File formats + watching home videos

E32011

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I have got a bunch of home videos approximately 50gb in size recorded with a sony video camera. The file format is AVCHD and i've transferred them all to a external hard drive as they take up a lot of space.

My issue is actually watching them, i intend to put them on a disc but i'm not really sure how i should go about it. I don't have a blu ray recorder so thats not an option and if i decided to put them on dvd i'd need about 12 discs and i'm also unsure if dvd supports the file format without a loss of quality.

I have a ps3 also and have stored the files on there but i can only watch it as i only have a ps3, i can't really go round taking my ps3 to peoples houses to watch as its too much hassle.

Is there any way i can transfer these onto a disc to watch, maybe even compress the size or something. I'd prefer to retain the quality but don't mind reducing it.

HELP please :smashin:
 
I'm surprised your camera doesn't provide all the info you need.
Some folk are happy to watch complete clips, without editing the wobbly-bits.
However, if you plan to watch these with others it's essential to cut out the bad bits to make the whole more watchable.
You will need a powerful computer, but there are HD Editing programs for free - like "Windows Live Movie Maker" (free download with Win7), although it is somewhat limiting in its capabilities.

Many here like Sony Vegas - v11 "production suite" is reasonable value with professional features for about £50 (Amazon) - but it does need some time to learn....you'll get a 1hr DVD tutorial and Sony website has even more, free. Then there are somewhat variable tutorials on YouTube.

Beware of buying a Minority Editor - as these are less popular and have fewer folk able to advise....etc.
What you are describing (I think!) is creating a short DVD of the best-bits so you can watchem with friends that appear in them . . . . and you first need to Edit the clips (in Studio), then Render the masterpiece....then you convert this to the final format (DVD, say) - although BlueRay is possible, if you have the hardware.

DVD is normally 720 which many regard as the lower-quality HD, but it is popular and doesn't cause too much difficulty. My own camera records 1920 x 1080 50i and this is downscaled to DVD, but the results are pretty good, although the camerawork is usually the weakest link - you need a very solid tripod - since HD video shows all the faults.....

You need to give us a budget, if you don't have all the gear/PC etc.
 
12harry said:
DVD is normally 720 which many regard as the lower-quality HD, but it is popular and doesn't cause too much difficulty.

DVD is not HD and is not 720, it is 720x576 (so is 576)
 
i can't really go round taking my ps3 to peoples houses to watch as its too much hassle.

No, but you could get a media player instead. There's loads to choose from: iboum.com : Future Entertainment Technology : HD Media Player Comparison Grid

Means you don't have to mess around writing discs (either DVD or Blu- ray) and you can keep your files at full quality, to view from you hard drive -or put them on a USB stick if you don't want to carry round the HDD to your mates.
Most media players are pretty small....
 
You have a PS3 so why dont you edit the footage,not having a BD burner meens you will only be able to render and burn AVCHD discs 35m max but they can be done on standard recordable blank DVDs but they will still be HD.
 
You have a PS3 so why dont you edit the footage,not having a BD burner meens you will only be able to render and burn AVCHD discs 35m max but they can be done on standard recordable blank DVDs but they will still be HD.

Could you talk in more basic terms, kinda lost me :p

Thanks for the help anyway everyone. Basically to put it more simply i am asking how i can watch my vids on tv, doesn't matter about editing/shortening clips.

I got a ps3, blu ray, dvd recorder.

I'm asking if there is a way of putting my data onto something physical e.g. dvd in case i lose the stuff on ps3.
 
No, but you could get a media player instead. There's loads to choose from: iboum.com : Future Entertainment Technology : HD Media Player Comparison Grid

Means you don't have to mess around writing discs (either DVD or Blu- ray) and you can keep your files at full quality, to view from you hard drive -or put them on a USB stick if you don't want to carry round the HDD to your mates.
Most media players are pretty small....

Very good suggestion although the PS3 is in essense a Media player too

Could you talk in more basic terms, kinda lost me :p

Thanks for the help anyway everyone. Basically to put it more simply i am asking how i can watch my vids on tv, doesn't matter about editing/shortening clips.

I got a ps3, blu ray, dvd recorder.

I'm asking if there is a way of putting my data onto something physical e.g. dvd in case i lose the stuff on ps3.
You can simply burn to DVD disc as data anyway but a HDD should be better VFM
If you must have discs you can similarly Burn to Bluray media ( for archiving) but you ll need a burner and Media
Certainly if
 
Could you talk in more basic terms, kinda lost me :p

Thanks for the help anyway everyone. Basically to put it more simply i am asking how i can watch my vids on tv, doesn't matter about editing/shortening clips.

I got a ps3, blu ray, dvd recorder.

I'm asking if there is a way of putting my data onto something physical e.g. dvd in case i lose the stuff on ps3.

