Guys, stop blaming Avid and find your own workflow.

Blaming avid? I don't know how long you are using avid.. I can only see how long you're on this forum.

We are not blaming avid in this forum as if it is guilty of a crime. Most of us try to help solving other people's problems, help each other with finding the right workflows and are constructively critical towards avid where needed.

As we know avid employees are reading and helping out here, for which I can only compliment them, these discussions might help to improve avid's applications. I see no reason to stop that.

AVCHD is not more consumer than HDV. It is even much better. Cameras like the Panasonic HMC150 goes to 21 mb/s VBR with a max of 24 mb/s. And this camera, in 720p 24p is even better than a HPX170 recording 720p DVCProHD at 24 pN because the HMC compression is low in this mode. The only differences are the color space and the intra-frame - inter-frame recording.

If MC support DV25 and HDV, it will have to support AVCHD in near future. It should be supported in MC 4.0

As other said, HDV was hard to edit at first. Now, about every NLE can edit it quite easily with todays PC's. It's just a question of time to have the same performance with future PC's and AVCHD.

Wm Warne:

... all Avid has to do is make a separate applet, THAT WORKS PERFECTLY WITH AVID, for a particular camera or brand ... the applet doesn't have to be for all brands or all cameras.  If you had that camera, you'd probably buy the applet.  While it is true that there are a number of conversion programs out there, a lot of them don't work with Avid and the rest of them have other issues.  Hey, I'd pay $200 for an Avid applet that worked perfectly with my Vixias ... at the drop of a hat.

My personal issue is that while I can get AVCHD into MC 3.5, I still have been unable to resolve the syncronization issue when I mix AVCHD with mini DV in multicam.

At this point I can say that Premiere CS4 works natively with AVCHD reasonably well.  If Adobe can do it, I will boldly say that maybe Avid can as well.

Lastly, I fully agree that a separate computer for transcoding is the way to go.

Hey,

FWIU, TMPGEnc and Streamclip works well with AVCHD. Perhaps Sorenson Squeeze too, IDK? I do know that TMPGEnc and Streamclip can make DNxHD files that will fast import into MC. If they can read the version of AVCHD your camera writes, IDK, but I would imagine they could.

A ?. I've never used Premiere; does Premiere work natively with the AVCHD file or does it transcode it?

P.S. While a separate computer would be ideal, I was more saying that a separate ap would be better than having Avid do the transcoding through MC.

Streamclip doesn't work with AVCHD.

At least all the files I downloaded from net aren't being recognized by Streamclip.

We need mpeg(2) import directly into MC.

One things never regret buying was Studio 12 Ultimate which is based on Liquid and can import and export almost everything (including AVCHD which edits natively!).

I bought it for 120 euros before a year or so.

"FWIU, TMPGEnc and Streamclip works well with AVCHD. Perhaps Sorenson Squeeze too, IDK? I do know that TMPGEnc and Streamclip can make DNxHD files that will fast import into MC. If they can read the version of AVCHD your camera writes, IDK, but I would imagine they could.

A ?. I've never used Premiere; does Premiere work natively with the AVCHD file or does it transcode it?"

In reverse order:

1.  As far as I understand, Premiere does work natively with AVCHD; the most recent update is also supposed to import Avid projects.  The following quote is from the current help manual:

"New tapeless camera support

Take advantage of the efficiency of tapeless cameras. Edit files from the latest tapeless formats natively, including AVCHD, P2, and XDCAM EX, without transcoding or rewrapping. With the integrated Media Browser, you can browse your hard disks from inside Adobe Premiere Pro. You can find footage, and then import the content directly into your Adobe Premiere Pro project."

My own observation is that Premiere allows me to get AVCHD into the editor very quickly; more quickly than an Avid fast import of a similar length file as a matter of fact.  That said, when I try to do multicam editing with Premiere my simple dual core struggles more than similar edits in Avid.  Avid is much more real time than Premiere when I do multicam edits.  Of course I have never tried AVCHD / regular HD multicam edits in Avid because Avid doesn't support AVCHD directly ... so the comparison is likely unfair.

2.  TMPGEnc 4.0

I bought a copy.  It was able to transcode to DNxHD.  That was nice.  It took a long time though.  There were other programs that were faster.  My biggest gripe though was that (at least my copy) I had to be on the internet when I started the program and when I left it.  Too much big brother there.  If that's their trust level of me, why should I have a greater trust level of them?  Beyond the moral issue, however, why do I have to spend extra computer ticks for internet access to insure my honesty when my computer already struggles with the job it is doing?

3.  Streamclip 1.2

I'd love to use this freeware program for conversion.  It doesn't need to call home and keep an eye on me.  And, it's supposed to work.  If you'd share your workflow (I'm doing 1080i HD and trying to achieve the best quality I can), I would really, really, really appreciate.  But I don't claim to be a genius or a geek, so kind of a step by step is what would really help.

4.  Upshift

I bought a copy of that too.  I was amazed how quickly the program converted AVCHD files.  My joy was shortlived though ... when I tried to import into MC 3.5 I got the all too frequent message that said it was an unrecognized format.  Some people say they have had success with Upshift and MC though ... maybe I did something wrong.

