HMC151 with Windows XP

kupester

New member
Hi guys,

I'm about a second away from purchasing an HMC151 (I was originally going to get a DVX100B, but the HMC isn't actually that much more expensive - BARGAIN i thought, BUT then I discovered all these posts about difficulties with editing AVCHD footage in editing....
I have Windows XP and Premiere CS3 and was wondering if it would actually be viable at all to do any editing....? My final plan is a whole 90 minute feature film... - but i won't have reached editing stages until later next summer/autumn, at which point i am hoping the situation may have changed slightly, or i have enough money to go out and buy a powerful mac, for example, but in the meantime maybe i can practise with what i have....?

Also, this may seem really basic, but I`m a complete newbie to all this so please bear with me;
In the worst case, if I record HD footage on the HMC, but then find I`m struggling with editing, is it relatively easy to down convert to SD before editing, and then in that case would editing in CS3 go as normal...? I mean, if I understand correctly, AVCHD files are .mts files, which are what premiere will have a problem with, so does downconverting change the actual types of files to something premiere can cope with better?

In this case, is it easy to save the HD footage for use at a later date?

Thanks in advance
I'd really appreciate any help/advice you can offer...!
 
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I think that the best workflow for your computer setup is converting the avchd files to dvcpro hd (with the transcoder that panasonic has). That way all the editing problems vanish, and you'll be editing in real time.
 
it's really that simple?
so i could eventually edit a whole 90 minute movie with what i already have??

[i have a dell Inspiron 6400, Genuine Intel(R) CPU, T2250 @ 1.73GHz, o.99GB of RAM]

Does anyone have the same set-up as me - Windows XP and PPCS3 - and actual tried this and tested it out?
If so, and it works, then there's nothing stopping me buying it!
Please let me know... anybody...
 
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I think that the best workflow for your computer setup is converting the avchd files to dvcpro hd (with the transcoder that panasonic has). That way all the editing problems vanish, and you'll be editing in real time.

i just checked the panasonic website which said:
[System Requirments]
Operational environment
Microsoft®Windows®XP or Windows®Vista
Processor
Intel®Pentium®4 processor 3.06 GHz or faster with Hyper Threading Technology.
A Dual Core or higher CPU is recommended.
RAM
1 GB or more (2 GBs recommended)


This means it won't work on my computer, right? :(
 
The converter works lickety split.

Just wish Panasonic provided one for the Mac.

In exploring workflow, I use Windows XP and VMWare, and it converts reasonably quickly.
 
David, How fast does the Panasonic convertor work through VMware? I haven't tried this yet.
 
Ohhh...

GOOD news!
However... just to be sure.... David, Barry... you aren't using CS4 are you?
It works with CS3?

Thanks so much again!
 
Ohhh...

GOOD news!
However... just to be sure.... David, Barry... you aren't using CS4 are you?
It works with CS3?

Thanks so much again!

Yes it works perfectly with cs3, I was using that before jumping to cs4. My setup is pretty similar (amd dual 2ghz processor, the only difference is Ram, I have 3gigs, but processor power is more important than ram in this case).

If I were you I would update your processor a bit and get 2Gb of ram at least (not that it won't work, but transcoding and other stuff will be faster). But if you can't it'll work fine (if you look around the threads here you'll find some raw material, I recommend you to download it and try it by yourself.


BTW, you won't regret buying this camera! it's really an outstanding camera!
 
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Toast 9 does it. Entire clips only which is not nearly as nice as FCP's Log & Transfer... but it's nice to have an alternative. It will work on G5's too which is great for some.
 
Toast 9 will convert to DVCProHD.

Also, VMWare with Windows.

But I just posted a thread about bring the Panasonic AVCHD to p2 converter to the Mac.

It is based on MainConcept's encoder, which is Mac compatible.
 
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