Basic if you are happy watching unedited footage fine or you can edit ie cut out what you dont want,add tittles etc ,considering you have all the players making discs seems logical to me, you will need some software though but basic software will suffice you to get going,personaly i see no point in data discs and only ever make BLU RAY AVCHD or the odd DVD.good luck :)

This may be some help in understanding it all.
http://www.pixela.co.jp/en/products/camera/pix_bu010_p01/dvd_data.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD
 
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what i said but i thought software of some sort was a must to make a disc,could be wrong.
 
what i said but i thought software of some sort was a must to make a disc,could be wrong.

To make a playable AVCHD disc you do need software.

In this case TSMuxergui takes the compliant 1080i files and builds the two folders required for an AVCHD Disc BDMV and CERTIFICATE. (It only takes a few minutes as no recoding is required)

Once you have the two folders all you need to do is burn these to a DVD blank using the UDF 2.50 format. Among many others IMGBURN (Free) can easily do this.
 
To make a playable AVCHD disc you do need software.

In this case TSMuxergui takes the compliant 1080i files and builds the two folders required for an AVCHD Disc BDMV and CERTIFICATE. (It only takes a few minutes as no recoding is required)

Once you have the two folders all you need to do is burn these to a DVD blank using the UDF 2.50 format. Among many others IMGBURN (Free) can easily do this.

yes i will stick to the normal way though,when i watch footage from a card on my ps3 no way would i want it not edited,it might be ok for the op though.
 
yes i will stick to the normal way though,when i watch footage from a card on my ps3 no way would i want it not edited,it might be ok for the op though.

There's no reason why you can't use an editor to output a H264/AVC file complete with titles etc. And use that file in TSmuxer. You can't make a AVCHD disc with menus and chapters this way but I imagine you can't either by streaming a AVCHD file to a PS3.
 
Why can't you just play the files straight from the external hard drive?

If you have an older TV without a USB input the you can buy something like a Western Digital Media player to go between your hard drive and the TV. Then you can play the clips without altering them just as you do on the PS3

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Western-Digital-Live-Media-Player/dp/B002LZUHMI
 
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Why can't you just play the files straight from the external hard drive?

If you have an older TV without a USB input the you can buy something like a Western Digital Media player to go between your hard drive and the TV. Then you can play the clips without altering them just as you do on the PS3

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Western-Digital-Live-Media-Player/dp/B002LZUHMI

Most of us like to give playable copies to bore the pants of our friends/relations who shared our experiences :D
 
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Why can't you just play the files straight from the external hard drive?

If you have an older TV without a USB input the you can buy something like a Western Digital Media player to go between your hard drive and the TV. Then you can play the clips without altering them just as you do on the PS3

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Western-Digital-Live-Media-Player/dp/B002LZUHMI

Somehow the hard drive format is ntfs which the ps3 does not support. I can't format hard drive as i got a lot of stuff on it.

Will take on some of the suggestions and will keep everyone informed even though you don't care about it :laugh::boring:
 
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There's no reason why you can't use an editor to output a H264/AVC file complete with titles etc. And use that file in TSmuxer. You can't make a AVCHD disc with menus and chapters this way but I imagine you can't either by streaming a AVCHD file to a PS3.

Sorry i am a bit lost,probobly because i only make them with standard software i did one today with 4 menus and titles on each film,Playing back the raw clips which is easy with a card reader is ok but i like edited main discs bd in my case,we all collect different things some people collect stamps :laugh:cheers
 
Somehow the hard drive format is ntfs which the ps3 does not support. I can't format hard drive as i got a lot of stuff on it.

Will take on some of the suggestions and will keep everyone informed even though you don't care about it :laugh::boring:

If you connect the drive to a PC (which does support ntfs) and the PC and PS3 are both connected to a home network, then you can stream the content from a shared drive to the PS3 and it's connected display. Provided the PC can read the disc it makes no difference to the PS3.

Run this on your PC and share the drive with the content

http://www.ps3mediaserver.org/

On the PS3 using the video content choose network and locate the shared folder, you can play suitable content via the pS3 from the ntfs drive on your computer to to the TV. The same software will stream content from any HDD on your network to a DNLA TV.
 
Sorry i am a bit lost,probobly because i only make them with standard software i did one today with 4 menus and titles on each film,Playing back the raw clips which is easy with a card reader is ok but i like edited main discs bd in my case,we all collect different things some people collect stamps :laugh:cheers

What software do you use to make menus etc, can i do that? And is this dvd's???
 
What software do you use to make menus etc, can i do that? And is this dvd's???

movie studio hd or pinnacle 12 which i prefer to 14 and 15 to much hassle with them,menus can be put on DVD AVCHD OR BLU RAY DISC,remember DVD is only sd resolution.Pinnacle will be easier for you to learn to use.
 
Just want to thank everyone who posted in this thread! :)

More or less got it working using tsmuxer + imgburn, audio is a bit out of sync in some of my test clips but main point is is that i have got it burning onto dvds
 
Just want to thank everyone who posted in this thread! :)

More or less got it working using tsmuxer + imgburn, audio is a bit out of sync in some of my test clips but main point is is that i have got it burning onto dvds

:clap::smashin:
 
Good to read that - I just hope Webmaster could fix this latest "improvement" - must be eating HDD space, eh?

Then there's the Editing to remove the duplications - Arrgh.
 

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