AVCHD Support

[S1CEM]

I just recently purchased a Kodak Zi8 pocket camcorder to shoot some everyday video of our son (especially on Christmas day!) and, after realizing that carrying both my digital camera and the Zi8 was a bit of a pain, decided to do some research on digital cameras that also support HD video recording....thus, a method to have everything in one package.

What I settled on was the Panasonic Lumix DMC-TS1, a "ruggedized" compact cam that by all accounts takes very good still shots, even in low light, but also records 720p video in AVCHD Lite format (even better, it can do all of this in up to 10 feet of water, which I can't wait to try!). I was planning to upgrade my Smugmug account to the PRO level so that I could store my videos from this cam, but alas I've come to notice that Smugmug does not support the AVCHD Lite format for videos (which I find strange since AVCHD Lite is simply an mp4/h.264 variant and they support both of those).

My question is, what's the best way around this? Will Smugmug ever support these videos? Is there a method to convert them to a supported file type without degradation? It's very important to me to maintain the original quality of the video (it's why I went with HD recording capability). Can anyone offer some insight?

For the record, I have a PC running Windows Vista 64-Bit if that makes any difference in the advice recommended.

Thanks in advance! :beer

[phototristan]

I just recently purchased a Kodak Zi8 pocket camcorder to shoot some everyday video of our son (especially on Christmas day!) and, after realizing that carrying both my digital camera and the Zi8 was a bit of a pain, decided to do some research on digital cameras that also support HD video recording....thus, a method to have everything in one package.

What I settled on was the Panasonic Lumix DMC-TS1, a "ruggedized" compact cam that by all accounts takes very good still shots, even in low light, but also records 720p video in AVCHD Lite format (even better, it can do all of this in up to 10 feet of water, which I can't wait to try!). I was planning to upgrade my Smugmug account to the PRO level so that I could store my videos from this cam, but alas I've come to notice that Smugmug does not support the AVCHD Lite format for videos (which I find strange since AVCHD Lite is simply an mp4/h.264 variant and they support both of those).

My question is, what's the best way around this? Will Smugmug ever support these videos? Is there a method to convert them to a supported file type without degradation? It's very important to me to maintain the original quality of the video (it's why I went with HD recording capability). Can anyone offer some insight?

For the record, I have a PC running Windows Vista 64-Bit if that makes any difference in the advice recommended.

Thanks in advance! :beer

I can't comment on what the future might hold in terms of support for this format however, you should be able to convert your video prior to upload using MPEG StreamClip and the following recommended settings:

http://wiki.smugmug.net/display/SmugMug/How+to+convert+and+format+a+video+for+upload+to+Sm ugMug

And here's our wiki page with the list of all the formats and codecs that we currently support: http://wiki.smugmug.net/display/SmugMug/Video+Formats

[S1CEM]

I can't comment on what the future might hold in terms of support for this format however, you should be able to convert your video prior to upload using MPEG StreamClip and the following recommended settings:

http://wiki.smugmug.net/display/SmugMug/How+to+convert+and+format+a+video+for+upload+to+Sm ugMug

And here's our wiki page with the list of all the formats and codecs that we currently support: http://wiki.smugmug.net/display/SmugMug/Video+Formats

Thanks Tristan! I'm going to look into this and I'll follow up. Do you know if converting via Streamclip results in quality loss?

Also, just fyi....in the wiki on supported file types, Doc had mentioned to one person who was also asking about the .mts/.mt2s file type that some customers stated they were able to just change the file extension and the clips worked. I can say after trying this that it does not work, at least not for me. Just wanted to throw that out there. These AVCHD Lite videos are great (I've at least been able to get them on YouTube at HD quality), but I GREATLY hope that Smugmug will offer support for these in the near future. I would HAPPILY upgrade to a PRO account if the option were there.

Thanks again!:thumb

[S1CEM]

I can't comment on what the future might hold in terms of support for this format however, you should be able to convert your video prior to upload using MPEG StreamClip and the following recommended settings:

http://wiki.smugmug.net/display/SmugMug/How+to+convert+and+format+a+video+for+upload+to+Sm ugMug

And here's our wiki page with the list of all the formats and codecs that we currently support: http://wiki.smugmug.net/display/SmugMug/Video+Formats

Okay, got StreamClip, but new issue.

You mention "dragging" the video file to StreamClip. When trying this, it gives me the little black circle with the crossbar and it will not drop into the StreamClip window.

Additionally, I should note that my PC also does not recognize these files without me going directly through the camera software, PHOTOfunSTUDIO 3.0. Is it possible StreamClip won't take the file because the PC cannot identify the file as a video? What should I do?

[phototristan]

Okay, got StreamClip, but new issue.

You mention "dragging" the video file to StreamClip. When trying this, it gives me the little black circle with the crossbar and it will not drop into the StreamClip window.

Additionally, I should note that my PC also does not recognize these files without me going directly through the camera software, PHOTOfunSTUDIO 3.0. Is it possible StreamClip won't take the file because the PC cannot identify the file as a video? What should I do?

I would recommend you use the camera software. Usually you can output a more compatible format using that software. Then, you should either be able to upload the resulting video directly to SmugMug, or use MPEG StreamClip to convert it.

[Erick L]

What I settled on was the Panasonic Lumix DMC-TS1, a "ruggedized" compact cam that by all accounts takes very good still shots, even in low light, but also records 720p video in AVCHD Lite format (even better, it can do all of this in up to 10 feet of water, which I can't wait to try!). I was planning to upgrade my Smugmug account to the PRO level so that I could store my videos from this cam, but alas I've come to notice that Smugmug does not support the AVCHD Lite format for videos (which I find strange since AVCHD Lite is simply an mp4/h.264 variant and they support both of those).

I've uploaded files from that same camera without problem.