AVCHD, HDV & DV Media Player

DVMP Pro is a media player which is specialised for playing and processing files from a variety of video cameras/camcorders including DV, HDV, AVCHD formats and also some HDD and DVD MPEG-2 based camcorders. This page describes the player functions of DVMP Pro - see the Tools and Batch Processing sections for details of the operation of its set of tools.

DVMP Pro plays the video files originating from compatible video cameras while simultaneously displaying the timecode, the date and time of recording, aperture, shutter speed, white balance and other camera settings that were recorded when the footage was being shot. This information is called "DV/HDV/AVCHD Metadata" and DVMP Pro allows you to view it while playing or frame-stepping through the video. It also allows you to jump quickly between scenes in DV files.

Supported DV file types

DVMP Pro plays the following DV file types (separate specialised codecs are not needed):

• AVI Type 1
• AVI Type 2
• Raw DV (.dv)
• Canopus AVI 
• DVCPRO25
• DVCAM

Supported MPEG-2 Program Stream file types

It also plays the following file types:

• Sony HDD and DVD standard definition
• MOD (.mod)

Both of these types are actually MPEG-2 Program Stream (MPEG-2 PS) files with a fixed packet length of 2048 bytes. This is a common file type used by many MPEG-2 devices. You may therefore find that MPEG-2 Program Stream files from other unsupported devices can be played by DVMP Pro but it is unlikely that there will be any metadata to be displayed - only the above 2 file types will contain metadata that can be displayed by DVMP Pro.

The Sony HDD and DVD files are created by a range of Sony standard definition camcorders which record their files onto a hard disk drive (HDD), a recordable DVD disk or a memory card. These files usually have a filename extension of ".mpg" or ".vob".

MOD files are created by a range of standard definition camcorders from JVC and some other manufacturers. As the name suggests, MOD files have the filename extension ".mod". These camcorders do not actually store metadata, but they do store the date and time of recording in a separate MOI file which has the same filename but with the extension ".moi". For each MOD file there is usually a partner MOI file. DVMP Pro will display the recording date and time provided it can find the MOI file in the same folder as the corresponding MOD file.

The best way to check whether files from your own HDD/DVD camcorder are supported is to simply attempt to open the files in DVMP Pro and see whether they play and if any metadata is displayed.

Also, please note that a quirk of MOD files is that the camera always flags them as having a 4:3 display aspect ratio, even when it is really 16:9 !  You may therefore find that DVMP Pro will play them as 4:3. Most users find it useful to "fix" the display aspect ratio flags in their MOD files using the program SDCOPY - the files will then play correctly as 16:9.

Supported HDV file types

It also plays the following HDV file types:

• HDV1 (720 line variant) .m2t
• HDV2 (1080 line variant) .m2t

Note that some video editors and utilities may use different file name extensions for HDV m2t files (e.g. .mpeg or .mpg), but the file structure is the same.

Supported AVCHD file types

DVMP Pro also plays a wide range of AVCHD files, resolutions and frame rates. It also plays Sony's NXCAM files including those recorded with LPCM audio.

Some cameras use a .m2ts file suffix and others a .mts suffix. DVMP Pro plays the .m2ts or .mts file directly, and does not require any of the additional index and administrative files that are also stored on the camera's storage media.

Displayed Metadata

As DVMP Pro plays a DV, HDV, AVCHD or MPEG-2 PS file it simultaneously displays the following Metadata items with frame accuracy:

• Timecode
• User Bits
• Date and Time of Recording (datecode/datacode)
• Shutter speed
• Iris (f-stop)
• Exposure Mode
• Gain in dB
• Focus Distance in metres
• Focus Mode
• White Balance
• Image stabiliser on/off
• Audio details

plus Latitude, Longitude, Altitude, Speed and Track for some Geotagging video cameras. See below for futher details of Geotagging support.

