AVCHD Issues/Questions - Playback and No Folders

hyetech · Post by **hyetech** » Fri May 16, 2008 12:14 am

Hello all,
I just purchased VS 11.5 Plus and dowloaded all the update packs. My system is a Pentium D (older dual-core) at 2.8GHz and 2GB RAM.

I've got two issues working with my AVCHD files:

1. Previews are very choppy. Previewing the Clip only shows like a second of the preview (very odd). Previewing the Project results in really choppy playback (audio is ok, video tries to keep "catching up"). When I play the same files in Media Player, no problems - smooth and no audio issues.

2. When I go to Share->Create Disc->AVCHD, at the end of the whole disc wizard, the checkbox for "Create AVCHD folders" is greyed out. I love having this feature and used it all the time with regular DVDs - I never burn to disc, just to folders so I can then playback as a single DVD on my media center pc. Is there no equivalent for this with AVCHD? Basically, I'll take any option which lets me keep each scene as a chapter and outputs to a single set of files/playlists like a regular dvd. Any options? Or is there a way to export to a single AVCHD file with embedded chapters?

Thanks for any help.

Post by **Ken Berry** » Fri May 16, 2008 12:27 am

Welcome to the forum!

1. I am afraid your computer is at the very low end, if not below it, of the specifications required to deal properly with AVCHD, which is the most demanding of all video formats. The general consensus here is that your need at least a decent Core 2 Duo to be able to edit it smoothly and even to play it back. Have you tried using VS11.5+'s SmartProxy function? That creates a temporary standard definition verions of your high def files. You edit the SD ones and at the end of editing, the changes are applied behind the scenes to your HD originals.

2. I am afraid there is no way (at least that I am aware of) to burn a HD folder of the type you mention. I am not sure why. But again as far as I am aware, you have to actually burn a DVD or a Blu-Ray disc...

hyetech · Post by **hyetech** » Fri May 16, 2008 12:46 am

1. As I mentioned, I can play the files just fine outside of VS. It's just VS that has a problem - and I'm not trying to edit anything at all - just preview the file. Odd ... oh well, I guess I'll live with the slow computer excuse for now, but I get the feeling it's not necessarily the PC ... but, good excuse to upgrade

2. Burning DVD or BR means a huge, lengthy conversion, right? That's definitely not an option then, I think. Does anyone know of a way to combine/merge/join several .mts files into a single file with some type of chapters included (or I'll even take a join without chapters and just use the MCE's 30-second skip feature). I figure with AVCHD, there should be no reason to transcode anything for my typical purposes unless, of course, I'm actually editing/adding to the video ...

Post by **Ken Berry** » Fri May 16, 2008 1:03 am

I confess I haven't tried it, but VS11 allows you to insert chapter markers in the editing timeline. In other words, you would line up your files in the timeline, select where you want your chapter breaks and insert a chapter marker. Then when you rendered the file out to a single end file, the chapter markers would be embedded.

However, I simply cannot say whether, if you then played that new single file back on MCE, whether you could jump between the chapter points. The chapter markers were meant, of course, as a substitute to creating chapters in the burning module prior to burning a disc or folder or image file...