Using AVCHD in AVID MC / XPP

[Dan Wagner]

Here at work we are evaluating small HD cameras for some specialized shooting applications. We got a demo of the Panasonic HSC1U for about a week and were pleasantly surprised by it’s performance for our application. But the real problem comes when trying to edit the footage on an AVID system.

Well today I stumbled across some recent information posted on the AVID website about a FREE little Windows Utility from Panasonic that converts AVCHD media to P2 media. I’m testing out this afternoon… When the test is finished I’ll post my findings here for those interested.

Here is a link to the AVID website page:
http://tinyurl.com/2p4xbb

From there you will see the link to the Panasonic Webpage for the utility:
http://tinyurl.com/36oz2x
Look for the link to AVC-HD Transcoder.

I’d be curious to hear if anybody else has other workflow solutions for working with AVD-HD in a professional application. I’ve heard that some folks are using this footage for some “specialty” shots in feature film production.

Thanks,
Dan Wagner
AVID Editor/ACSR Win/Production Engineer

[milksac]

I certainly wouldn't willfully add an AVCHD cam to the work flow if it wasn't necessary. AVCHD is not ready for the edit suite. For a cheap decent quality camera the Canon HV20 would be a better choice IMO. Yeah it's HDV, but for the purposes of post production HDV is a much more mature format.

I'm no fan of these delivery formats (long form GOP & H.264) that have been turned into acquisition formats. But it is what it is and we learn to deal with it.

Where does Avid stand on integration of Sony's XDCAM EX?
I would expect full integration on the EX before AVCHD. This camera would fit the needs of a high quality, tapeless, small HD camera.