AVCHD convert to mpeg-2 or avi

[larsdennert]

I downloaded the trial but it is not complete enough for me to evaluate. Could someone fill in a few details beyond the great info above? I shoot with a Sony HC1 above and below water. It records in HDV (MPEG2 transport).

For underwater footage I often capture into Premiere Pro 1.5 as it has many post adjustment capabilties. The downside is it requires initial transcoding as it can't edit raw footage. The other big downside is no scene detection on HD (without really big bucks)

For above water I often just use HDVsplit to capture and save on cuts. These raw m2t pieces can be edited in Nero Vision. Nero looks similar to VS but is more basic and doesn't allow easy editing of audio with fade outs and such. VS appears to. VS also seems to load m2t HD and be easy on editing. Maybe that's the proxy hard at work.

So finally my questions. **Is the AVCHD to DVD5 or DVD9 strictly an MPEG4/.264 HD format or can MPEG2 HDV also be burned to DVD5/9 albeit less running time? The reason I ask is that a short video in HDV could be put on a disk with minimal transcoding. It's not the end of the world if it has to go to .264 but thats intensive even for my Dual core. **Can the output bitrate be controlled? Often an HD bitrate that looks good on a computer monitor looks blocky on a 42" 1080p screen. **Will the supplied Intervideo player, play back these hybrid HD disks on a computer? Right now I create HD media files (MPEG2, WMV or MPEG4 see my website) and burn them to DVD as a data file. I was going to buy a Bluray burner but I'm liking the idea of being able to use my two DVD9 burners for HD compatible disks! Cheaper media and no new equipment.

TIA
Lars

[etech6355]

The downside is it requires initial transcoding as it can't edit raw footage.

If your referring to Premiere not accepting TS file format VS captures in the PS format. You should be able to capture in the PS format using the trial and test VS. If premier only accepts the PS stream you should be able to insert them directly into Premier then. Even though your using the trial, VS11+ works OK for PS format and smart-renders (copies) cuts very fast back to the harddisk.
The trial version never detected the correct fielding on my HDV TS files.

VS does not capture HDV using scene detection, neither the trial nor retail with the patches.

VS11+ with the patches can import TS captured from HDVSplit and work with the video(s).

So finally my questions. **Is the AVCHD to DVD5 or DVD9 strictly an MPEG4/.264 HD format or can MPEG2 HDV also be burned to DVD5/9 albeit less running time?

The AVCHD format uses only AVC/h264 video, you can adjust the bit-rates from very low >1000kbs to maximum or 18,000kbs VBR or CBR using lpcm / Dolby 2/0 / Dolby 5.1 Audio.

If you transcoded your source HDV@25MBS to AVC/H264 at 18MBS Variable bit Rate the average bit rate will be approx 11MBS-12MBS. The videos look excellent, hard to tell them from the original source HDV files if you can at all. So that doubles the amount of space you can use on a dvd.
The AVCHD disk only uses DVD's, single or DL.

If you want to keep your HDV source videos you can burn a BDMV (blu-ray disk) or HD-DVD and play them on the computer.
There's a few options to do this.

Often an HD bitrate that looks good on a computer monitor looks blocky on a 42" 1080p screen.

I'd say there is something wrong if the playback is blocky. Playing back HD from the computer to a HDTV is tricky, depends on the video card settings, de-interlace settings, hardware acceleration on/off, hardware de-interlacing on/off, Vista or XP because the video drivers are different. So many options & settings, although I do have some computers connected to HDTV's I prefer to use an external player such as a blu-ray disk player or a PS3.

I probably have about 40 AVCHD dvd's now, burnt in MF6+ and VS11+. It's nice to play them back on the Blu-Ray Disc Player.

[larsdennert]

Thanks for the detailed feedback. I understand that field order, computer speed, player used, output resolution, bitrate, number of transcodes and motion blur all effect the quality of the finished product. What I'm seeing is that old videos I created looked fine on my old 27" HDTV but now I can see the flaws of the low bit rate on my 42" flat panel. Live and learn.

Has anyone sucessfully played back the hybrid HD disks using the player supplied by VS? Does this player play BD movies (assuming the computer has the player) or is cyberlink and Nero 8 still the only game in town?

Thanks

[sherman39]

OK so I used my AVCHD files converted to MPEG-2 both within VS 11.5 and without using Picture motion browser and also the same AVCHD files converted to AVI using VS.

I created a DVD which I viewed on my non-HD PAL TV.

I have to say to my untrained eyes there did not appear to be any qualitative difference between them.

I will, when the weather is more conducive set my camcorder to record in SD which iI understand is mpeg-2 and see how that looks.

Thanks again for all your input

Regards

Paul