DVD to web

[Bonegavel]

We have conferences given by our doctors that we are recording with a Canon Vixia HF11 (great camera btw). Our ultimate goal is get this posted on our intranet for folks to view this that couldn't make the conference (every second they are away from their duties is lost revenue).

The HF11 creates .mts files and the camera does not come with conversion software. Since the camera can burn right to a DVD I've done that but now I want to rip that and make a wmv or a flash file from this. Anyone know a good (good meaning free) way to do this?

I have some version of Nero7 and am running windows XP (meaning I have windows media player 11).

[gstelmack]

Does the camera have firewire? Just rip it into Windows MovieMaker and have it save it off in a web format. It has various compression settings for handling this stuff.

[Bonegavel]

Just USB and I can copy the file to my PC but it is in the MTS format which nothing seems to be able to open.

I just opened movie maker and it can't do anything with the DVD or the MTS files.

[cartman]

I'm pretty sure that Pinnacle's Studio software can convert MTS into various other formats.
Video editing software - Pinnacle Studio - The #1 selling digital video editing software (http://www.pinnaclesys.com/PublicSite/us/Products/Consumer+Products/Home+Video/Studio+Family/)

If you have access to a Linux box, here is a link on how to convert from MTS to AVI with freeware products:
Transcoding MTS/M2TS AVCHD Video Into AVI Files with Free Software | fsckin w/ linux (http://www.fsckin.com/2008/01/03/transcoding-mtsm2ts-avchd-video-files-with-free-software/)

[JediKooter]

I can't vouche for it, but, I found this site: MTS to WMV Converter-MTS AVCHD Converter free software (http://www.mtsconverter.net/mts-to-wmv-converter.html)

It says it's free, but, I would read the fine print and all that...

[gstelmack]

Just USB and I can copy the file to my PC but it is in the MTS format which nothing seems to be able to open.

Most cameras (and this may not be one of them) allow you to plug the camera in via USB, and then MovieMaker (or other media software like Roxio, Nero, etc) can then grab the digital video straight from the camera. No need to do a separate save, etc. They usually tell the camera to "play" and they grab the stream coming over USB, and it usually takes as long as the video plays for.

This is how I get my camcorder footage onto the computer to make DVDs for the family.

[chadritt]

If youve already made it into a DVD you could try a program called Handbrake. It lets you make your own settings to decide the quality and size of the file it makes and comes with a few prebuilt options as well. Ive used it for a few jobs and it usually took about 15 minutes to rip an hour long dvd into a nice looking m4v. HandBrake (http://handbrake.fr/) is the site and their are versions for both PC and Mac.

[JediKooter]

I do like me some HandBrake. Rips DVDs pretty good in my opinion.

[Bonegavel]

Well, I've converted the stuff to .flv and now I just need to figure out how to stream them to the browser. What a pain in the ass.