Is it a bad or a good idea to rename 00000.MTS files?

[VEM2012]

Hi all,

I'm mostly self-taught with Premier so might have missed some basic info along the years - apologies if this is a silly question! Here it goes:

I shoot my material mostly with Panasonic camcorder so they are .MTS files when captured on Mac. At the mo, I'm working with hundreds of files (an art project combining stuff over 20 years - not easy). Some of the files are also large ie over 20mins long (over 3.55GB and hence broken into two parts). I am about to start a few complicated edits where I'm putting clips together from several years and wonder if I should rename the files or not. I've never done that as I was told, many years ago now, to import the 'private' folder and under no circumstances to fiddle with the file structure inside it.... That was 20 years ago and things have moved on (still loving Premiere as much as then).... Can I, or should I, rename the files before importing them to Premiere? I name my folders, but within them are then several sub-folders. It concerns me that when I store these big projects I might run into problems if I accidentally separate folders on external hard drives. Any thoughts anyone? Your advice would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks & happy editing! Elisa

[Ann Bens]

I would rename those files that have the same name e.g. 0000.mts etc

Things can get messy if clips decide to go offline, and you have many different clips with the same name and trying to relink.

You can easily rename in The Bridge.

[VEM2012]

Many thanks for your quick reply - sounds great! One follow up question if I may. I wondered if I might loose some information with the new file name and without the complicated file structure. This feels like freedom after many years of cliking on PRIVATE - AVCHD - BDMV - STREAM and only there getting to 00000.MTS 00001.MTS 00002.MTS etc. I have not used The Bridge tho, instead I've experimented and it is quite easy to rename the files by finding them (as from PRIVATE..... etc.) and then selecting them all and choosing 'Rename'. Then I can select  'Add Text' and place the folder code (date) at the beginning of all the clips automatically. Now I wonder if this is a suitable way of doing this or not? I don't mind spending a bit more time as long as I don't make a mess I don't know how to fix..... Thank you again, much appreciated. Ex

[R Neil Haugen]

A lot of people rename those as Ann is correct, working with 300 files all named A0000001.mts or whatever is easily turned into a disaster.

I know some DITs who say most productions they work on have a specified renaming protocol for all such files, or immediately transcoding to a format with single files containing both video and audio.