AVCHD Lite

[HouseCat]

I am looking at getting a lumix DMC-FT1 camera which features AVCHD lite recording format.

Is AVCHD lite just 720p H.264 video?

Will I be able to use ripbot264 to re-encode this format?

[Chengbin]

I think what they mean is that they use a less CPU intensive setting to encode the video. You should have no problem encoding it with ripbot264

[HouseCat]

So just a marketing, advertising thing then.

[Inspector.Gadget]

AVCHD Lite = 720p only, according to http://www.avchd-info.org/trademark/index.html.

[7ekno]

Bought the same Camera ~ 12 days ago ;)

Image quality is pretty awesome for what it is ...

The Video is H.264 inside an MTS container, and can easily be played back by Media Player Classic - HT (and any other player) ...

Some players (like VLC) have an issue with playing the Video back at double speed (50fps instead of 25fps), but as far as I can tell, it's just HP@4.1 H.264 limited to 17Mbps and 1280x720 resolution ...

The .MTS can be accessed directly in Avisynth with DirectShowSource() via FFDShow_tryout (and doesn't have any FPS issues) ... Also plays fine with DivX7 H.264 and CoreAVC decoders ....(but VLC and TheKMPlayer internal codecs play at double rate for some reason) ...

Enjoy the camera, it's awesome at underwater shots ...

7ek

[HouseCat]

Great. Thanks for the info :)

If you were to upload 720p from it to youtube what encoding settings would you use to enable youtube HQ and HD video modes

[Inspector.Gadget]

Use DGAVCDec for Avisynth indexing of H.264 sources, much better than DirectShowSource....

[7ekno]

Use DGAVCDec for Avisynth indexing of H.264 sources, much better than DirectShowSource....

Good in theory, but the raw files are *.MTS, which DGAVCDec doesn't read directly ... so it's either a 2-step process and use DGAVCDec, or being lazy and having the MTS files directly usable via DirectShowSource() ;)

7ek

[Inspector.Gadget]

Up to you if you want to deal with potentially broken DirectShow filters.

[HouseCat]

I read there's a maximum of 15mins video recording time.

true?

[7ekno]

Up to you if you want to deal with potentially broken DirectShow filters.

Direct show is using FFDShow, while DGAVC is using libavcodec.dll, which, as mentioned above (in the fact VLC plays the videos at 50fps instead of 25fps), is the broken one :P Even in Avisynth, using AVCSource() with a framerate specified as 25 (after manually changing it from the orginally detected 50fps), it still plays back at 50fps ...

So technically, libavcodec.dll (and therefor DGAVC) is the "broken" one in this case ...

I read there's a maximum of 15mins video recording time.

true?

Nope, the MJPEG mode is limited to 2GB file sizes and the AVCLite mode is limited by memory (whether it's SD Card memory or internal memory) ... The first day I got it with a 16GB SD Card, I left it recording until the battery ran flat at about the 82 minute mark ...

You can even check the User's manual at - http://panasonic.com.au/content/library/files/F002294.pdf - from Panasonic AU ... Card Specs on pg 21, Recording Motion Pictures section starts at page 69, the video mode limitations documented on page 73 & 74 :)

7ek

[nm]

Direct show is using FFDShow, while DGAVC is using libavcodec.dll, which, as mentioned above (in the fact VLC plays the videos at 50fps instead of 25fps), is the broken one :P Even in Avisynth, using AVCSource() with a framerate specified as 25 (after manually changing it from the orginally detected 50fps), it still plays back at 50fps ...
ffdshow also uses libavcodec for H.264 decoding. So, maybe your problem is already fixed in current versions. Could you post a sample clip?

[7ekno]

ffdshow also uses libavcodec for H.264 decoding. So, maybe your problem is already fixed in current versions. Could you post a sample clip?

Sure: http://www.users.on.net/~tekno/AVC/00000.MTS

It's about 35MB, 20sec AVClite, meant to be 1280x720 at 25fps (plays at double rate via AVCSource(), VLC and the internal codec inside TheKMPlayer, but plays back normally with MPC-HT and TheKMPlayer with external source set to FFDShow, CoreAVC or DivX H.264) ..

7ek

[nm]

Apparently the stream is supposed to be (soft-) pulled down to 50p, but looks like they are using some new convention to do that. Many demuxers and players don't interpret the timing signals used in these files as the manufacturer intended. For example, MPlayer+libavformat (-demuxer lavf) works, but MPlayer's default TS demuxer doesn't.

To get the correct framerate in VLC and some of the encoding tools, you could demux the video and audio with tsMuxeR or eac3to and mux them to Matroska.

[SeeMoreDigital]

Bought the same Camera ~ 12 days ago ;)

Image quality is pretty awesome for what it is ...

The Video is H.264 inside an MTS container, and can easily be played back by Media Player Classic - HT (and any other player) ...Interesting... I'd like to see how well my Panasonic PZ81B TV copes with these AVCHD Lite captures.

Could you do me a favour? Capture three very short video clips and upload (using RapidShare or similar). Please keep the files and folders intact ie: keep everything within the "PRIVATE" folder.


Many thanks

[7ekno]

Could you do me a favour? Capture three very short video clips and upload (using RapidShare or similar). Please keep the files and folders intact ie: keep everything within the "PRIVATE" folder.


Many thanks

Sure, at work at the moment, will take vids and upload over night, so give me 24 hours to post a link here for ya ;)

OK, this is the exact Directory structure off the SD Card (there are 3 MTS's ~ 15 secs each at PAL 1280x720 25fps AVCHDlite and 3 stills)

96MB, download from: http://www.mediafire.com/file/vx4gznz0unx/AVCHDlite_PAL_SDCard_example.7z

7ek

[SeeMoreDigital]

Many thanks :)

[SeeMoreDigital]

86MB, download from: http://www.teknosrealm.com/examples/SDCard.7zMany thanks,

The sample works perfectly with my TV... I'm going to contact DeanK (http://forum.doom9.org/member.php?u=156185) to see if there's anything in this sample that can help him with his multiAVCHD application...


Cheers

[HouseCat]

Nope, the MJPEG mode is limited to 2GB file sizes and the AVCLite mode is limited by memory (whether it's SD Card memory or internal memory) ... The first day I got it with a 16GB SD Card, I left it recording until the battery ran flat at about the 82 minute mark ...

You can even check the User's manual at - http://panasonic.com.au/content/library/files/F002294.pdf - from Panasonic AU ... Card Specs on pg 21, Recording Motion Pictures section starts at page 69, the video mode limitations documented on page 73 & 74 :)

7ek
One more thing.
Can it take photos in true 16.9 or does it just crop the picture.

[7ekno]

One more thing.
Can it take photos in true 16.9 or does it just crop the picture.

Hehe, depends on physics :P There aren't many ways to get a 16:9 picture from a 4:3 CMOS sensor ;)

The 4:3 pics are 12MP, the 16:9 ones are 9MP (so I guess your would call it "cropped"!!) ...

Tek
PS I love MultiAVCHD, so if this can help in the slightest, I have no probs with it being passed around :)