AVCHD -> AVIsynth or MP4 --- I'm not getting it

[dwallersv]

Okay, please bear with me and forgive me for what are surely n00b questions. I've searched for the last two hours to try and figure this out, and am just more confused.

To set the context, I'm well-versed with the NTSC world and all our favorite tools (avisynth, MeGUI, Gknot, and many more). I thought I was pretty slick with all my archiving, editing, transcoding, etc. in this world.

I've ordered Hauppauge's HD PVR device so I can start archiving in HD. This device produces h264 video with AAC audio -- so far so good. It puts it in an AVCHD container -- that's where I'm stuck.

I don't have the device yet (just ordered it). However, I'm trying to get my ducks in line so I can hit the road running when it gets here.

So... How do I demux an AVCHD container to get the h264 video stream in one file, and the AAC audio in another, to work on them with the usual toolchain? I have no use for the AVCHD container -- I plan to put everything in MP4 so I can use it throughout my house (all clients I have will handle MP4 -- xbox360, PCs, etc.).

I see a lot of talking in various posts about some TS thingy, but since two letters are too little to search on for the board software, I'm just stumbling around blind here.

Thanks in advance!

[Turtleggjp]

AVCHD uses a transport stream container, the same as used on Blu Ray discs. Neuron2's new DGAVCIndex program does support indexing these AVCHD files (not sure how well it handles demuxing of AAC audio though), so that you can then serve the files into AVI Synth for further transcoding. If you are after the raw stream to be simply put into an MP4 container, you might try Xport to demux both streams. I'm assuming that once you have the raw AVC/H.264 and AAC streams, you have the tools to put them together into an MP4 file (I've never done that myself). Another tool you might try is TSMuxer. It's a little more advanced than Xport, and might be better if you needed to join multiple files.

Matt

[dwallersv]

Great advice... thanks! I'll try those tools.

I had read up on Neuron's new tools for AVC and AVISynth, and was going to go down that road as a last resort. As you correctly surmised, I'd like to avoid recoding if necessary, as the raw streams are already in the right format. If I can just get them out of the AVCHD "container", I can repackage them with MP4 or MKV with existing tools (MeGUI, for example).

I'll report back with an evaluation writeup for the board after my Hauppauge HD PVR arrives.

[Turtleggjp]

If I can just get them out of the AVCHD "container", I can repackage them with MP4 or MKV with existing tools (MeGUI, for example).

This should not be a problem, as AVCHD is becoming a popular format to use for video cameras (I have one on the way myself) and it is just like Blu Ray discs. Unless your card's software does some weird proprietary stuff with its AVCHD format, you shouldn't have any trouble working with it.

[Blue_MiSfit]

Indeed. I would try TSMuxer to demux the streams.

~MiSfit

[dwallersv]

My Hauppauge device arrives this coming tuesday.

However, I broke down and bought a Sony HDR SR11 HD videocam yesterday (what a cool toy!!), which outputs AVCHD. I'm having a go at it today with TSMuxer, and will report back on my experiences "repackaging" the raw streams into an MP4 and then testing compatability on the Xbox360, which is my lowest-common-denominator media device on the home network.

Again, thanks for the (always) great help, gang!