How to bring .m2ts file into FCP or Compressor.

Hey All,

I am recording video game footage with the Hauppague HDPVR and the corresponding HDPVRCapture software; the format of the raw recorded file is .m2ts and the framerate I am recording at is 59.94. The HDPVRCapture software also creates a repackaged .mp4 file but I think the way it does this is a little bit screwed up because the framerate becomes 59.91.

The only way I can get this to work right in FCP is to run it through Compressor to fix the framerate back to 59.94 but this takes forever and causes slight quality loss...is there any way for me to manually put the raw .m2ts file through compressor for the initial mp4 conversion and (hopefully) avoid the frame rate screw up? It doesn't seem like compressor can do this, but I'm hoping that I am overlooking something; thanks!

Telestream has a very expensive solution for inside of Compressor.

But I'd look at MPEGStream Clip or Handbrake.

Okay I looked into these. MPEG Streamclip actually doesn't input .mt2s at the moment but Handbrake does and appears to work beautifully. I'm still a little unclear about what I should make all the settings in order to get the best quality (all I really want to be doing is convert to mpeg 4 and make sure the frame rate is 29.97p with as little quality loss as possible).

Based on this I selected "High Profile" as the default settings and modified it a bit to get this:

Format: MP4 (with the "Large file size" box checked, high profile default)
Video Codec: H.264
Framerate: 29.97 (NTSC Video) with Constant Framerate selected
Video Quality: RF 19 (RF 20 was the default, but I read that RF 19 is optimal)
Picture Settings: I disabled the anamorphic stuff so its just same size with no cropping
Video Filters: (Decomb, high profile default)
Audio Settings: AAC (CoreAudio) Mono for both inputs that were there - Sample Rate Auto, Bitrate 80

I did not mess with any of the advanced settings.

Does this sound correct (in particular the RF thing I am just taking on faith)? It looks like the result is great; seemingly zero quality loss (it actually seems to look a little smoother/better) and the resultant file is pretty much the same file size as the source. Thanks!

i highly recommend that you drop hdpvr capture and use eyetv 3. it's by far the better application for the hauppauge hd pvr.

when you export the video, select elemenatary stream. no transcoding will be done. if you like, you can do so. for editing i suggest prores. this will get rid of the stupid green flash-frames in fcp7/x or avid media composer if you import the footage directly into those applications.

though, eyetv transcoding is rather slow. i prefer adobe media encoder

but back to your problem...


if have adobe media encode installed, then use this for your transcoding to prores.

as a alternative i would recommend iffmpeg if you don't have adobe media encoder. transcode your footage here to prores aswell.

I would recommend you also try m2ts converter which is free to download trial software.