AVCHD Rewrap?

[Laguna Hiker]

Is anyone out there rewrapping AVCHD footage? For those who may be unfamiliar with the term, rewrapping converts one H.264 file format to another, without transcoding the H.264 stream embedded in the original file. A header is written for the new file format, and the stream is copied into the new file, without any generational loss in quality.

Why rewrap? It's not strictly necessary, since most modern NLEs handle AVCHD natively, but I like the idea of being able to store H.264 footage in a single file, such as an MP4 or a MOV, rather than the multiple file structure required for AVCHD. If I can get the conversion done as a rewrap, then it's worth it to me.

Mac users have an app that will rewrap AVCHD as a MOV file, and I have been looking for a similar utility on the Windows side, which is where I live. I've tried FFMBC, but haven't had much luck with it.

Is anyone rewrapping AVCHD on the Windows side? I'd be interested in hearing how you got it to work.

[Woody]

I rewrap my AVCHD out of my FS100 for Da Vinci resolve projects to MP4 with AWPro http://hdcinematics.com/tools/AWProClient.html It will do batches, its fast and works like a charm and it's free. I tried Winrewrap but I get some crazy errors in windows 7 but AWPro is awesome.

 

Da Vinci won't take the M2T files but with this I rewrap to MP4 without any generation loss and get the original footage in resolve for grading.

[Laguna Hiker]

Thanks, Woody. I had tried WinRewrap but, like you, I had problems, I'll give AW Pro Client a go–it sounds like it's working well for you.

[Woody]

It is LH. It's also a help in keeping organized as it also automatically does reel names and such. Very handy tool and rewrapping is super fast. I'll drop a entire days shooting in it then go have a sandwich and a cold one and come back and it's done.

[JKnight]

I use a thing called WinRewrap using ffmbc

 

here is a link to some information about it 

http://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/4775/-winrewrap-batch-rewrap-mts-to-mp4mov-./p1

 

jknight

http://www.knightmedia.us

[rs170a]

Laguna, I use Vegas Pro and have not had any problems. I converted one AVCHD file at 29.97 and another at 59.94 and both remained at 29.97 and 59.94 and in sync after being rewrapped.

To ensure a far test, I rewrapped to most of the offered formats and everything turned out fine.

 

Mike

[Laguna Hiker]

Thanks very much. That is very helpful. It seems to be a Premiere Pro problem. It imports fine into Final Cut Pro and Avid. I guess it's just a Premiere Pro bug. That's a real shame–I begin to understand why so many people use FCP. It may be time to switch.

[trocha]

Hi Laguna,

Dave Kaminski of WebVideoUniversity.com offers a simple software that rewraps AVCHD files in a matter of seconds.

 

Plus, it's available for Windows as well as Macs.

 

Larry T

[trocha]

Hi Laguna,

Email Dave and tell him what you are looking for.

He usually responds within 48 hours.

[faninaith]

I rewrap AVCHD files with a little piece of software called Faasoft AVCHD to MP4 Converter.

 

Here is a step by step guide on how to use this software to rewrap AVCHD to MP4, AVI, MOV, WMV, FLV, etc at: http://www.faasoft.com/articles/avchd-to-mp4.html

 

Hope it is what you are looking for.

[Laguna Hiker]

Thanks. It looks like a pretty good converter, but it appears to be a transcoder, not a rewrapper. As a result, it produces a one-generation loss of quality. A true rewrapper rewrites the original stream to the new file, avoiding the decompress-recompress cycle and preserving 100% of the quality of the original.

[Tunguy]

Sorry If I sound like an idiot, but could you explain to me why you would want to rewrap to store H.264 in a single file? Does this mean that you combine files of footage ?? OK, I need a short primer on what one is trying to achieve.. 🙂 

[Laguna Hiker]

Personal preference–I look for the most durable formats (the ones I feel are least likely to become obsolete) for archival purposes. I occasionally work on projects that involve old footage, and a lot of it is unsable because its file format was proprietary and fell out of use.

 

 

[mug670]

Hi Laguna,

on my Windows 7 PC I use MKV to MP4 to rewarp all of my MTS clips to .MP4. It works great. But after rewraping, unfortunately it is not possible to write Metadata in Adobe Brigde (like Copyright, Rating, Date of Creation or other).  If you want to do this, you can use X Media Recode but only the Version 3166 ( older Versions ) because the newer Versions make something in another way so that the video in Adobe Bridge and Adobe Premiere Elements are shorter than the original Videos.

 

[whitemax]

Long post……That's depend on what you want  your converted files to? AVCHD is mostly encoded under H.264, for some NLEs, that can be import natively.

 

[JKnight]

WinRewrap worked for me but it took me a half hour to figure out, something to do with running it as an administrator and then unblocking fmbcc 

 

Jknight

video production syracuse ny

[Laguna Hiker]

Woody, what NLE do you use? AWPro rewraps work fine, but when I import rewrapped footage into Premiere Pro CC, the video frame rate is messed up. A 29.97 FPS file, rewrapped and then imported into Premiere, appears there as a 23.976 FPS video, but with audio at the original length and out of sync. The rewrap imports correctly into everything except Premiere Pro. Have you come across anything like this?

 

BTW, I tried the Premiere Pro forums, but they simply want to argue against rewrapping AVCHD. Thanks for your help.

[Laguna Hiker]

Thanks, Larry. I went to the web site, but all I could access was the marketing pitch. It seems one has to sign up for a subscription to get anywhere else. Is there a way to see the app without subscribing? Better yet, can you provide a link to the software page? Thanks.

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