Online AVCHD Tutorial

Nice video. I had no idea about the MTS Merger option. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.

I am interested in how you made the tutorial. What software did you use and how did you get it onto YouTube? I am impressed.

Cheers
 
I used Camtasia Studio 6 (30-day free trial) to create the tutorial. Then I imported resulting video (with zooms and pans) into Premiere Pro CS4 where I added graphics and synced to my audio. I recorded audio with my Sony PCM-D50 flash recorder. Then I exported using Adobe's Media Encoder using the YouTube presets under H.264.

See this tutorial for more info on YouTube uploads: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIPUDWaLMOQ
 
Nice tutorial.... Do you happen to know how to get Premiere to see the timecode of the AVCHD Files?

Thanks
Phil
 
Great video, I'm currently using FCP but I've been interested in CS4.1, so how would you describe AVCHD native editing from 1 to 10, where 1 is bad and 10 is awesome!... how do you personally prefer to edit, native or transcoded files?

Thanks for the video!
 
For me I would rate the editing about a 7 for multiple streams of video. I have a 2.6 Ghz Quad core and 8gb of DDR2 Ram running XP Pro 64 bit. It can get a little bogged down trying to edit espically while scrubbing like DT says. If you have a better computer it can make a big difference. This Timecode thing has really frustrated me though. I did just figure out though that if I transcode to P2 that Premiere can then see the Timecode. So for most projects I will edit in Natice AVCHD but for projects where I NEED the TC I will transcode to DVCPRO HD. All in all I am happy with it, but it could be better, as most things can be...

Phil
 
I'm running FCP 6.0.5 on a Quad 2.5 with 4GB of DDR2 on Leopard and the transcode method has been Fast, but i was just wondering about CS4!
How does it run once you apply filters and do colorgrading? (talking about native AVCHD)
 
I really have not done a ton of filters on any of it yet... I do have a wedding sitting on the shelf waiting to be edited that I will probably start on in a week or two. I can let you know once I get that done... Although that one may get transcoded since it was two cameras at the reception and the timecodes were syncd to make editing faster...

Phil
 
I also haven't done much with filters. But if I'm editing a two-camera shoot I usually convert the AVCHD to DVCPRO HD. I find the multicam feature of Premiere Pro CS4.1 a little sluggish when trying with two streams of AVCHD (or more). But for single-stream AVCHD, Premiere Pro is fine.

So how would I rate it? A 4 on multicam, a 7 on single stream AVCHD, and a 10 on transcoded (SD or DVCPRO HD).
 
Thats what i had in mind! I do multicam and filters often, so i guess is on with transcoding for me... I'll stay with FCP 6&7 till some other tittle blows Apple out of the water (doubt it!)
 
It really depends on your Comp. Honestly it would be worth a shot with the AVCHD just to see how well it works... If it works well for you then you will save a bunch or conversion time as well as a bunch of HDD space. I am not sure what the size difference is between AVCHD and ProRes but when I convert 16GB or AVCHD to DVCPRO HD it goes to 85GB.

Phil
 
ProRes has a low-res proxy mode (36mbps), the normal mode (145mbps) and the HQ mode (220mbps).

So recoding AVCHD into ProRes will result in an increase in file size anywhere from 50% (21mbps to 36mbps), all the way up to 3600% (6mbps HE mode up to ProRes HQ). Of course, nobody in their right mind would transcode HE mode up to HQ, but that's the spectrum.

AVCHD = 6mbps to 24mbps
ProRes = 36 mbps up to 220mbps.

In general, most folks are going to shoot AVC at 17 to 24mbps, and use normal ProRes at 145mbps, so the file size will increase from about 6x to 9x.
 
Once again Sir, you're right! I usually figure about a 1GB a minute of transcoded footage! I use ProRes422... I have 2 1.5TB drives with my AVCHD "Private" files (manually mirrored). and like 5TB just to play with. After a project is done i'll keep the transcoded files for a few weeks (mostly event videography) after that i delete the transcoded files (knowing if i had to re-edit/change something i could always re-transcode from the "Private" folder and re-link). I also do a DVD-DL backup of all the Raw AVCHD!

I haven't really done a lot of the ProResLT, mostly because i haven't had time to upgrade my main computers... but once the event season is over, I'll be installing FCP7 all across the stations!
 
DTeubner,

Thanks for sharing the technique. I'll have to try to make a tutorial also. thanks for the inspiration.
 
Barry_Green said:
I'm just talking about the stated bitrates, 36mbps/145mbps/220mbps.
Click to expand...

It's more complicated than that. For a start, Apple recommends using Pro Res LT for AVCHD. This sits in between normal Pro Res and the Proxy version.

The actual bitrate then depends on frame rate as well as size. For example, if you have 720 25p footage that ends up at 4.8MBps, which is only 288 MB per minute. It also transcodes much more quickly (about 6x real time on my machine, an 18 month old bottom of the range Mac Pro).

Obviously, 50p footage requires twice the bitrate and twice the transcode time.

Hope that helps.

Stuart
 
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