this bug is possibly related to:

Bug 1185276 - Mesa - regression with video playback for HD channels on
Hauppauge Card HVR5525

the files are normally readable with vlc as m2t or converted with vlc as m4v. 

But when you open them in Vidcutter, the screen is garbled or green, no cutting
can be done because no frame is visible or recognizable. 
This happens to be the case since Bug 118527, so this is possibly something
that links mesa, plasma screen output on dual screen, screen representation in
vidcutter, hardware acceleration in vlc. 

Handbrake is NOT hit by this. Represents well the screen output.  

Due to bug 1174495 it is not possible to cut in mt2 although the file is
visible, as the output file is not edited. 

Final result is the complete loss of functionality of the program, for what is
its very purpose, cutting videos. 

Trying to join screen shot.