Player Features

The player has the following features:

• Plays DV, HDV and AVCHD file types
• Plays MPEG-2 Program Stream files from some cameras (standard definition Sony HDD/DVD and MOD)
• Geotagging support - displays geographical location of recording (for GPS equipped cameras)
• Displays map of recording location (for GPS equipped cameras)
• NTSC and PAL compatible
• Displays 4:3 and 16:9 (widescreen) format correctly
• View metadata in real time and frame-accurate
• Dropped frames are highlighted (DV only)
• Pause and frame step forward or backward
• Jump forward or backward in 1 second or I-frame increments.
• Jump to next or previous scene (DV only)
• Redefinition of "scenes" based on selected metadata
• Full/Half resolution selection option (DV only)
• Resize window  and video automatically resizes to fit
• Drag and drop files onto DVMP Pro
• File properties dialog

It also has a set of tools for converting and splitting DV AVI files; and also date-stamping or burning-in DV, HDV, AVCHD and MPEG-2 Program Stream files.

The metadata information is displayed per frame and appears in real time beneath the video as it is playing. You can pause, step backward or forward a frame at a time and the metadata is displayed with frame accuracy. If you are playing a DV file you can also jump forward or backward between scenes. You can view the time and exposure settings used by the camera when the footage was shot.

DVMP Pro does not install codecs, DLLs or anything else on your system and does not change any of your system settings. It couldn't be simpler or safer.

DVMP Pro does not need any specialised codecs to be present on your PC to play DVCPRO25 and DVCAM AVI files. Also it is independent of Quicktime, so can play Raw DV files without Quicktime being present on your PC.

Requirements for Playing HDV files

Please note that HDV files can only be played if you have a MPEG-2 Video Decoder (codec) present on your PC.

DVMP Pro does not come supplied with an MPEG-2 video decoder. It therefore requires that you already have at least one MPEG-2 video decoder installed on your PC.

Not all 3rd party MPEG-2 video decoders are capable of handling HDV high resolution video, so it is important to try out all of those which are installed on your PC to find the one which gives best playback performance.

Fortunately, the Windows Vista Home Premium and Ultimate editions come supplied with a Microsoft MPEG-2 Video Decoder which works fine with DVMP Pro. Windows 7 comes supplied with a Microsoft DVT/DVD Video Decoder which can also be used. Due to licensing changes that Microsoft made for Windows 8 it does not come with a suitable decoder unless you also purchase a special upgrade from Microsoft which installs the Windows Media Center component on your computer - this component includes the Microsoft DVT/DVD Video Decoder.

Please use the demo version of DVMP Pro to check whether you have a suitable MPEG-2 decoder already installed on your PC. Try playing HDV files and also try the Burn-In tool - if these both work OK with your decoder in the DEMO version then the FULL version of DVMP Pro will work fine too.

See more details and recommendations of suitable HDV decoders.

You select an MPEG-2 decoder using the MPEG-2 Video Decoder setting in the Decoders section of the Tools>Options menu. This presents you with a list of MPEG-2 video decoders that were found on your PC, and you simply select one of them. For more details see the Options section.

N.B. If you don't have any MPEG-2 video decoders installed on your system, then you will not be able to play or burn-in HDV files.

Also, playing HDV files is a lot more CPU intensive than playing DV files. To play HDV files with the minimum of video or audio stuttering you will need a PC with at least a Core 2 Duo 2GHz processor - you may be able to use a lower-powered PC but be prepared for quite a lot of stuttering! If you only intend to play DV files, then your PC can be of a lot lower spec.

Requirements for Playing AVCHD files

Please note that AVCHD files can only be played if you have an AVC video decoder and an AC-3 audio decoder present on your PC.

DVMP Pro does not come supplied with these video and audio decoders. It therefore requires that you already have at least one of these video and audio decoders installed on your PC.

Windows 7 comes supplied with a Microsoft DVT/DVD Video Decoder which can be used, but it does not come with a suitable audio decoder. If you have any other version of Windows then you may have to install a video decoder and audio decoder.

Please use the demo version of DVMP Pro to check whether you have suitable decoders already installed on your PC. Try playing AVCHD files and also try the Burn-In tool - if these both work OK with your selected decoders in the DEMO version then the FULL version of DVMP Pro will work fine too.

You select an AVC video decoder and an AC-3 audio decoder using the AVC Video Decoder and AC-3Audio Decoders settings in the Decoders section of the Tools>Options menu. This presents you with a list of the decoders that were found on your PC, and you simply select one of them. For more details see the Options section.

