CS4 Glitchy with AVCHD

B

Brian Mercer

Member
I'm having trouble with CS4 and native AVCHD files. When you drop them on the time line, playback is glitchy. Its like a stutter effect. The audio plays fine, but it seems the computer is having trouble processing all the video. This makes it difficult to edit.

The computer is a quad core Mac Pro 2.8 ghz with 10GB RAM. Mac OS X 10.5.6. I can transcode to ProRes and edit fine in FCP. However, I would like to try it on CS4 due to the native AVCHD files. (Not to mention Magic Bullet - that I just purchased - will not render the ProRes files).

Any suggestions on solutions? Maybe the CS4 update at the end of the month will satisfy the problem? Or do I still need to transcode to a different format for CS4?
 
My experience is that RT native editing with AVCHD footage isn't there yet, and I doubt it will be any time soon.

The sooner you leave Long GOP interframe and get to an intermediate codec, the better.

Just my opinion.
 
Right click in the Source panel and in the Program panel and choose Quality > Highest Quality.

While i can edit native AVCHD i still without any doubt prefer to transcode the footage. It speeds up the editing and the render times is heavily decreased. So, imo the whole editing experience is smoother and better with non native AVCHD.

I use Blackmagic Designs Intensity Pro card to capture the footage in real time via HDMI. It may sound stupid, but for my purposes i save time by doing this. I have compared the whole workflow, native vs capturing footage, and despite that capturing is slower than copying the files from the card/s, native AVCHD is slower timewise due to slower rendering times if i compare the whole chain, from input to output.

Lets say that i during the editing of the Project want to burn a DVD to look at the result so far, rendering times is a big issue for larger projects. Native vs intermediate codec render times makes a big difference with a couple of DVD's per project.

/Roger
 
Good info.

David - What codec are you using and what are you using to get there?

Averdahl - pardon my lack of knowledge of Blackmagic. Is that considered a graphics card or a capture card only?
 
Blackmagic Design makes capture cards only. The Intensity card works with CS4 and is designed for HDMI or (the "Pro" version) HDMI and analog capture.
 
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