AVCHD on iMAC

[hughesyboy]

Hi everyone,

I'm considering purchasing an HMC150 but was wondering what type of computer system would be the minimum requirements. I've got an IMac dual core intel 2.8ghz extreme with 4gb ram, leopard and latest final cut suite 2 updates. Would this be able to hande editing AVCHD? or is a mac pro required?

Cheers,
Dave

[manglerBMX]

the thing about AVCHD footage and using final cut is that the footage gets transcoded to proress, which is very easy to edit with. it just may take longer to transcode with a slower machine. but editing wise, you're good.

[Thomas Lew]

My macbook pro is way worse you're absolutely fine.

[David Saraceno]

However if you are transcoding to prores, make certain your FW media drive is fast enough.

[hughesyboy]

Hey guys thanks for the comments. That's good news, at least I don't need to upgrade my computer system now :)

[ullanta]

ProRes edits nicely even on an old 2.16 GHZ Core Duo iMac...

As mentioned, in the transcoding, you're trading editing ease for storage space. Make sure you have a nice big fast external drive or two!

[Lithos]

this is most likely a silly question...

would i be able to edit native avc-hd on an imac? do you lose quality when you transcode? thats something i haven't understood.

[shreddog]

I have an imac 2.16 ghz intel core duo, with 1.5gig of ram.
I have FCE and when i try and log and transfer the clips I get an exclamation mark next to them and they dont transcode. I think.
I can see the clips in the log and transfer area but can't edit them or even drag them into a bin or the timeline.

Anyone have any ideas... very frustrated. day 3 trying to edit and I can't get the footage off my camera or my card.

[manglerBMX]

fcp does not support native avchd editing as of yet. premiere pro cs4 does, but users have been complaining that its reeeeaal slow and choppy and won't play back at realtime.

and there should not be any quality loss when transcoding clips, although some users are complaining otherwise, but this might be a fcp error in not being able to properly support the higher bit rate of the hmc150.

never used fce, so i'm not sure of its workings. does it support avchd? what version of fce are you using?

and fcp 6.0.5 was just released, so that may clear up some issues.

[jscheib]

Ok, so now that 6.0.5 is out, is anyone editing AVCHD natively on any of the iMac setups on FCP 6.0.5? Experiences? It's Black Friday - considering making a purchase, but need to know if an iMac is enough or if Mac Pro is needed.

[fieldreportermf]

My HMC150 just arrived to day and I installed FCE 4 yesterday...I am running it on a new imac dual core intel 2.8ghz with 4gb ram ( leopard)...I havn't even taken the new cam out of the box yet! :) I am hoping that I won't have any issues editing, as FCE 4 states that it nativly handles AVCHD...I sure would appreciate any thoughts on this? Thanks

[shrigg]

No FCE and FCS2 both transcode to edit the AVCHD. The Final Cut Pro 6.0.5 update just improves the transcoding. Nothing on the Mac edits AVCHD natively very well. That is what we are all hoping for with FCS3. As reported elsewhere CS4 does edit without transcoding but it is not very robust.

[fieldreportermf]

Thanks shrigg...

So you have any thoughts on what would be my best workflow solution considering I'm using the above mentioned NLE and iMac? hope this isn't a silly question...I'm a newbie...thanks

[shrigg]

You didn't mention capture drives, but you definitely need to buy one. My best advice is to buy a big (1 Tb) FW800 hard drive! FCE will transcode your HMC footage into much larger files on the capture drive. I don't use FCE but I believe it transcodes using AIC (Apple Intermediate Codec) which makes smaller files than ProRes. If it allows you to select ProRes then do that for maximum quality, but otherwise AIC is fine too.

Don't make the fatal mistake of trying to capture/transcode footage onto your iMac's boot drive. This will yield bad performance and will slow hurt the Mac's overall performance big time. You always should use a separate drive for video, just like back in the miniDV days.

[fieldreportermf]

Shrigg,

Right, yes...I do have a 500GB external drive (I found my other macbook got very full, very fast even with miniDV)...Please forgive me, but you are saying that I can edit the AVCHD files with FCE 4 (log and transfer), however they must be transcoded first, correct?
So I can make the hmc150 and FCE 4 play nice together( just not as fast as one would hope)?
Thanks for you advice...much appreciated!

[vavavideo]

Since iMovie, FCE and FCS all transcode to ProRes, which is something like 60gigs an hour vs. the miniscule sized originals, how do most Mac folks archive the original avchd footage? Is a program that helps to catalog the original files?

[David Saraceno]

One big factor that many have pointed out is never capture to or use your boot drive as a media drive.

You do not want that HDD running OS, application, and also accessing media files.

[pailes]

Since iMovie, FCE and FCS all transcode to ProRes, which is something like 60gigs an hour vs. the miniscule sized originals, how do most Mac folks archive the original avchd footage? Is a program that helps to catalog the original files?

I was thinking about that too. Something iPhoto-style. A database application to manage your AVCHD archive. Would be an awesome application.

[David Saraceno]

VideoPier HD

[Dafilman21]

Just a quick question on transcoding from someone who still uses tape how do you transcode the footage to Prores in FCP does it do it automatically or do you do it while you log and capture?

[Barry_Green]

Automatic during the "log & transfer" step.

[Dafilman21]

Thanks Barry!

[NewspaperVideo]

Just a quick question on transcoding from someone who still uses tape how do you transcode the footage to Prores in FCP does it do it automatically or do you do it while you log and capture?

Here's how it works in Final Cut: put your card in a card reader and open "log & transfer" in Final Cut. Instantly, the thumbnails of all your clips pop up on the left side of the window. On the right side is a preview window that you can set in and out points on each clip. Then click "add to queue" and Final Cut starts ingesting the clip. On a fast Mac, it's a little faster than real time. All the transcoding is handled automatically behind the scenes.

When you're done ingesting, you need to archive your original AVCHD files, keeping the folder structure of your card intact. Final Cut doesn't keep a copy of the original small AVCHD files, and you won't have room to keep the huge transcoded Pro-Res files indefinitely.

[JonathanS]

Just a quick question on transcoding from someone who still uses tape how do you transcode the footage to Prores in FCP does it do it automatically or do you do it while you log and capture?

You 'Log and Transfer' rather than 'Log and Capture' (next option in the menu). The window is a bit different, but works basically the same way, only you queue clips up in the window rather than the bin, and the queue automatically transcodes to ProRes rather than requiring a Batch Capture.

The transcoded clips then appear in the bin, as expected.

The process is surprisingly refined, actually - though transcode times can be annoyingly lengthy.

[TheGuitarzan]

Transcoding is the worst.

At least when I was capturing tape (also in real time) I could watch my footage, make notes about scenes, etc.

I do a lot of same-day edits and wish there was a faster solution.

[Barry_Green]

If you want to do same-day edits, try an editor that doesn't require any transcoding - just plug in your SD card and edit immediately.

On the Mac, that probably limits you to Premiere Pro CS4 right now. If you run Bootcamp/Windows, you could then choose from EDIUS Neo, or Pinnacle or Ulead or whatever other editors support native editing.

You may not get full frame rate playback, but you'll be editing instantly with no transcoding.