AVCHD, why are some having problems and others not?

Not very good performance here. I upgraded to CS4 mainly for AVCHD, I'll receive my HMC151 in two weeks and my computer isn't lovin those files.

That said, my computer may be getting old :

-Pentium D 810 (originally a dual-core @ 2.66, running at 3.50 stable)
-3 Gigs of RAM
-Geforce 7900 GTO
-RAID 0 Sata Hard drives
...

I guess my problem is my CPU was already weak at the beginning. With some overclocking it was perfect one or two years ago, but now, it must be too much...
Oh, and the 7xxx Nvidia don't support CUDA acceleration. Shame.

In Premiere, the first few seconds play perfectly, then it freezes or play very slowly.
Where I was shocked is that even VLC can't play it "somewhat" correctly. One or two seconds and blam, nothing anymore. Maybe there's something else.
I don't have much codecs installed. Anyone has an idea to help my system play and edit better ? It's hard to go back like this when I was editing HDV without problems.

Anyway, if I don't find anything, I'll just export uncompressed, I'm mainly a AE guy, anyway. But playing files smoothly to check them out would be useful before rendering for hours...
 
I have that video card (or worse, I can't remeber) and worse specs, but I can play it in MPC without problem, what I can't do is edit, Although when I try it doesn't freeze, it just goes really slow.
 
Premiere / AVCHD editing issues

Premiere / AVCHD editing issues

HMC150 AVCHD Editing in Premiere CS4
I'm a 1st time poster, and am hoping the input I'm able to receive is able to help me move forward here.

I just recently acquired a new MACBOOK PRO w/ the following specs:

Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
OSX 10.6.2 Snow Leopard
Processor Speed: 2.8 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
L2 Cache: 6 MB
Memory: 4 GB
Bus Speed: 1.07 GHz

Graphics: (looks like there are two cards?):

NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT (vRAM 512) & NVIDIA GeForce 9400M (vRAM 256)

My main purpose in upgrading was to be able to do NLE in the field, but as I'm learning, that may not be the case.

Though I've been using FCP for years on a MUCH slower G4 system, I've now purchased the CS4 Premium Production Package, and am attempting to familiarize myself with Premiere Pro.

I shot an hour of test footage with a PANASONIC HMC150, and loaded the card's files into a desktop folder. I've been able to view the clips in the media manager, and drop them into a timeline, but EVERYTHING IS SO SLOW!!!--even 1 at a time.

I can preview the files with relative ease, but when I start attempting any in/out points, and especially when I try to drag them into my timeline, I get the beachball from hell. And then there's the rendering time, just to normalize (uncompress I assume) the clip. 6 mins of footage the other night took 10 HOURS!!! ...and then Premiere crashed! Nice.

Everything gone.

It crashes and hangs up all the time. For all intensive purposes, it's useless right now.

Soooo...I understand that the monstrous amount of compression needed for AVCHD presents quite a strain on all-but-the most powerful systems. That being said, my MBP is no snail.

Please offer some advice on what I need to do to MAC-simize my system here. Is my graphic card just not up to snuff? Are their settings w/in the MAC or w/in Premiere that could help me out? Also, I read about people converting AVCHD footage to a more-manageable filetype, and still being able to convert it at full quality.

Please...I'm really hoping that my new $2,300 system is not too weak for AVCHD.

I'm about to test some older SD footage to see if Premiere remains unstable, but REALLY look forward to any help you all might be able to offer.

Thanks, in advance!
 
Okay... Here's my system specs..

i7 920 @3.4ghz
6gb OCZ tripple channel ram
500 GB main drive
2) 1TB video drives (non raid)
GeForce 9600 GSO 512mb (inexpensive model)

CS4.2 I can barely edit AVCHD.. The preview goes to draft and look like crap on 1080P footage from HMC150 or HMC40

Now.. since buying the HMC40 which came with Neo2.5 Booster I uninstalled Edius 5 and installed Neo2.5

I can now edit 4 layers of native 1080P footage with FULL rez preview like it's SD DV footage! I can plop down filters and effects and not a hiccup.
It's VERY smooth and easy to edit!

Now... Since you can install Neo 2.5 legally on two computers, I went ahead and put it on my i5 4GB/ 350GB HDD laptop from Gateway ($650 but BB had them on sale for $499 last month)

Two layers of 1080P AVCHD smooth as silk. Opened a 720/60P file... changed the framerate to 29.97.. Plays back in slowmo with filters/effects/transitions smooth as SD DV footage! Simply AMAZING!

Now I can't wait for Edius 5.5 due out by April 12th!

The speed is worth it to me.. I can edit then export and then use AfterFX/Encore to tweak/author to Blu-Ray.
 
ATL Media Group said:
CS4.2 I can barely edit AVCHD.. The preview goes to draft and look like crap on 1080P footage from HMC150 or HMC40.
Click to expand...


Edius has always been the best performer for whatever reasons.

But, my current system specs aren't that much ahead of yours and editing "raw" HMC150 AVCHD in Premiere Pro CS4 is nearly indistinguishable from editing DVCPROHD. Really -- I can scrub til my heart is content, color correct til Sunday, throw every third party plug in at it, or stack fifty clips on top of one another -- and not a single problem in Premiere Pro CS4 these days. Heck, Windows 7 even gives me thumbnails off the SDHC card.

(After Effects is a different story with AVCHD from the HMC150. Even after optimizing AE for multi core processing and other tweaks -- it's a disaster for anything over twenty or so seconds. For AE transcoding is still required)

In fact, seeing this post from a year ago reminded me of AVCHD editing issues about which I had completely forgotten.

So -- a year later -- we're back at the very first post from the opener of this thread.
 
AGMedia said:
Edius has always been the best performer for whatever reasons.

But, my current system specs aren't that much ahead of yours and editing "raw" HMC150 AVCHD in Premiere Pro CS4 is nearly indistinguishable from editing DVCPROHD. Really -- I can scrub til my heart is content, color correct til Sunday, throw every third party plug in at it, or stack fifty clips on top of one another -- and not a single problem in Premiere Pro CS4 these days. Heck, Windows 7 even gives me thumbnails off the SDHC card.

(After Effects is a different story with AVCHD from the HMC150. Even after optimizing AE for multi core processing and other tweaks -- it's a disaster for anything over twenty or so seconds. For AE transcoding is still required)

In fact, seeing this post from a year ago reminded me of AVCHD editing issues about which I had completely forgotten.

So -- a year later -- we're back at the very first post from the opener of this thread.
Click to expand...


Now you see.... That's strange. The preview of the new Mercury playback engine had Dave ranting and raving about being able to "finally edit native AVCHD as smooth as DV"... Dave put a couple layers of native AVCHD and put on a PIP then showed us that the preview was set to "Best" and specifically said "See... it's not lowering preview quality just to edit AVCHD.."
Then he said "This is a game changer"...
Wait.. lemme find his video.
http://blogs.adobe.com/davtechtable/

Wow.. here's a quote from the site: "In the video you’ll see incredible AVCHD playback and scrubbing, working with DSLR cameras like the Canon 5D & 7D"

Oh.. btw... Neo 2.5 and Edius 5.5 handle 7D footage just like DV also. VERY smooth.

So, you have either a unique system thatt doesn't need the Merc engine, or you *think* it responds smoothly.
I watched the video.... I can do the same edits right now on Neo 2.5 on a freakin LAPTOP just as smooth as the Merc engine demo!
GV have the game changer... Adobe is playing catchup and forcing you to upgrade your video card to play!
 
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