VideoStudio 11.5 Plus unusable with Panasonic AVCHD files

[Ozpeter]

I've been round the block enough times to know better than to purchase software without carefully reading the associated forums but this time I skimmed too quickly and missed the warning signs.

There are a number of threads and posts here in recent months from people having difficulty in using VideoStudio 11.5 Plus with AVCHD material from Panasonic cameras, who experience either crashes or very poor performance when doing the simple thing of playing back clips from the timeline in project mode.

It's possible to use clip mode to play them one at a time, but playing back even the most simple sequence simply does not work - or if it does, I've not seen anyone here claiming that there is no problem.

The problem appears connected with the project properties dialog. The forum moderator has said that the fact that the project properties cannot be set to AVCHD standard video should not matter, but based on my tests I get the feeling that it's central to the problem. And in any event, if the project properties setting is of no consequence, why is it there? Why does the facility to set the project properties to the first clip's properties not work (as I and others here have found)?

On my Q9300 XP Pro system, replay in clip mode was adequate but frame rate in project mode was one or two frames per second, with stuttering audio - impossible to work with. The clips came from a Panasonic SD5. At least it didn't crash, though I didn't play back for very long.

I have used three other AVCHD editors on the system and although each has its drawbacks (hence the purchase of VideoStudio, purchase being necessary as the trial does not support AVCHD at all), full screen full frame rate playback from their timelines is not a problem with any of them. This is not a matter of hardware inadequacy.

I have now uninstalled VideoStudio and applied for a refund, but I would still be interested to know if anyone owning a Panasonic AVCHD camcorder - or for that matter, any AVCHD camcorder - can put two AVCHD clips on the timeline and play them back smoothly. Reading the forum extensively I've not yet seen anyone claim to be able to do that basic thing, though perhaps I missed it.

Meanwhile I will watch for the release of version 12 and see whether that is reported to resolve these difficulties, as the program certainly looks promising in other respects - for me, being able to 'smart render' AVCHD video is a prime requisite in an editor, and so far I haven't found a program that will do that while also having an adequate general feature set. It's a shame this one fell at the first fence.

[Ron P.]

Welcome to the forums,

AVCHD files demand a very powerful computer, not only to view, but especially to edit them. It would appear that your system would be quad-core correct? If so then preview should be relatively smooth. You should still try and minimize any background or extra applications, so that VS can have the maximum amount of resources.

The Project Properties matching that of the Video Clip (source) properties is for Smart Rendering. If they do not match then VS can not smart render your project to a video file, temp or otherwise. So it is true, it is not mandatory that they match, but recommended to speed up rendering.

HDV files are less demanding on PCs and Quad-Core PCs should be able to handle them without problems. But as you have found, AVCHD is such a highly compressed file, that PCs tend to struggle with them...

[Ken Berry]

AVCHD files demand a very powerful computer, not only to view, but especially to edit them.

Oddly enough, I would put it the other way around. I think it is (marginally) easier to edit AVCHD even on an under-resourced computer. But it is smooth playback which is the killer -- a real resource hog! My old P4 3.0 GHz with hyperthreading machine -- which is rated to edit AVCHD -- could do so slowly even without SmartProxy enable. But playback, even in Clip mode, was terrible -- to the point that I thought the editing had failed. But when I played the edited clip back in a new Core 2 Duo laptop, it played smoothly.

But in Project mode, even with a Quad (which I have), playback of AVCHD is never smooth -- it is just *so* demanding. However, you can either use SmartProxy if you insist on smooth playback, or do as I do and accept the somewhat erratic playback, knowing that the final product will be fine (as it always has been).

But the one exception seems to be video from the Panasonic SD9 camera. I know the OP says he has an SD5, and I can't say I have seen any reports from owners of that model before. However, it is possible that they too cause VS, and other editing programs, to fall over. I had been hoping that the new Movie Factory 7 might resolve the issue, but I have now tried it with SD9 footage, and I am afraid the problem remains.

[Ron P.]

Well I was going on my memory (or lack thereof)... I knew that there had been some posts about AVCHD not editing or playing smoothly. I had it backwards...

[Ozpeter]

Thanks for the responses.

The key thing is that I don't have a problem with full screen AVCHD project playback from the timeline in other programs, nor with individual clips in VideoStudio. Indeed, as I type, I'm playing back AVCHD in the other PC with each core running at about 35% typically. It's hard, but it's not that hard! So why can't VideoStudio do it? And especially when it can play back individual clips?

When I tried to render to a file in VideoStudio (having uninstalled I'm now having to go from memory) there was an option to render using the format of the first clip on the timeline, or to render using project preferences format. When choosing the former, rendering was pretty quick - as I recall it, about 50fps - but when the latter was used, render speed was radically slower but looked a lot like an attempt to play from the timeline. So I really did get the feeling that playing from the timeline uses the project preferences setting, and therefore playing AVCHD using settings appropriate to mpeg2 or DV required the PC to convert from AVCHD to the project format, then play. And that certainly cannot be done in real time even on a quad core PC.

I confess I have not read the whole of the 'VideoStudio 12' thread here, and perhaps the answer appears there, but I bet that the new version will have project preference settings to accomodate AVCHD and will play it in project mode. If it doesn't, it'll be falling seriously behind the competition.

As for how much this applies to Panasonic clips only, well, I did ask in my first post whether anyone at all gets smooth project playback with any AVCHD material in VideoStudio, and so far nobody has claimed that routinely they do. And the thread has had quite a few hits!