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Hello all,

I apologize if this question has been asked before, but I have searched multiple times and read almost all of the AVCHD discussion topics and I don't believe it has.

I am running Ulead Videostudio 11.5.0157.2 on a HP Pavilion dv2000 laptop, which I head isn't the best idea but I assure you I am patient. I've used it to edit tapes from my cousin's DV camera and been very happy with the results.

My mom bought me a Panasonic HDC-SD9 for graduation, and thus far I've just used the included HD writer software to convert the AVCHD videos into mpg2 and then edit them.

Reading through the posts though, I discovered that Ulead could edit AVCHD, but assumed that my computer was too slow to handle it.

I have three questions, and I'm asking for your advice on how to best go about doing these.

1. Can Ulead export to AVCHD?

2. Can Ulead convert AVCHD into another HD format which is more easily edited?

3. I have so far this summer taken 20 minutes of video of lightning storms. I ran outside with my camera and a tripod set up a shot, and filmed for as long as i could before the rain started. I would love to be able to take screenshots, or still images, (whats the proper term for this) of the lightning bolts and save them as jpegs. However the inability of Ulead to handle AVCHD makes it impossible to navigate to the frame where the lightning bolt is. When I turn on smart proxy the video becomes green and appears in multiple places. My camera films in 1920x 1080p. I know the p stands for progressive, so does that prevent one frame from standing cleary out. Also when I take screen shots of AVCHD video the image resolution is 720x480 not 1920x1080. Any advice?

Thanks in advance

1. Yes. I do it relatively regularly. It is not a question, though, of VS11.5 being able to do but whether your computer can do it. Yours, as far as I can see, is in the range where you have to use SmartProxy, though. I am less certain about your video card as you need one with decent hardware acceleration, though yours might be in that range. See my System button for details of my own main computer, but essentially you need at least a Core 2 Duo processor with a decent bit of grunt to handle native AVCHD. Apart from my Quad, I also have a HP Core 2 Duo laptop which can do so using AVCHD. In fact, I use that to produce my AVCHD hybrid discs...

2. The SmartProxy process is precisely that. It creates standard definition proxy files which are edited. Then when editing is finished, the proxy edits are applied in real time to your AVCHD files.

3. Don't know as I have never tried it. Progressive, however, means frame by frame, so there should be no difficulty in getting a full frame screen grab.

Now all that being said, I am afraid that there is further bad news. The Panasonic SD-9 seems to have some feature(s) which conflict with VS11.5+. Do a search with Panasonic SD9 or S9 as the search parameter and you will see. One user even sent me a DVD full of video from his Panny, and I also had trouble with it. The conflict may relate to the AVCHD codec used by Panasonic in their most recent cameras. However, as far as I am aware, there does not seem to be a solution to it as yet, and no one has reported having found a program which can handle SD9 video properly in its native format, apart, that is, from the program which came with the camera...