Does the Avid Media Composer support AVCHD format? The Wikipedia website states it does, but I think this may be an error.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AVCHD

Sonny

are you talking about sony's domestic HD format?   if so ive been battling with it for months now.   avid does not support it "yet".  i ended up buying over the net the LE version of Sony Vegas, i think its called sony vegas platinum or something.  that way i can edit my avchd material.  i then play it on my PS3.

Yes, the format developed by Sony. I actually didn't know there were others. Avid's website says that Media Composer supports H.264 MPEG4 which I thought was another name for AVCHD.

 We also have bought Sony Vegas for that purpose, version 7 in our case. However encoding time to QT takes a whi........le.

Now thanks to the DNxHD board and a component to SDI HD converter, we capture directly out of the camera.to the Adreanline. This is very very very faster.

 Main Concept makes a AVC-HD to DVCPRO converter that's pretty slick. Once you convert the file you bring it in as if it was P2 media. Works like a charm. I've been told by AVID that support consumer AVC is very low on their list, which since that's the prevailing consumer format, effectivly replaceing MiniDV, I find short sighted on their part, but the Main Concept app does the trick.

 Dan !

I just went to the Main Concept site ! I couldn't see any price. They have a weird form to fill. Can you give me more details about this software. Has this Main Concept something to do with the Pinnacle Studio encoder ?

 Sonny - Yeah the Wiki post is kinda vague. There are many types of AVC-HD. But I think for NLE support it boils down to "consumer" and "professional", In the consumer front I think each camera manfacturer will have it's own flavor which can make it hard for NLE manfactures to support. Whereas the pro AVC, like in new new 500/3000 Panasonic cameras is more of a standard. But I can't be right for sure, since this stuff is so new.

One thing we did early on was to take Component HD out of the AVC camera breakout-to-RCA from camera and convert to HD-SDI for the Adrenaline to ingest. (btw-We have an AJA box for sale that does this for $500, cost $1K 4 months ago, we bought a FS-1, no sales pitch intended)

But the Wiki post is inaccurate...I've heard Avid Liquid supports consumer AVC-HD. Not sure why MCA can't, but I guess Avid has an expanation.

I'll post the name of that Main Concept conversion app tomorrow when I'm in the office.

 Joseph - It's not on Main Concept site, but Panasonic. Here ya go...

http://www.panasonic.com/business/provideo/support/software_downloads.asp

fazz... that converter only works for sony "hdv" avchd material, not sonys consumer avchd....  am i right?

sep thats a brilliant idea capturing HD sdi, ive also got an adrenaline HD so now im smiling....  thanks

 Well technically that's for Panasonic "consumer" AVC (or perhaps only for their AG-HSC1P? camera), I don't know how it works with other manufactures flavors, but that goes to my earlier point... the consumer AVC seems to be all over the place, which is really unfortunate for all of us. Hence why we had the AJA (I think DC10A, or something like that) and now the AJA FS-1 so if the consumer camera has Component HD out we can convert it to HD-SDI to get it into Adrenaline. But if you're working over Firewire I don't know how this would work, unless this Pana/Main Concept converter works. It's kinda a mess and a shame as AVC looks very good.. despite what that Wiki post said, at a decent data rate, AVC looks much, much better than MiniDV. The 1080i footage cuts well against 720p HDX-900 when needed for specialty shots.

Our prosumer Pana AVC HD camera came with an very low-end editing application, but this is clearly geared for the most basic, consumer editing, and as far as I can tell... no way to get it out of the application to a DVD. These manufacturers should adopt a AVC standard but we all know that will never happen. I can't tell you how many people come into our facility saying "I can't get my footage out of my new Sony/Panasonic/Samsung camera". Windfall for us, sad for the consumers who buy these cameras. 

http://www.mainconcept.com/site/news-9/current-news-129/panasonic-21184.html?L=1