N.B. If you don't have both an AVC video decoder and an AC-3 audio decoder installed on your system, then you will not be able to play or burn-in AVCHD  files.

Also, playing AVCHD files requires a huge amount of CPU power. Only some of the most powerful PCs available today are capable of playing AVCHD smoothly without video or audio stuttering. At least a Quad Core 3GHz processor with 4GB of RAM is recommended, although you may find that a slighly lower spec will suffice.

A lower spec PC is OK for processing AVCHD files (rather than playing them). This just means that the processing will take longer to complete.

Some decoders are more efficient than others at handling the AVCHD format, so it is important to try out all of those which are installed on your PC to find the one which gives best playback performance.

See more details and recommendations of suitable AVCHD decoders.

Requirements for Playing MPEG-2 Program Stream files

MPEG-2 PS files (Sony HDD/DVD and MOD) can only be played if you have a MPEG-2 Video Decoder (codec) present on your PC.

DVMP Pro does not come supplied with an MPEG-2 video decoder. It therefore requires that you already have at least one MPEG-2 video decoder installed on your PC.

It is important to try out all of those which are installed on your PC to find the one which gives best playback performance.

Fortunately, the Windows Vista Home Premium and Ultimate editions come supplied with a Microsoft MPEG-2 Video Decoder which works fine with DVMP Pro. Windows 7 comes supplied with a Microsoft DVT/DVD Video Decoder which can also be used. Due to licensing changes that Microsoft made for Windows 8 it does not come with a suitable decoder unless you also purchase a special upgrade from Microsoft which installs the Windows Media Center component on your computer - this component includes the Microsoft DVT/DVD Video Decoder.

Please use the demo version of DVMP Pro to check whether you have a suitable MPEG-2 decoder already installed on your PC. Try playing your HDD/DVD/MOD files and also try the Burn-In tool - if these both work OK with your decoder in the DEMO version then the FULL version of DVMP Pro will work fine too.

Depending on the type of audio that the originating camcorder uses, you might also need an AC-3 Audio Decoder to be present on your PC. Windows does not come supplied with an AC-3 audio decoder, but we can recommend one.

For details of how to select the video and audio decoders, see the "Requirements for playing AVCHD files" above.

See more details and recommendations of suitable MPEG-2 video and AC-3 audio decoders.

GPS Geotagging Support

Some recent AVCHD video cameras have built-in GPS units which allow them to store the geographical location where each video clip was recorded - this is termed Geotagging. Usually there is a switch or menu setting on the camera which must be switched on for this Geotagging information to be stored as metadata.

For AVCHD files produced by such cameras, DVMP Pro can display the following Geotagging metadata:

• Latitude
• Longitude
• Altitude
• Speed
• Track

The last 2 items are the speed and direction of travel of the camera. Track is the direction that the camera is travelling, not the direction that the lens is pointed.

Some of these AVCHD cameras also have a standard definition mode. When set to this mode the camera usually stores video in standard definition MPEG-2 Program Stream files - DVMP Pro can also play these files and display their Geotagging metadata.

The Geotagging information can be displayed in the player's metadata pane by checking the Display Geotagging data option in the General section of Tools > Options. This changes the contents of the metadata pane - instead of showing the camera's exposure settings it shows the Geotagging items (and the current date and time). The format of the Geotagging information can also be changed using the Geotagging options in the General section of Tools > Options.

Because the cameras store the Geotagging data repeatedly while you are recording, when you play the file in DVMP Pro you will be able to see the GPS location changing as the camera was moved. For example, if you are filming from a moving vehicle you will see the GPS coordinates including speed and direction changing in real time as you watch the video played back.

If you click the menu File > Display Map (or press CTRL-M) while viewing a file, a Google Map will be displayed in a separate web browser window showing the geographical location where the current video frame was recorded. The exact location is indicated by a green arrow. Because the Geotagging infomation is stored throughout the duration of the video file it is possible to view the location of the camera at any point in the recording.

For files which contain Geotagging metadata, there is also an additional Geotagging page in the File > Properties box. The Geotagging values displayed are those at the beginning of the file.

