.MOV to MTS converter

[dannybagpipes]

I imported video from my Canon HF M300 camcorder with iMovie to my Mac. Unfortunately, iMovie created .MOV files that are 5-10 times the size of the .MTS files and simply cannot store these mega-sized files.

Please help me convert from .MOV back to .MTS files. The original .MTS files were deleted. I hope the solution will not result in quality loss.

Thanks for your help in advance!

 

[simsaladimbamba]

.MTS files are using a highly compressive codec called H.264 (an MPEG-4 codec) to store the video in a relatively small file.
iMovie transcodes those highly compressed videos into another format (.mov) using another codec (Apple Intermediate Codec) for better editing.
As H.264 is a Long-GOP (GOP = Group Of Pictures) format, it does not store every frame, but interpolates between keyframes (the content between keyframes is calculated while playback).
The Apple Intermediate Codec is an editing codec, thus every frame is stored in the .mov file, thus smoother playback us guaranteed.
If you don't want to edit your footage, it is just best, to copy the complete content of the SD card to your folder of choice and preserve the file structure (make one folder for every card to copy into).

As you already deleted the source files, and obviously just want to store the video and not edit it, you can use the iMovie > Share > Export Movie(CMD+E) command to make a highly compressive file out of your .mov files. There are plenty of guides available to guide you through this.

But you can also use MPEG Streamclip to transcode the .mov files to .mp4 or .mov files using the H.264 codec. If you have several video files, you can use MPEG Streamclip's Batch List:

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Maybe have a look at Advanced Search to find dozens of similar threads about MTS files and Mac OS X an editing them and storing them and so forth:

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[dannybagpipes]

will converting to MTS from MOV reduce the quality of the file? If I were to convert back and forth would the file be the same as the original MOV file or will quality reduce with each conversion?

 

[simsaladimbamba]

will converting to MTS from MOV reduce the quality of the file?

No, as you transcode from a highly compressive and lossy format to a much less compressive and lossy format.

If I were to convert back and forth would the file be the same as the original MOV file or will quality reduce with each conversion?

Depending on the settings and the algorithm the application you use to transcode with uses, yes, but only when you go from a less compressive and loss codec to a highly compressive and lossy codec, as a highly compressive codec stores less information than a less compressive codec, though H.264 (the highly compressive codec) is quite intelligent and when the transcoding is done properly, you see almost no or no loss in visual quality.