I'm starting this thread because there seem to be some fairly good similar threads in this forum but none that specifically address my issues.
I recently have been using a Canon HF100 to captureHD video, but had no idea what an ordeal it would be to deal with the media. It generates mts containers, which get converted to m2ts files when using the ImageMixer3 software. The video codec is H264 and the audio codec is AC3. I'm using Vista 32 bit on a fairly recent laptop, a T61p with an Nvidia Quadro FX570M with 256MB.
The problems were:
The native videos don't play well with the ImageMixer software, VLC, Media Player Classic Home Cinema, or Windows Media Player. I could get them to play fairly well by installing Haali media spliter and FFDShow, but Haali media splitter interferes with ImageMixer, which is the best way I've found of automatically getting the videos off the SD card and cataloging them.
I finally found a program called Splash, which is currently in beta. At first it didn't work that well either - very choppy - until I figured out how to upgrade the video drivers. The newer CUDA-enabled drivers won't install regularly, I guess because the installed drivers were Lenovo-specific. You have to replace the driver manually by using the "Have disk" method. Anyway, after getting the CUDA-enabled driver to install, Splash plays them beautifully with GPU-acceleration.
The other issue was how to encode them to upload to Flickr, which I use for my pic and video sharing. I finally settled on Corel VideoStudio Pro X2, which seems to work fairly well in converting them to 1080p or 720pmpg files that play smoothly. The VideoStudio has a batch feature so that I can just throw all my videos from a trip in and have them convert overnight. Then I just upload them to Flickr. It has the capability of burning Blu-Ray format discs (only Blu-Ray discs or DVD discs) (also m2ts generally??, I think) but I haven't tried that yet. I've read that VideoStudio has problems with stuttering on transitions but I haven't tried that yet. I've read another option is Sony Vegas, but others have had issues with it crashing, etc.
Anyway, I thought this might help someone else with similar problems. Also, if anyone else has any suggestions on better ways to play the video or re-encode it, since my only solution ended up being a beta product with an unclear future.
These cameras have been out for a couple years now, so I was surprised that the "simple" task of playing and re-encoding these videos is so hit or miss. Mostly miss. I'm sure part of my issue was trying to do it on a notebook, but I wanted to be able to work with them on the road, since I take half my videos on trips. Am I missing something? I'm a pretty experienced computer user and was surprised I had to thrash around so long before finding a system that worked. No way an average user (like my wife) could figure it out.