The burn-in tool can also be used to stamp the geotagging information onto the video frames.

Geotagging is only supported for AVCHD cameras which have built-in GPS units which were switched on and receiving GPS data while recording.

Buttons

The row of buttons along the bottom of the DVMP Pro window are split into 4 groups:

• Play, Pause and Stop
• Step to previous/next frame
• Jump to previous/next scene (DV file types only)
• Audio mute and volume control

Metadata Display

The metadata is displayed in five columns immediately below the main video display. If any items of metadata are not present in the file they will appear as a series of "-"s.

1st Column (Timecodes)

• Timecode - semi colon between secs and frames denotes drop frame
• User Bits (also called "Binary Group")
• File Progress Timecode - this is a timecode generated by DVMP Pro to show the progress into the file. It is not an item of metadata and is therefore displayed in grey. The timecode always starts at zero at the beginning of the file and increases unbroken to the end of the file. It effectively shows the absolute frame number of the currently displayed  frame. For AVCHD and MPEG-2 PS files this is replaced by the Presentation Time Stamp (see notes below).
• Frame Type - this is the frame type I, P or B and is only displayed for HDV, AVCHD and MPEG-2 PS files.

When paused or frame-stepping the file progress timecode turns yellow if the current frame is a "dropped" frame (for DV formats only).

Currently, file progress timecode is not displayed for HDV, AVCHD or MPEG-2 PS files. This is due to the nature of the MPEG-2 and AVCHD format which would need the whole file to be scanned before playback could begin. However it can be selected for the Burn-In tool as this effectively scans the file as it goes.

When playing AVCHD and MPEG-2 PS files the file progress timecode is replaced by the Presentation Time Stamp (PTS). This is not an item of metadata but a timestamp stored in the file structure for each frame. Each frame has a different PTS and is therefore helpful in uniquely identifying each frame when you are frame-stepping, particularly as the other metadata values may not change for several seconds. The PTS is displayed in the form hh:mm:ss.sss where ss.sss is the number of seconds (milliseconds after the decimal point) - it therefore looks similar to a timecode (hh:mm:ss:ff) but it counts fractions of a second rather than frames. Note that the PTS values are stored by the camera and they might not start from 0 at the beginning of the file. The PTS is only displayed in playback - when using the burn-in tool it is the File Progress Timecode that is burned-in.

2nd Column (Date and Time)

• Date of Recording  - dd/mm/yyyy, mm/dd/yyyy or yyyy-mm-dd selectable via Tools>Options>General menu
• Time of Recording  - hh:mm:ss

Date and time of recording is sometimes referred to as "datacode" or "datecode".

In the case of MOD files (a MPEG-2 PS file with the file name extension ".mod" created by some camcorders), the date and time of recording does not exist as embedded metadata in the MOD file, but is stored by the camera in a partner MOI file. DVMP Pro obtains the date and time of recording for a MOD file by reading the corresponding MOI file, and then displays the date and time in yellow to indicate that it was extracted from a separate file. The MOI file must exist in the same folder as the MOD file - if DVMP Pro can not find the corresponding MOI file, the date and time of recording is displayed as a series of "-"s.

3rd Column (Exposure)

• Shutter Speed - e.g. "50" denotes 1/50^th of a second
• Iris - Aperture setting (F-stop)
• Auto Exposure Mode - Automatic, Gain Priority, Shutter Priority, Iris Priority or Manual

4th Column (Exposure and Focus)

• Gain - in dB
• Focus Distance - distance from the camera in metres
• Focus Mode - Manual or Automatic

Focus and focus mode is only supported by a small number of cameras.

5th Column (White Balance, Stabilizer and Audio)

• White Balance - Automatic, Hold, 1-Push, Candle, Incandescent Lamp, Fluorescent Lamp (Low Temperature), Fluorescent Lamp (High Temperature), Sunlight or Cloudy
• Image Stabilizer - ON or OFF
• Audio Details - sampling frequency in kHz (32, 44.1 or 48)  / L=locked or U=unlocked

Audio Details metadata is only displayed for DV file types. (You can find out the audio details for all file types using the File->Properties menu.)

