Canon HG10--Loss of quality when converting AVCHD to MPEG?

[wakeboardmom]

I'm not as technically savvy as many of the users on this board, although I do know a little more than the average person and I am very familiar with Video Studio. (I have the latest 11.5 Plus version with all the patches and updates)
I just purchased the Canon HG-10 (very happy that it came boxed with Corel software!). I do not have HD equipment, yet, to play the AVCHD disks I can create, with the exception of using the WinDVD SE supplied with the camera. The raw footage, highest HXP quality, of this camcorder is incredible! The colors and resolution are beyond my expectations!
As I'm learning about this new camcorder, I simply make short, less than 5 min, test videos--no editing, just create a simple project and burn.

The AVCHD disk I made is also the same incredible quality as the raw footage. However, when I render the file and burn as a DVD, the finished quality of the video is quite pixelized, especially in the brighter areas of the video. (for example, my son was wearing a dark shirt with a bright yellow stripe. The stripe seems to sparkle in the DVD version of the video). I've tried several DVD formats and I have used both the Movie Factory 5.6 and the VS11.5 Plus. The last test I did, I used the VS MPEG Optimizer 16:9 HQ DVD with the same quality issues. I've also played the DVD in 3 different players---same results.

Although I am upgrading my memory to over 1.5G early next week (I only have 512 right now), could that be part of the problem?? Not enough memory to render it properly? Or is there some type of ACVHD conversion step I'm missing? Proxy Editing perhaps? (Been reading a lot about that here) I know I will experience some loss of quality going from the AVCHD to MPEG, but I'm pretty sure it shouldn't be so obvious!

I apologize if some of the terms I am using aren't technically correct and if I am missing any important information you may need to help me. I am completely self-taught when it comes to video editing, mostly through trial and error, help files, and great forums like this one.

Thank you. [/i]

[Ken Berry]

Welcome to the forums!

While I certainly can't say so definitively, I suspect it could be not just your current lack of RAM, but your computer more generally that could be a problem. While it would be pretty fine for other high definition formats, particularly once you get more RAM, I have to tell you that AVCHD is one of the most demanding formats on computer resources. In fact, with your computer, I am surprised you can even play AVCHD smoothly on it. I am thus totally intrigued by the fact that you say you have actually produced an AVCHD disc. How did you do that? Using Smart Proxy in VS11.5+???

My "old" editing computer was a P4 3.0 GHz with HT, 2 GB system RAM, NVidia 7600 GT graphics with 512 MB of its own RAM, running XP Pro, and I found it could not play AVCHD smoothly. It managed to edit it, albeit very slowly, but when I played it back, it was very jerky so I thought the editing and recoding had failed. But when I played the file in my new HP Core 2 Duo laptop, it played back just fine. Subsequent exchanges on this Board have indicated that the minimum requirement for decent editing and playback of AVCHD is a Core 2 Duo, and even some of those at the lower end of the CPU specs still need to use SmartProxy in VS11.5+ for AVCHD. I now have a Core 2 Quad which handles it with relative ease.

Now I know I seem to have strayed from the main point of your question which was high def > standard def conversion and burning to DVD. But in fact I suspect that your current computer resources might just not be handling the AVCHD end of the conversion properly. I am also wondering if you have first downconverted the AVCHD files to standard definition DVD-compatible mpeg-2 as a separate step, before even opening the burning module. I suspect you may have simply gone to the burning module and inserted AVCHD files there, and expected the conversion to take place in the burning module. If so, I am surprised it worked at all, again because of your computer resources and the extra demands of AVCHD on what is already a complex enough burning process.

So can you please now describe what work flow you followed and explain exactly what you did when you say "I render the file and burn as a DVD". Did you have the AVCHD in the editing timeline and then go to Share > Create Video File > DVD to produce a new standard def mpeg-2? Or did you go straight to the burning module (Share > Create Disc > DVD) and use the AVCHD files there?

[djmorgan]

Ken is right about computer specs However you don't need a Cray Super Computer.

I have the HG10 and VS11.5+ I have done conversions from the camcorder to DVD, AVI, Mpeg/AVCHD, played back the end results on my Laptop and via a BD player, in all cases VS has done as advertised and the end result has been jaw dropping.

The HG10 is a great camera VS does a fine job of re-working and giving you the ability to be creative.

Now I once had a high spec laptop, time has seen that diminish to an average machine with a Intel duo core @ 1.8, 2 Gb memory and a Nvidia GO 7400, all work fine but not as fine as a quad core with 4Gb and SLI graphics card.

But what I have does the job without crashes, hangups, you have to plan your timing, as example last night I created a 1.+Gb AVCHD to play on my BD player from camera to disk took the best part of 6 hours, VS seemed to fisrt convert the M2T to AVI then processed them further, but the end result was store bought quality and played back at 1080/60i on my HDTV.

If your getting poor quality then look to your work flow and or your editing, straight out of the box the HG10 will go from camera to disk maintaining the best of quality

[wakeboardmom]

Thank you for your prompt response!

I created the ACVHD disk with Movie Factory5.6. The 1st question upon opening the program, which came with the camera, is "What type of disk do you want to make? ACVHD or DVD?" I chose the ACVHD and then selected my files and the 5 minute trial burn was completed in about 20 minutes! And, the reason I can play it back is a mystery, as I have a "newer" laptop that can't handle it at all.

As of yet, I have not EDITED any of the ACVHD files. My work flow to produce the DVDs is as follows: I drop the raw ACVHD video files into the VS timeline, then share>create video file< and this is where the help files and manuals don't help anymore! I've used "same as project settings" (which I've read will produce the best results), MPEG optimizer, and the rest of the options are like a foreign language to me! Should I be choosing "NTSC DVD" NTSC MPEG 2?? Remember, I'm completely self taught here! (For all my other projects I've done in the past I've always used "same as project settings.")

Bottom line is, I LOVE this camera right out of the box and need to find a reason to keep it! But, it may be a couple years until I have a BR player, or even a computer with anything beyond more memory to process. I have 30 days to return it. Can anyone recommend another camcorder of this same quality that I may have an easier time with?

[djmorgan]

If you have the right codecs even WMP (Windows Media Player) will play ACVHD!

It depends on how serious you are about what you want to do, if your producing video just to watch on your computer then maybe you have no need for a HD camera at all, even if you want to produce HD DVD to share with family and friends it will mean they can only view it with a top end DVD player that can upscale or a HD DVD or Blu-ray connected to a HDTV.

Whatever your needs the camera is not complicated nor is the process, and I guarantee we are all self taught here!