Is there an editing software that fluidly handles 60p?

PJ Sullivan

New member
I'd been looking for over a year for a 720-60p 3ccd camcorder under $4k to film my kids sports , so I bght the HMC150 a month ago under the assumption the software existed that was up to the challenge. I've since filmed a number of games, but have not been able to edit any of it. I'm using the 30day free trial of Vegas 8.0c, and that doesnt seem to like 60p footage as it looks jittery in the playback window.

All I want to do is take highlights from the games and create blu-ray disks. Vegas has a 15%-off promotion that ends tomorrow, but right now that seems like it would be wasted money to go with that. (I've seen people post work-arounds to Vegas jittery-ness, but since I can choose any software I'm hoping to find a one that will work seemlessly.)

Appreciate any thoughts if there is a software worth buying now of if i need to wait.


Sidenote-- i downloaded the panasonic AVCCAM viewer to at least view the footage, and it will only allow playback of 10 frames per second. My Vaio is a Core2duo, 2.2ghz, 2gb Ram 667mhz.
 
Premiere doesn't have a 720p preset.

And I cannot get specifics on the minimum hardware for PC or Mac that will actually handle the footage in RT for any NLE.

Most people are transcoding on a Mac to pro res or using the AVCHD to DVCProHD converter and editing in Edius or Premiere in DVCProHD.

Might try that route.

For me, I'd love a AVCHD RT editor that will write to an AVCHD red laser dye disc that will play on blu ray players.

Any platform
 
Actually, for what you want to do, Vegas will give you the most bang for the buck, easily.

Not sure what you mean about Vegas "jitteriness."
 
That would be tight. It would be enough, though, if he used the AVCHD/DVCPROHD converter and Raylight; still going to be hundreds less than the other options.
 
David, this is the jitterness (at the start of the downswing) he refers to. SCS is aware of this problem with 60p footage. My workaround is to enclose my desired render segment in one or more regions and render using the batch render script. Not sure why this works but I've gotten a clean render every time using that technique.

Actually, for what you want to do, Vegas will give you the most bang for the buck, easily.

Not sure what you mean about Vegas "jitteriness."
 
Oooh. That, I would not call "jitter." I'd just call it SNAFU. :)

Whatever the issue with that is, I would suspect it wouldn't persist going the DVCPRO/Raylight route. (Not that it helps you unless you want to invest in Raylight.) I imagine it has to do with the complexity of decoding AVCHD coupled with the velocity change.
 
Ok, so the 3 basic suggestions are:

David S: get more horsepower. But I thought it was difficult to upgrade a CPU from Duo to Quad, since ideally I want to keep using my existing PC which has the blu-ray drive on it. And even if I can upgrade the CPU, won't I still have the problem that no software seems to handle 60p easily?

David J: I guess I would invest in Raylight if thats a simple fix, but to be clear that still means also buying Vegas as well, correct? And do I also have to buy a AVCHD/DVCPROHD converter, whatever that is. I pretty adept picking up new software, but is this layered approach seems a little complicated.

Videomaker: I'm able to plug my SDHC card directly into my vaio, which gives me MTS files to view in Vegas' explorer which range in size from 55mb to 2gb. All the files take a while to load, and then only "display" in about 12 fps. Sometimes it still is in the process of "building peaks", whatever that is. I know you've given a detailed workaround in other posts, so is that simpler than getting Raylight? And will your workaround mean that whatever I chop up onto the timeline and save to a blu-ray disk will be playable in 60p from the dvd?

Thanks to everyone for the quick replies. I've been trying to figure this out for weeks and wish I didnt have to ask such stupid questions, but again I'm under the gun to buy Vegas tomorrow at 15%off.
 
David J: I guess I would invest in Raylight if thats a simple fix, but to be clear that still means also buying Vegas as well, correct? And do I also have to buy a AVCHD/DVCPROHD converter, whatever that is. I pretty adept picking up new software, but is this layered approach seems a little complicated.

You can download the converter for free:

https://eww.pavc.panasonic.co.jp/pro-av/support/desk/e/download.htm#avchd

Raylight makes it simple; you then take the converted MXF files and drop them on the Vegas timeline. But, I would only purchase Raylight if you have problems with the native files in Vegas.
 
As someone else mentioned in passing, don't forget to try Edius. It handles AVCHD native without a hiccup (although you might have realtime issus with your machine) and if you use the free AVCHD to DVCPROHD convertor, you will fly.

You can get a trial at http://desktop.thomsongrassvalley.com/products/EDIUS/index.php just click on the 30 day trial link on the right side of the page. You will get an email with the link and trial serial number.

Panagiotis
 
Thanks David J. Ok, thats my plan then. No PC upgrade, I buy Vegas tomorrow, and try to get smarter with it at burning 60p footage onto DVDs, perhaps using Videomakers suggestions. If it doesnt work, I'll get the converter and Raylight.
 
As someone else mentioned in passing, don't forget to try Edius. It handles AVCHD native without a hiccup (although you might have realtime issus with your machine) and if you use the free AVCHD to DVCPROHD convertor, you will fly.

You can get a trial at http://desktop.thomsongrassvalley.com/products/EDIUS/index.php just click on the 30 day trial link on the right side of the page. You will get an email with the link and trial serial number.

Panagiotis

Thanks Pangiotis -- I'll look into that option as well.
 
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