If Display Geotagging data is checked in the General options page, the metadata display is different to that described above. In this case the following metadata is displayed:

1st Column (Date and Time)

• Date of Recording  - dd/mm/yyyy, mm/dd/yyyy or yyyy-mm-dd selectable via Tools>Options>General menu
• Time of Recording  - hh:mm:ss
• Presentation Time Stamp - hh:mm:ss.sss where sss is milliseconds (see above for an explanation of the PTS)

2nd Column (GPS Position)

• Latitude  - in degrees, minutes and seconds N or S
• Longitude  - in degrees, minutes and seconds E or W
• Altitude  - height above sea level in metres

3rd Column (GPS Speed)

• Speed - speed of camera's motion
• Track - direction of camera's motion in degrees

Note that Track is the direction that the camera is moving, not the direction that the lens is pointed.

Jumping Between Scenes (DV only)

Currently this feature only works for DV file types.

When you first install DVMP Pro, a scene (or scene-change) is defined as a discontinuity in the date and time of recording. This discontinuity happens when you stop or pause the camera during recording. By searching through a DV AVI (or Raw DV) file for these discontinuities DVMP Pro can locate where these "pauses" took place, and you can use the previous scene and next scene buttons to jump instantly between scenes.

This "jump to previous/next scene" feature requires that DVMP Pro scans the whole file to detect the scene-changes. Depending on the size of the file, this scan may take a while. Consequently when you open the file, DVMP will not perform this scan until the first time you click the Previous Scene or Next Scene buttons - this will save time if you don't need to jump between scenes. When the scan completes, a tick mark will appear on the slider showing the location of each scene-change detected.

You can change the definition of a scene by ticking/un-ticking metadata items in the Scenes tab of  the Tools>Options menu. By default only the Recording Date/Time is ticked which means (as described above) that a scene is a discontinuity in the date and time that was recorded by the camera. But you can tick or un-tick any of the other metadata items to change the meaning of a scene. The tick marks on the slider will change instantly - the file does not need to be rescanned.

For example, if you have been using free-running timecode and wish to quickly locate every frame where the camera was paused you would tick only Timecode discontinuity in the Scenes tab. The scene-change markers will then update to show where the timecode discontinuities occur, and you can jump directly to these points using the Previous Scene and Next Scene buttons.

Also, by ticking any of the other metadata items in the Scenes tab you can choose to locate where there are changes to white balance, iris or shutter settings etc, and jump instantly between them.

Other Player Features

Any changes you make to the settings in Tools>Options will only apply to the currently running DVMP Pro program. The settings can be saved as the default for all future invocations of DVMP Pro by ticking Save settings as default in the General tab of Tools>Options.

DVMP Pro allows you to use drag and drop. Just drag and drop a DV, HDV, AVCHD or MPEG-2 PS file onto the DVMP Pro window and the file will be opened as if you had used the File>Open menu. This feature is not available in the demo version of DVMP Pro.

You can jump backward and forward through the file via the Play menu, or by pressing the left or right cursor keys in combination with the SHIFT or CTRL keys like this:

Note the slight difference in operation for DV, HDV, AVCHD and MPEG-2 PS files.

As the HDV format is more CPU intensive, jumping between frames may be slightly less responsive than for DV files. AVCHD is also significantly more CPU intensive than HDV.

The File Progress Timecode can be displayed as either a timecode or as an absolute frame number. This can be selected in the General section of Tools>Options. Frame numbers start from 0.

If you have an older PC, you can reduce the load on the CPU when playing DV files by selecting the Microsoft DV Decoder's Half Resolution option under the Tools>Options menu.

You can choose between the VMR9 and VMR7 renderers. It is recommended that you leave VMR9 selected, but some older graphics cards (or buggy drivers) may play "blank" video using VMR9 - in such cases choosing VMR7 may solve this problem. Note that VMR7 may use video overlay if your graphics card supports it. Also VMR7 is not supported by Microsoft on Windows 2000.

You can also select the Windowed mode for the VMR9 or VMR7 renderer. This uses an older "compatability" mode which allows DVMP Pro to be used on an Apple Mac within a VMWare Fusion session - this feature must however be considered "experimental" and unsupported.

All of the settings in Tools>Options are described on the Options page.