Don,

MP4 files (MPEG-4 Part 14) is a container format that can store video, audio and subtitle data. Made popular because of stores like iTunes, for iPod's and PlayStation Portable, PSP's. It's resolution for these applications is usually limited to maybe like 320x240 or so.

In PD7 to create a file with the mp4 extension one would need to produce a "portable .MPEG4" file.

I saw your other post about projecting to a large image, this "portable .MPEG4" approach with this low resolution obviously not very good for that.

Jeff

Cyberlink promotes the ultra version because it supports AVCHD.
Is the only directly usable support burning a disk?
Can it output a high res AVCHD file for viewing on a freely available player?

mp4 files fully support AVCHD (h.264) up to 1920x1080.

Hi Don,

I assume Cyberlink choose .m2ts container for their AVCHD as it is linked to BD standard and PD is aimed at Blu-Ray disc compatibility.
You can output .m2ts as individual files, not just to disc.

Many players (both stand alone and PC based) can handle .m2ts - and so they should as it will be very common format while BD is around.

I have no problems playing the .m2ts files on my gear. I do have a problem with the PD encoder but that is another story......

I do of course convert to lower res .mp4 for my iPhone and iPod.

Don,

Keep in mind mp4 is just a container that may have different video or audio formats encoded, same for the m2ts container.

It's possible CL is just following the industry since h.264 high profile level 3 and 4 for HDTV, Blu-ray and HD DVD pretty much use TS or M2TS containers. The lower level 1 and 2 of h.264, usually 3G and PSP's pretty much use mp4 at lower resolution. Hence maybe the lack of PD7 functionality to produce high resolution mp4 containers, while high resolution m2ts containers are supported. $150 bucks only goes so far! I'd like to see it fix a few more bugs.

Not only can m2ts files be output from PD7 and played standalone or by computer as pjc indicated, one can also play m2ts files from AVCHD folders (BDMV and CERTIFICATE) with some commercial software including Corel WinDVD and CyberLink PowerDVD Ultra. Many are successfull with freeware like VLC and SUPER too. Keep in mind since these are containers only, some m2ts and/or mp4 files may not work while others do. For instance PD7 claims ability to read m2ts files, for the most part it does, I have found that PD7 does not like VC-1 video encoded m2ts containers. I can play them fine with SUPER and other players. PD7 works fine with the AVC codec video m2ts containers though.

Jeff