How can I play MTS files

clayto said:

Online I have read that MTS files can be played by VLC and by Windows Media Player, but so far I have found this not to be the case. I am just about to start creating them with a device which converts an old TV to a DIGITAL one, which can save a TV broadcast to a USB drive. But then I cannot read / play it. I understand MTS is related to MPG video files. This is an example


File: E:/HBPVR/Channel_4-12252022-1724.mts
Size: 109613 KB (107 MB)
Length: 00:00:00
Demuxer:

I would welcome suggestions for apps which can play MTS (and perhaps also covert them).

This may help...

Simple 3 ways to Play MTS files in VLC media Player | JacketsOnline.com

Daum PotPlayer (freeware)

The other aspect you have to consider is whether they're compatible with whatever player you use

Video file extensions - be it/they .mp4, .avi, .mpg, .mts etc etc - simply represent a container file, containing a video stream and an audio stream. These stream formats can vary between containers of different file types and/or of the same type - .mp4 files can contain different video streams from one to the other, even tho they're all .mp4 files.

Depending on the player (or the device, like TV set or computer), in some instances the file name is just "looked at" - e.g. will play .mp4 files but not .mkv files, irrespective of what streams are contained. The player simply looks to identify an acceptable file name extension.

ON the other hand, some devices/player look inside the container file to identify the acceptable video/audio stream. In these cases, it may be that one .mkv file will work, another may not.

You need to identify why the player is not working, and given the usual reliability VLC I suspect it may be some obscure stream

MediaInfo (freeware) will identify the stream types. Install, restart MediaInfo and right click on the file name for MediaInfo context menu item.

In some cases, it is necessary to convert the .mts file to an acceptable format containing an acceptable stream. AviDemux (freeware) will do the job.

If you've got a few to be done, ffmpeg GUI converter called ffmpeg Batch AV Converter (freeware) is useful but may require a little experimentation if your unfamiliar with the "technicalities" of computer video files.

A couple of tips ...
DON'T be tempted to download and install codec packs. More dangerous than they do good
DON'T be tempted to buy, there's s-o-o-o much video free stuff on the 'net