I'm in need of some way to upload Sony .m2ts video files to Smugmug. Can anyone offer advice on how to do that?

I've got a full HD video camera from Sony. It uses H.264, but natively produces files with a .m2ts extension. I can't for the life of me figure out how to get them uploaded to Smugmug in full HD. They upload perfectly fine directly to YouTube, but I'd like some of them in my Smugmug galleries.

I've read a bunch of different threads (from the last couple years) that mention Sony .m2ts files and had no luck with that information.

I first tried MPEG_Streamclip. But, when I try to run it, it wants me to deinstall everything related to QuickTime and install an experimental release of QuickTime. Sorry, but that's not a sustainable path for me. I'm not going to manually maintain an appropriate version of an experimental release of QuickTime. So, I never even got to the point where I could run MPEG_Streamclip.

Then, I tried VirtualDub. It won't open my .m2ts file.

Why, oh why doesn't Smugmug just support direct upload of .m2ts files? It's what one of the largest consumer electronics makers in the world produces out of their video cameras. YouTube supports it just fine. I don't have to do any conversions on it to upload it there.

Why does this have to be so complicated? Why can't Smugmug make it "just work" with my existing video files like YouTube has?

Originally Posted by jfriend I'm in need of some way to upload Sony .m2ts video files to Smugmug. Can anyone offer advice on how to do that? I've got a full HD video camera from Sony. It uses H.264, but natively produces files with a .m2ts extension. I can't for the life of me figure out how to get them uploaded to Smugmug in full HD. They upload perfectly fine directly to YouTube, but I'd like some of them in my Smugmug galleries. I've read a bunch of different threads (from the last couple years) that mention Sony .m2ts files and had no luck with that information. I first tried MPEG_Streamclip. But, when I try to run it, it wants me to deinstall everything related to QuickTime and install an experimental release of QuickTime. Sorry, but that's not a sustainable path for me. I'm not going to manually maintain an appropriate version of an experimental release of QuickTime. So, I never even got to the point where I could run MPEG_Streamclip. Then, I tried VirtualDub. It won't open my .m2ts file. Why, oh why doesn't Smugmug just support direct upload of .m2ts files? It's what one of the largest consumer electronics makers in the world produces out of their video cameras. YouTube supports it just fine. I don't have to do any conversions on it to upload it there. Why does this have to be so complicated? Why can't Smugmug make it "just work" with my existing video files like YouTube has?

Our video system is not capable of accepting m2ts files. I do wish I had a better answer for you.

Some members have had success doing the work around at the bottom of the page here: http://wiki.smugmug.net/display/SmugMug/Video+Formats

I hope this helps.

Originally Posted by phototristan Our video system is not capable of accepting m2ts files. I do wish I had a better answer for you. Some members have had success doing the work around at the bottom of the page here: http://wiki.smugmug.net/display/SmugMug/Video+Formats I hope this helps.

Changing the extension to .mp4 worked for this .m2t file.

Originally Posted by phototristan Our video system is not capable of accepting m2ts files. I do wish I had a better answer for you. Some members have had success doing the work around at the bottom of the page here: http://wiki.smugmug.net/display/SmugMug/Video+Formats I hope this helps.

OK, I tried the advice in that thread and that Allen provided to just rename the video to .mp4. I tried it first on a short 4 second clip and it worked! The video showed in the gallery and playing it worked. Then I tried it on a 1:36 video that was 197MB and it worked too. It took more than 2 hours for the video to show in my gallery, but now that it has shown, it does work.

One wonders why you don't just make the uploader smarter so it knows it can accept these particular .m2ts files rather than send your customers through the hoops I've been through. I probably wasted 10 hours trying to figure this one out. If I wasn't dgrin savvy, I would have just given up and used YouTube.

