Getting Manageable Footage...

DigitalNoir

DigitalNoir

Active member
So I am in the middle of the 48 Hour Project right now, shooting with my HMC. I have been running into trouble of how to deal with AVCHD footage. I am editing on a Mac with PP CS4, and the native AVCHD footage looks like crap. Earlier this week I tried transcoding to some different formats (DVCPro HD is not available) and the only one that worked was H. 264. As someone else said, transcoding to H. 264 is a "Bag and Hurt" and its not an editing format, and they couldn't be more right.

So getting down to it, my question is, can I download the free AVCHD - DVCPro HD utility on a PC, transcode it to a .mxf format and bring it back on my Mac, or am I gonna run into a whole bunch of issues?

If anyone has any better ideas of what I can do to get this footage manageable and looking good please don't hold back... The clock is ticking for me.
 
can you define what "looking like crap" is? are you trying to correct exposure, color? You can transcode using compressor. I would use Apple Intermediate Codec to edit it.
 
"Looking like crap" is blocky footage with all kinds of artifacts. I was thinking about Apple Intermediate Codec, will premiere handle AIC well?
 
DigitalNoir said:
"Looking like crap" is blocky footage with all kinds of artifacts. I was thinking about Apple Intermediate Codec, will premiere handle AIC well?
Click to expand...

If you are running out of time, I would try transcoding it to one of the MPEG-2 Blu-Ray HD formats. MPEG-2 creates much bigger files, but doesn't require much processing power to edit.
 
Have you played the native AVCHD in VLC media player?

You have sample exports that 'look like crap' ?
 
If you create a custom preset using the desktop mode in Premiere, you can assign AIC as the codec, and then use Toast to transcode to AIC.

Do not go from heavily compressed AVCHD to MPEG-2 Blu-Ray HD. The latter is a delivery format, not an editing format.
 
Thank you so much everyone for your responses.

craigglaspell said:
What would you use to transcode to the mpg2bluray? premiere?
Click to expand...

I would be using Toast 10 to transcode.

David you said: If you create a custom preset using the desktop mode in Premiere, you can assign AIC as the codec, and then use Toast to transcode to AIC.

Do not go from heavily compressed AVCHD to MPEG-2 Blu-Ray HD. The latter is a delivery format, not an editing format

Tell me more about this. This morning i tried transcoding to AIC and it worked fine to get into premiere, but when i tried to bring my footage over to AE to color grade, premiere would stop responding... I would like to have a codec i can bring over to color grade and back to premiere... Are my settings just wrong to deal with AIC in premiere?

Thank you so much for everyones responses.
 
This may be "stupid" -- but are you viewing AVCHD footage in "Draft" mode in Premiere?

I've had issues with "PH" AVCHD in Premiere Pro CS4.1 -- but "blocky" footage "with all kinds of artifacts" isn't one of them.

Right click on the display window -- and there should be a quality option offering "best," "draft," and I think "auto." If your "auto" or "draft" quality looks funky -- that doesn't show up in what you put out with Adobe media Encoder.

Also, please be sure you updated to 4.1.

Premiere ain't perfect -- it's got issues -- but "blocky" "artifacts" isn't one of them.

Good luck!
 
Hey thanks AG... even if you were poking fun at me with the over use of quotation marks...?

Anyways, can someone please help me out with how to make a custom preset for AIC in Premiere that would be GREAT and help me out a ton. How do you do it?
 
DigitalNoir said:
Hey thanks AG... even if you were poking fun at me with the over use of quotation marks...?

Anyways, can someone please help me out with how to make a custom preset for AIC in Premiere that would be GREAT and help me out a ton. How do you do it?
Click to expand...


Yeah, no, I don't make fun of people on this board. I'm too boring. Too many quotes -- I'm guilty.

Perhaps I haven't had enough coffee today -- but I'm not coming up with what "AIC" represents.
 
Apple Intermediate Codec

Thats what im transcoding to. David alluded to a way to make a custom preset to use in Premiere to use the Apple Intermediate Codec, but i don't know how to do it.

I can import the files (the ones i transcoded) just fine, but when i try to round trip them to AE and back Premiere shuts down on me...
 
Ah ha! I'm a PC guy -- I know nothing about anything relating to Apple -- other than "Appleworks" that I used on an Apple IIc when I was ten or eleven.

I wish you success in your production! Good luck!
 
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