Converting/Transcoding VC-1 to something supported by CS5

Gents and ladies, another conundrum. One of my hybrid projects is DRUNKEN MASTER II. 

The problem is Premiere Pro crashes trying to import the m2ts file and I have discovered this is due to its being a VC-1 encode. 

I will want to maintain the quality of the transfer (it's 1080p 24fps) so that when I output for a new Blu-Ray, I am not going to get something noticeably inferior. 

My plan is to sync up the old soundtrack from the laserdsic (because it's just better) and also splice in some missing scenes (the Blu-Ray is missing the original ending) from a DVD source. Of course I will also have subtitles. 

I've really no idea where to begin as far as what is the correct method of converting or transcoding to something usable. My system is a PC and I have CS5 Production Premium and I do have DVDfab. 

Ripbot264 - crf 18

For editing? An intermediate codec or even uncompressed YUV or RGB if temporary disk space is no object. You can convert to uncompressed by loading the M2TS into AviSynth with FFVideoSource and saving in VirtualDub. Not sure whether the codecs listed on that page will show up in VDub if you wanted to go the compressed route.

Thanks. I have tried using AviSynth and failed miserably. I feel like it's written for NASA scientists. I don't even know what FFVideoSource is. Obviously I need to do some research.

Using an intermediate codec definitely sounds like something I should attempt since this project will need to be frame accurate. I just need to figure out how to go about it. 

Disc space won't be an issue if I move a few things around.