AF100 footage into Win CS5.5 - best workflow?

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PaulMOsborne

Member
Hi,

I shoot AVCHD on a Panasonic AF101 to SD card. My client tells me he has "issues" with the format I provide and it is a big pain for him. He says it plays back very poorly and they have decided to transcode all the material to MPEG2 before editing. I am trying to troubleshoot remotely but I don't use Premiere nor Windows so can't really point to a workaround. He says he uses a newish PC and has CS5.5. Are there any known issues with importing AVCHD from the AF100/101 into CS5.5? Will it be a question of PC power that is causing his issues or just a codec too far for Premiere?

I want to be able to tell him that there are plenty of people efficiently editing on Premiere (Win) using footage from the AF101 and that the issues aren't because of my choice of camera. If he isn't convinced then he'll most likely choose a different cameraman rather than try to optimise his edit suite and workflow. Help!
 
editman said:
If it's a new quad-core PC with enough RAM and GFX-adapter could it be he runs the material from an external 5200rpm drive?
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Hi editman, I don't know his specs. BUT I want to be able to assure him that he could play / edit / master my material without issues - because other people do, so it isn't an unavoidable incompatability. Do you run Premiere and have you got a issue free workflow for AF100 footage?
 
To be sure, you need an Intel i7 processor at least, but there are some issues with AVCHD in 5.5 that Adobe is aware of and working on. Make sure he's upgraded to the latest 5.5.2, which does fix some issues.
 
Jim Simon said:
To be sure, you need an Intel i7 processor at least, but there are some issues with AVCHD in 5.5 that Adobe is aware of and working on. Make sure he's upgraded to the latest 5.5.2, which does fix some issues.
Click to expand...

Thanks Jim,

I'll brief him on upgrading. So are you able to workaround these issues? Is the Adobe acknowledgement online anywhere?
 
I've running a five year old Q6600 quad core 2.4 GHz processor, and I only really start to run into speed issues when doing multi-cam with 1080p footage.

But yeah, get his specs, because unless he's running an ancient computer, he really shouldn't be having issues on 5.5. Also, how is he bringing the footage into Premiere? How is he transferring it off the card? Is he copying the entire "PRIVATE" folder, or just the .MTS files (not that that should make too much of a difference, but it never hurts to know).
 
Hi, thanks for the replies. His specs are:
Windows 7, 64 bit.
Intel Core i5 – 2400 CPU @ 3.1 Ghz.
8gb RAM.
NVidia GeForce GTX 470 graphics card.
using internal drives

Premiere 5.5
I have learnt that he imports the MTS files in alone. I have told him to revert to importing all the folders off the SD cards.
He says it does not scrub on the timeline well - so poorly that they prefer to transcode to MPEG2 first, and also it shows glitches in the export to a final variant.
I have suggested he upgrades to 5.5.2

Just so he will understand it is worthwhile - can anyone state to me that they have trouble-free editing on Premiere of AF101 footage?
 
As a post script... my client tells me he tried to import my footage with the folder structure intact (as I suggested). No joy, Premiere just took the MTS files.

Am I missing something? FCP needs the folders, and sorts it all out in the background when using the Log & Transfer window. How does Premiere import? Is there a specific import tool that sees the folders and takes the correct metadata and timecode along with the original clips? OR is it just a case of selecting the MTS clips and click import?
 
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