Originally Posted by jfriend OK, I tried the advice in that thread and that Allen provided to just rename the video to .mp4. I tried it first on a short 4 second clip and it worked! The video showed in the gallery and playing it worked. Then I tried it on a 1:36 video that was 197MB and it worked too. It took more than 2 hours for the video to show in my gallery, but now that it has shown, it does work. One wonders why you don't just make the uploader smarter so it knows it can accept these particular .m2ts files rather than send your customers through the hoops I've been through. I probably wasted 10 hours trying to figure this one out. If I wasn't dgrin savvy, I would have just given up and used YouTube.

I apologize for the inconvenience. Your suggestion is a good one and something that has been talked about. It could be something that might change the future!

Regarding your video that is not currently playing, please write us at the helpdesk on that. We will need to look into your account.

Originally Posted by jfriend OK, I tried the advice in that thread and that Allen provided to just rename the video to .mp4. I tried it first on a short 4 second clip and it worked! The video showed in the gallery and playing it worked. Then I tried it on a 1:36 video that was 197MB and it worked too. It took more than 2 hours for the video to show in my gallery, but now that it has shown, it does work. One wonders why you don't just make the uploader smarter so it knows it can accept these particular .m2ts files rather than send your customers through the hoops I've been through. I probably wasted 10 hours trying to figure this one out. If I wasn't dgrin savvy, I would have just given up and used YouTube.

I'm sorry I didn't see this thread or I would have given you the method. It took me 2 weeks figuring out the "change the name to .mp4" method, because at the time the work-around wasn't posted on the SmugMug help page.

Is changing the file extension to .mp4 still the best method to load Sony camera videos? I upgraded my membership in order to upload my videos and now i can't get them uploaded.

Originally Posted by jersmith Is changing the file extension to .mp4 still the best method to load Sony camera videos? I upgraded my membership in order to upload my videos and now i can't get them uploaded.

That's what I do and it works.

Once the file extension is changed to .mp4 what program do you use to play the video on the PC as the Sony based PM2 program will no longer work.

Is there an easy way to change the extension on multiple files or do we have to do it one at a time? A real hassle if you have a lot of files.

Originally Posted by jersmith Once the file extension is changed to .mp4 what program do you use to play the video on the PC as the Sony based PM2 program will no longer work.

I make a new temporary directory and copy the videos that I want to upload to that directory and rename those. I don't rename the originals. Yes, it's a hassle, but it's the only way I've found to do this without messing up my originals.

Originally Posted by jersmith Once the file extension is changed to .mp4 what program do you use to play the video on the PC as the Sony based PM2 program will no longer work.

I wouldn't change the originals, but you could simply change them back after uploading to SM.

Originally Posted by jersmith Is there an easy way to change the extension on multiple files or do we have to do it one at a time? A real hassle if you have a lot of files.

Yes. You have to use the command line in windows and the REN (rename) command. Syntax would be REN *.m2t *.mp4. This would rename all files ending in .m2t to ones ending in .mp4. You can also rename the .mp4s back to .m2ts using this command. It works almost instantly.

Originally Posted by jfriend I make a new temporary directory and copy the videos that I want to upload to that directory and rename those. I don't rename the originals. Yes, it's a hassle, but it's the only way I've found to do this without messing up my originals.

I'd highly recommend this workflow. You can always delete the uploaded videos once you're done, and the downside is that you have a lot less chance of messing up your originals.

I was able to successfully load my videos but when i play them back they do a lot of very brief and intermittent stopping/starting, not a smooth play. Any ideas?

Originally Posted by jersmith I was able to successfully load my videos but when i play them back they do a lot of very brief and intermittent stopping/starting, not a smooth play. Any ideas?

I would guess that your internet connection is too slow to keep up with the
initial down loading of the video. When this happens to me I usually hit pause
and wait for most of it to load .

That worked, thanks Al!

I upload my .mts files and they work no problem.

Is it better to change the extension to .mp4?

Originally Posted by nish I upload my .mts files and they work no problem. Is it better to change the extension to .mp4?

If it's working a-okay, you don't really need to convert them prior to upload. Note that we actually convert them once uploaded so if you download them from SmugMug back to your computer, it will be an .mp4 files with the h.264 codec.

Hi Tristan.

Thats great. Thanks for the reply.