This script is meant to be used by people with little prior knowledge of media files, transcoding, etc. It is meant to be simple to use but requires the use of the command line.
This script is used to convert MTS files that are outputted from my PVR to mp4. MTS stands for MPEG Transport Stream. An MTS file is a video saved in the Advanced Video Coding High Definition AVCHD format.
PVR sometimes uses an older filesystem that supports only 4GB files and can split your media into several files. This is not very practical to watch a movie so I wrote this script. Storing media in AVCHD is also taking a lot of disk space. Converting them to another format for storage is useful.
The script simply merge file sequences (.mts, .mts1, .mts2, .mts3) of files having the same file name. Then, it converts it to mp4. It does it all using ffmpeg.
For example, if you have a folder with:
- CIVM-HD-08122020-0900PM.mts
- CIVM-HD-08122020-0900PM.mts2
- CIVM-HD-08122020-0900PM.mts1
- CIVM-HD-08122020-0900PM.mts3
it will convert it to:
- CIVM-HD-08122020-0900PM-merged.mp4
The script won't delete or clean up your files.
For help: python3 mtsmerge.py -h
Exxamples:
- python3 mtsmerge.py (from your current mts directory)
- python3 mtsmerge.py --inputdir media folder
- python3 mtsmerge.py --inputdir media folder --outputdir output folder
- python3 mtsmerge.py --x265 (encoding with newer codec HEVC/H.265 video )
- python3 mtsmerge.py --x265 --opus (encoding with newer codec HEVC/H.265 & opus audio)
You can use --x265 for encoding video in HEVC/H.265 but you will need a chromecast ultra is you plan to use a chromecast with your video.
You can use --opus for encoding audio in opus. The file will be saved as an .mkv extension since .mp4 does not support opus. Opus is supported by chromecast 3rd generation.
Encoding examples
1h57:00 1920x1080 HD movie MTS from my PVR with 5.1 ac3 384 kb/s audio
| Codec | File Size | mtsmerge.py Options | Encoding Speed |
|---|---|---|---|
| AVCHD (original file) | 16.7GB | N/A | N/A |
| h264 (default) | 4.26GB | default | Fast |
| h265 | 1.4GB | --x265 | Slow |
| h265 & opus | 1.4GB | --x265 --opus | Slower |
I prepared a tutorial video to learn how to do that on Windows 10: https://gist.github.com/desjare/adc1514d46bcb38414a5e2a602f6d12d
- Tested with Mediasonic ATSC Digital Converter Box with Recording/Media Player/TV Tuner Function (HW130STB) MTS output.
The current implementation transcode the AVCHD to h264 and does an audio passthrough by default. It is fairly simple to modify it and add parameters to use other codec configurations like HEVC, opus, etc. I welcome any contribution.