5.  FFMpeg

Like Streamclip this is a freeware program.  It's supposed to work.  I don't have a workflow yet though.  I'm pretty sure the most reason version can export as DNxHD if you have the Avid lite codecs (free download) installed.

6.  The Panasonic Main Concept Utility

Version 1 works with all or most cameras (free download); version 2 only works with Panasonic.  This seemed like an answer at first, but I had what I will call "banding" problems with the color.  Again, the problem may be my error rather than the program's.

7.  Pinnacle Studio Ultimate Version 12

This program accepts AVCHD but I never could export a format that Avid would accept.

8.  Sony Vegas Movie Studio 9 Platinum Pack and Corel VideoStudio Pro X2

These programs accept AVCHD and I seem to recall that they edit AVCHD natively.  These were some of the first programs I tried so my recollection is a little hazy.  I vaguely recall that I wasn't able to import files generated by Corel and that I had a sync problem with Vegas when I did multicam edits in Avid.  When I just wanted to generate a blu ray from AVCHD though, VideoStudio Pro was the easiest and most intuitive solution.

9.  Sorenson Squeeze

This is one of the few programs I haven't tried.  I have heard that some people have had success with it though.

 10.  Quicktime Pro

I think this program can export in the DNxHD format.  I don't know if you can get AVCHD in though.

Wm Warne:

4.  Upshift

I bought a copy of that too.  I was amazed how quickly the program converted AVCHD files.  My joy was shortlived though ... when I tried to import into MC 3.5 I got the all too frequent message that said it was an unrecognized format.  Some people say they have had success with Upshift and MC though ... maybe I did something wrong.

I bought Upshift, as it seemed to me that a dedicated standalone converter would be more efficient (and less expensive) than a full grown editing program (although magix, premiere and studio do the transcoding part quite well). But the original downloadable version didn't produce usable files from my Sony AVCHD clips. I dropped a ticket at NewBlue's support homepage and the next day they sent a download link for the bugfixed version (1.0h), which i'm using without trouble for over a year now. The conversion from AVCHD (thin raster @ 15 mbits) to HDV and fast import into MediaComposer is slightly faster than realtime on my quadcore machine (takes about 9 min to get a 10 min clip from the camera into MC), but that may be different for FullHD clips.

If your footage isn't convert right, try talking to their support - they've been fast and competent in my case.

BobbyMurcerFan:

A ?. I've never used Premiere; does Premiere work natively with the AVCHD file or does it transcode it?

It will edit natively AVCHD, but there are bug reports. Some reported several image jumps during the playback of a rendered movie.

Take a look at this video and this thread.

Wm Warne:

2.  TMPGEnc 4.0

I bought a copy.  It was able to transcode to DNxHD.  That was nice.  It took a long time though.  There were other programs that were faster.  My biggest gripe though was that (at least my copy) I had to be on the internet when I started the program and when I left it.  Too much big brother there.  If that's their trust level of me, why should I have a greater trust level of them?  Beyond the moral issue, however, why do I have to spend extra computer ticks for internet access to insure my honesty when my computer already struggles with the job it is doing?

I believe there was something screwy with your TMPGEnc install. B/c it doesn't need an internet connection to work, AFAICT.

I unplugged the ethernet cable from my editing PC and just ran TMPGEnc. It opened, transcoded and closed w/o error.

HTH.

Wm Warne:

9.  Sorenson Squeeze

This is one of the few programs I haven't tried.  I have heard that some people have had success with it though.

I just tried using Squeeze to convert an AVCHD file made with TMPGEnc to DNxHD. It worked and the file Fast Imported into MC.

One thing, it looks like Squeeze replaced the original AVCHD file with the transcoded DNxHD file. I imagine there's some setting I didn't click.

HTH.

we shot a whole lot of rally car footage with an HD pencil cam which records to Sony AVCHD.  There was NO other way to get pencil cam HD. 

Ive tried a whole lot of options and ended up buying the baby vegas just to transcode this stuff.....

BobbyMurcerFan:

One thing, it looks like Squeeze replaced the original AVCHD file with the transcoded DNxHD file. I imagine there's some setting I didn't click.

HTH.

Were you able to get sound working? Did you need to have the Haali splitter installed?

Could you give the proceedure and settings that you used please?

Thanks,

Cian.

I imported an AVCHD source file. Then clicked on Audiences, opened My Favorites folder, right-clicked and chose "New Audience Preset" and chose "QucikTime (.mov)."

Then I specified DNxHD and the resolution that I wanted. For sound, I chose 16-bit Little Endian. Sound works perfectly.

HTH.

macjaeger:

But the original downloadable version didn't produce usable files from my Sony AVCHD clips. I dropped a ticket at NewBlue's support homepage and the next day they sent a download link for the bugfixed version (1.0h), which i'm using without trouble for over a year now.

We have been using Sony Vegas to do a preliminary cut-down of the AVCHD material and then export as an MXF file that MC can read. This takes a very long time, so I'm interested in getting something else to work, so I thought perhaps Upshift? I have just tried the download trial from NewBlue's site, but it must be the first version. What is the link they gave you? Cheers, Stu.