.MTS write support?

[matt]

Hi... big fan of ExifTool.... thanks!   Just wondering if write support for .MTS video files is likely to ever be added?  My Panasonic TM90 camcorder creates these files with the AVC codec.    I would love to be able to adjust DateTimeOriginal in these files.  AFAICT, no software supports this, so ExifTool would be my hero if it were to gain that ability!   

Example file info:

Code Select Expand


[ExifTool]      ExifTool Version Number         : 9.72
[File]          File Name                       : 00256.MTS
[File]          Directory                       : .
[File]          File Size                       : 155842560
[File]          File Modification Date/Time     : 2014:10:02 18:40:03-04:00
[File]          File Access Date/Time           : 2014:10:02 22:50:07-04:00
[File]          File Inode Change Date/Time     : 2014:10:03 10:17:38-04:00
[File]          File Permissions                : 000
[File]          File Type                       : M2TS
[File]          MIME Type                       : video/m2ts
[M2TS]          Video Stream Type               : 27
[M2TS]          Audio Stream Type               : 129
[M2TS]          Audio Bitrate                   : 256000
[M2TS]          Surround Mode                   : 0
[M2TS]          Audio Channels                  : 2
[M2TS]          Audio Sample Rate               : 0
[M2TS]          Duration                        : 78.8380924444444
[H264]          Image Width                     : 1920
[H264]          Image Height                    : 1080
[H264]          Date/Time Original              : 2014:10:02 18:38:44-05:00
[H264]          Aperture Setting                : 199
[H264]          Gain                            : 15
[H264]          Exposure Program                : 0
[H264]          White Balance                   : 0
[H264]          Image Stabilization             : 127
[H264]          Exposure Time                   : 0.0200177777777778
[H264]          Exposure Compensation           : 0
[H264]          Focal Length In 35mm Format     : inf
[H264]          Make                            : 259
[Composite]     Image Size                      : 1920x1080
[Composite]     Shutter Speed                   : 0.0200177777777778



Thanks...

[Phil Harvey]

This feature has been requested before (and here and here).  Unfortunately, adding write support for MTS would be a bit of a nightmare, so I don't think that this is a possibility for the foreseeable future.

- Phil

[matt]

Thanks for your reply.  It makes sense.  Since my first post, I found some of your previous comments on the matter:  https://exiftool.org/commentary.html#AVCHD  Does sound like a nightmare to implement.

I guess one alternative would be to use Exiftool to export the existing .MTS metadata into a detached file, then remux as .MP4 and reapply DateTimeOriginal into that.  Or, alternatively, simply ignore the metadata and then put the correct datetime into the filesystem timestamp and into the filename, which would be sufficient for my workflow.

I think I will do the latter.

Thanks...

PS: The camcorder also adds date/time into a subtitle track, which would be an additional thing to worry about.  Bleah.  More reason to just leave .MTS files alone.