plays back .m2t files too (although not recommended because of the high bitrate that m2t files use).
RandyS wrote on 1/22/2008, 10:57 AM
Hi Guys,

I also have a new Canon HV20. I'm taping in HDV but for DVD output I'm just using the regular output for now to regular TV.

I find that yes, Media Player and Nero Showtime both play the raw .m2t files on my PC (Win XP Pro). The look great and have audio.

But when I use movie studio platinum to output using their MainConcept MPEG-2 ... I loose the audio.

I guess there is an audio codec I'm missing. What am I doing wrong?

TIA,
Randy
Kennymusicman wrote on 1/22/2008, 11:10 AM
check your render settings - you may be using a "video only" template
RandyS wrote on 1/22/2008, 2:52 PM
By George I think you're right. I was set to DVD Architect NTSC video stream. Thanks.

But how do I make a widescreen DVD with audio? It is also a video only stream.

I guess I'm sounding like a noob.

TIA,
Randy
Kennymusicman wrote on 1/22/2008, 3:11 PM
going by vegas pro (not -Go buy vegas pro!)

when in rendering window, look at the templates, some include audio - read the little summary, otherwise click on custom once you have chosen the most appropriate video setting, and look at the bottom for an audio tab - in there you will see a check-box for including audio, and relevant settings
RandyS wrote on 1/23/2008, 6:31 AM
right again ... thanks.

Its been about a year and a half since I've used movie studio and I just upgraded to platinum to handle my Canon HV20 files so I'm starting to get up to speed again.
michaelt wrote on 4/28/2008, 11:18 AM
I used to play .m2t files on Windows Media Player just fine. But then suddenly one day it reported a problem that it can not play the file because it's either corrupted or the format is not supported. Since then it doesn't play any .m2t files (even those that WMP played before just fine).

How can I find out what's wrong? Re-install the ffdshow codec that Eugenia gave link to?

Thanks in advance.