Transcoding AVCHD

O

Ogrus

Well-known member
Ok. I've checked the FAQ but nothing goes in depth with this issue

I am a absolute begginer with AVCHD so please bear with my "innocenct questions"

downloaded mainconcept 2.1 form panny website, did a few conversiones to SD (avi) Seemingly i can only transcode with this codec if shot in 1080i and no other format. Doesn't make much sense, if i shoot 720 i cannot convert!!! Besides 1080i converted to SD is very interlaced.

Sooooo.... Any other transcoding codec you would recommend. I hear cineform, but its rather expensive. Any software that would convert to mpeg2 for instance or QT?

I edit with premiere cs4, presently my comp doesn't have enough power to work with native AVCHD (will get a better comp soon) in the meanwhile i must convert to edit with best quality


Any advice on transcoding with best results for SD ( I know this is a sort of lost cause) will be very very appreciated!!
 
It's not quite the answer you want to hear, but I have a modest spec PC (i7-860, I think, with 8GB RAM, no RAID array, Windows 7 64 bit) and edit with Premiere Pro CS5. I edit the AVCHD natively and it works fine, as good as editing HDV was. I've never had the need for Cineform myself. The combination of the 64 bit software and Adobe improving AVCHD support makes life a lot happier for me.

Of course, whether that helps you depends on how much the upgrade costs and what spec of computer you have.

Cineform's Neoscene is only $129, and is allegedly the most capable solution out there. (The main Cineform products cost mega $$$). When I was doing HDV, I tried demos of this to try to make the edit faster and it didn't help me at all. Maybe it is different now - it is definitely worth grabbing a demo and checking it out. Their big selling point is also the preservation of image data throughout the editing chain, something that isn't vital to me as a hobbyist.

There's not much that I am aware of that is cheaper than this and any good. Probably a whole bunch of shareware stuff that will work OK if you are happy typing dozens of command line instructions or writing scripts, but it is outside of my area of experience.
 
As for now, I cannot upgrade my pc. Actually i need to buy a new one. I must stick to what i have, so i have to transcode the avchd files to a "easier" format for my comp to handle.

Does cineform just do AVI? or other formats?

which codec converts to Quicktime or mpeg2

thank u!!
 
On a PC, Cineform creates AVI files with the Cineform codec. It makes Quicktime files on the Mac.

I haven't actually come across any transcoding software which is any good at the same price point, so maybe someone else can comment. Maybe look in the Adobe forum on here as well? It's not really an HMC40-specific problem.
 
Mike Beckett said:
On a PC, Cineform creates AVI files with the Cineform codec. It makes Quicktime files on the Mac.

I haven't actually come across any transcoding software which is any good at the same price point, so maybe someone else can comment. Maybe look in the Adobe forum on here as well? It's not really an HMC40-specific problem.
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That is true...
 
I've been downloading demos for quite a few transcoders, tmp.express, 4mediaconverter, cineform neoscene

I truly think they all do a fine job. I see no difference whatsover in best or worst quality

I guess cineform it the standard because they have "the name" but other than that way, cheaper software does the exact same job (IMO)

Its a "Prestige thing" i guess, like the never-ending mac/pc war... well
FCP/Premier war... exact same results, just pay the "name"
 
Up to a week or so ago I'd rant on about how you had to transcode everything to ProRes or intermediate codec but then I saw some guy with CS5 and it's magic Mercury Engine and I was blown away. Don't get me wrong I love FCP but Premier CS5 can really edit any H.264 and AVCHD without transcoding so now I have to stop my rant! Having said that I don't know if you'd want to edit a massive project or do high end color correction but it just shows you how far FCP has fallen behind!

Mike, can you comment on how much you can do with the native formats with Premier CS5 and if you feel you'd ever need to transcode?
 
Sure... I don't have any scientific comparisons to do, but editing the HMC41's AVCHD files (1080p25) to me now is just like editing DV files 5 years ago. My productions tend to be 10-15 minutes long, and I typically have 5-6 nested sequences, color correction, stabilisation etc. I don't have a graphics card for the extra goodies of the new Mercury engine. I don't do this for a living, so I may be more forgiving than the pros out there.

All I can say is I no longer find Premier slowing me down. Compared to CS4 editing normal HDV, this is much better and faster.

Only bugbear I have is the old Adobe bug that when you switch away from Premiere (to check a webpage, look for a file in Explorer, look for some music etc.) and switch back, there is a really frustrating wait for typically 30 seconds while Premiere does "something". Others have reported this too (in DVinfo) but the answer seems to be "don't switch to another app then"!
 
Mike Beckett said:
Sure... I don't have any scientific comparisons to do, but editing the HMC41's AVCHD files (1080p25) to me now is just like editing DV files 5 years ago. My productions tend to be 10-15 minutes long, and I typically have 5-6 nested sequences, color correction, stabilisation etc.

I don't do this for a living, so I may be more forgiving than the pros out there.
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I think this is primarily where the disconnnect begins. Users with modest needs are THRILLED with not having to transcode. Either in CS5, or Avid MC4 or MC5, etc. And it's GREAT for knocking out small jobs. It's what happens when you get into big jobs that the differences start to show.

When you start cutting 100+ hours like you do in feature editing, or even the 30 hours or so I've got for the short I am working on. You're slogging through half a Terabyte or more of native files, and believe me, your edit WILL bog down. As you start to lay on things like re-framing, multiple audio tracks, some basic color correction, dissolves, etc. As long as I don't do anything to tricky, things work fine. Like my sequence tonight. Where I am editing the native XDCamEX footage. I needed to do a BCC Pan and Zoom on the footage and it wouldn't play real time. No problem, I'll just render the effect like I have with other scenes... Forgetting that in other scenes I was actually cutting with DNxHD36. That render too nearly an hour and a half. Similar renders in other scenes on DNx36 took 3-5 minutes. If you've got HOURS of material like that on the timeline, believe me it makes a difference.

I wouldn't DREAM of starting a documentary with native footage. I've seen some come back with 200 or 300 hours of material. I could only imagine the nightmare it would be to cut that native.
 
I work off a laptop with a portable drive storing my footage, and I always transcode to Cineform before editing AVCHD, regardless of size or framerate. That being said, I don't need to transcode 1080i60 HDV clips, as they work perfectly fine. Although I can edit AVCHD without issues, I typically get weird glitches if I'm multitasking during a render if I don't transcode, and playback is considerably slower, even when the preview quality is set to the lowest draft setting.
 
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