MTS file extension

Hi, i recently bought a Panasonic TZ7 camera which takes HD video. However, i can't view it on my tv or laptop. It have two video modes AVCHD Lite (best for TV) and Motion JPEG (best for PC).

The file it produces has an extension of .MTS which is supposed to be a collaboration between sony and panasonic.... i have a panasonic tv and a sony laptop... so i really can't understand why i can't view the video on either.

Do i need conversion software to convert to MP4? or a piece of software simply to view the file (rather than windows media player)?

From Panasonic website.....looks like you can download it if you didn't get a disc with camera.

http://www.panasonic.net/avc/lumix/photofunstudio/index.html

You can use the PHOTOfunSTUDIO to create original movies by editing the video clips that you've recorded in AVCHD or in AVCHD Lite*1. Content recorded in AVCHD or AVCHD Lite can also be burned directly onto a DVD disc for viewing on a DIGA Blu-ray Disc™ player*2, or converted with this software to the DVD-Video for burning onto a DVD disc.

*1 PHOTOfunSTUDIO 5.1 HD Edition, 5.0 HD Edition, 4.0 HD Edition or 3.1 HD Edition.
*2 AVCHD and AVCHD Lite motion images recorded onto a DVD disc cannot be played on a device that does not support the AVCHD standard.[/url]

Thank you for that detailed response... (wouldn't you think .WTS would just play without all that hassle... especially for such a well recommended camera) !

Even more info.......http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AVCHD

Windows 7 will play natively by the looks of it.

Here is a section from the above site....


Playing back AVCHD video

Recorded AVCHD video can be played back in a variety of ways:

* Directly from a camcorder on an HD television set, through HDMI or component-video cable
* Burned onto writable Blu-ray disc in Blu-ray Disc format, then played on a Blu-ray Disc player or on a Playstation 3 gaming console
* Burned onto DVD disc in AVCHD format, then played on most Blu-ray Disc players[8] or on a Playstation 3 gaming console
* Recorded on an SDHC in AVCHD format, then played on select Panasonic and JVC Blu-ray Disc players and HDTV sets and on a Playstation 3 gaming console
* On a computer, played from the camcorder connected via USB as an external storage device, or from removable media or from the computer's internal hard disk drive. Presently, the default media players from Apple (QuickTime) will not play AVCHD natively, additional software is required.[25] Windows 7 is able to import and play AVCHD video natively, having files with extensions M2TS, MTS and M2T pre-registered in the system. Windows Media Player is able to index content of these files, while Windows Explorer is able to create thumbnails for each clip.[26] Windows 7 does not support importing of AVCHD video metadata such as thumbnail images, playlists, and clip index files. Joining AVCHD video files during the import is not supported either.[26]

AVCHD files will play only on 1080p Panasonic TV's from around 2008 from the SD card slot, but Motion Jepg is the .MOV commonly used by Quicktime on the PC or Mac.
Ether way to play AVCHD on the PC you should use the Panasonic software which will convert it or burn to an "AVCHD DVD" (a DVD that will play in HD on a BluRay player), but if your TV doesn't play AVCHD then you'll need to use a cable from camera to TV, in which case the TZ7 may have a Mini HDMI socket to connect to the TV with for HD playback.

you may also find the motion Jpeg doesnt work, IIRC panasonic use .mod file format, which is basically a renamed .mov, you can usually get away with just changing the file extension from .mod to .mod.

edit- bizzare double post...