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Here's what I did sor far:

1. I imported my AVCHD files straight for my Canon HG10 (i.e. I didn't convert them first).
2. I edited them in VS X2, I was quite pleased as I didn't have any problems editing or previewing my AVCHD when it was in timeline......until I reached about 30 minutes of video. I had 35 minutes to do! I tried and tried but there was no way I could edit the last 5 minutes in the same project (Project A)
3. I created a second project (Project B) for the last 5 minutes.
4. I opened project A and added project B in the timeline (at the end), I added a fade transition between the 2. I saved it as Project C.
5. I created an mpeg-2 file (File C) with Project C. Share>Create Video File>Custom, I changed the field order to Upper Field First and the audio to Dolby.
6. I played the File C my PC. The quality was great for the first part (Project A) but when it got to Project B it was grainy.

so...

7. I created an mpeg-2 file (File B) with Project B. Share>Create Video File>Custom, I changed the field order to Upper Field First and the audio to Dolby.
8. I opened project A and added File B in the timeline (at the end), I added a fade transition between the 2. I saved it as Project D.
5. I created an mpeg-2 file (File D) with Project D. Share>Create Video File>Custom, I changed the field order to Upper Field First and the audio to Dolby.
6. I played File D on my PC and the quality was fine, there was no difference between the first and second part.
6. I opened a new project and burnt my File D (making sure that the Do Not Convert box was ticked), I also saved the ISO file.
7. I played the DVD on my standard DVD player and it was fine.

So now I have File D and the ISO in case I want to burn the DVD again. However I would like to create an AVCHD file (and then disk) to keep for when I get a blue ray DVD player. (I believe the disk is what you call an hybrid disk?) What is the best way to go about it?

Thanks if advance.

Odile

Can you please describe exactly what you 'tried and tried' with regard to the last five minutes. And it would be useful also to know what editing you were doing generally. Can you also right click on one of the original AVCHD files within Video Studio, and copy down ALL its properties here.

If I remember correctly the HG10 has a maximum bitrate of around 15,000 kbps, but I would be grateful if you could confirm this from the manual as I don't seem to be able to immediately locate that bit of info on Google...

However, if so, then depending on what your workflow *after* editing is, I would think that that bitrate would mean you could only fit around 30 minutes of AVCHD on a hybrid disk, and it could be that the extra five minutes is just a bridge too far... When I prepare my own AVCHD hybrid disks, I use a bitrate of 16,800/17,000 kbps and this allows me to burn just over 21 minutes of AVCHD to a single layer DVD of 4.3 GB. So essentially nowadays I always edit to ensure I have a maximum project size of around 20 minutes.

But all that presupposes that somehow or other you have indicated to the program that you want to burn the project to a disk that size and it thus says 'well that extra 5 minutes won't fit'... If that is indeed the case, you could try lowering the maximum bitrate to, say, 14,000 kbps. With that, you would certainly be able to fit the extra video on the DVD and not notice any detectable loss in quality...

The other thing you might want to try is this. Divide your original video however you like -- wherever there is a logical break (30 + 5; 25 + 10; whatever). Have both lots in the timeline. Then, instead of first trying to render them into one single new AVCHD file, instead jump straight to the burning module: Share > Create Disc > AVCHD. Then the *project* file is automatically inserted into the burning timeline.

If it goes into the red i.e. indicating that it is too large for a 4.3 GB DVD, then you go to the middle icon in the bottom left of screen and adjust the burning properties to lower the bitrate to the 14,000 kbps that I suggested above. That should bring you back into the green. Then you can build a menu (a nice extra in VS for hybrid discs, which is not available in many other programs) and burn the DVD. Unfortunately, you cannot burn a disc image of such a disc.

Mind you, the simplest explanation of why you are having trouble is that there is something in the coding of the last five minutes which VS does not like in the original, even though it can happily convert it to SD mpeg-2. You could possibly also try re-rendering that last 5 minute clip using the same properties as the original WITHOUT using SmartRender, and see if that changes anything...

Incidentally, I notice you say you had no trouble editing or playing your AVCHD. Your computer is a Core 2 Quad like mine (see my System button for details). But do you use SmartProxy in VS?

Good luck.

Can you please describe exactly what you 'tried and tried' with regard to the last five minutes.

I simply tried to trim some clips, add transitions and titles. When I clicked on Preview either it remained stuck on one frame or was very choppy so I have no way of telling what the edited clips would look like. Somehow it looked like the project had got too big and VS was struggling to cope.

Mind you, the simplest explanation of why you are having trouble is that there is something in the coding of the last five minutes which VS does not like in the original, even though it can happily convert it to SD mpeg-2.

I don't think this is the case as I had no problems at all editing the last 5 minutes in a new project.
I am not that bothered about finding out why I had the problem with the last 5 minutes as I managed to create my SD DVD anyway! (and I'm happy with it )

And it would be useful also to know what editing you were doing generally. Can you also right click on one of the original AVCHD files within Video Studio, and copy down ALL its properties here.

Video:
PAL HDMV
H.264 Video, Upper Field First
24 bits, 1440 x 1080, 16:9
25.000 frames/sec
Variable bit rate (Max 16000 kbps)

Audio:
Dolby Digital Audio
48000 Mhz
Layer: None
256kbps

Incidentally, I notice you say you had no trouble editing or playing your AVCHD. Your computer is a Core 2 Quad like mine (see my System button for details). But do you use SmartProxy in VS?

Some days I was fine with SmartProxy off but some other days I had to have it on. I did use SmartProxy most of the time though.

The other thing you might want to try is this. Divide your original video however you like -- wherever there is a logical break (30 + 5; 25 + 10; whatever). Have both lots in the timeline. Then, instead of first trying to render them into one single new AVCHD file, instead jump straight to the burning module: Share > Create Disc > AVCHD. Then the *project* file is automatically inserted into the burning timeline.

I am confused! What do you mean by my 'original video'? I do not want to do all the editing again... Do you mean my project (VSP) files? I assume that I cannot use the mpg-2 files I created if I want to create an hybrid disk.
As my project is more than 20 minutes long and I don't even have a blue-ray player yet maybe I should just forget about it, after all I am quite happy with the DVD I have created so far!

If I remember correctly the HG10 has a maximum bitrate of around 15,000 kbps, but I would be grateful if you could confirm this from the manual as I don't seem to be able to immediately locate that bit of info on Google...

Sorry, but I put the manual somewhere safe and I can't find it right now... I'll have another look for it later.

Thanks for all your help.

Thanks -- no need to look for the manual. Your properties show a max of 16,000 not 15,000 as I had misremembered. Mind you, even that difference (i.e. down from the more usual 16,800/17,000 or 18,000 kbps of other AVCHD cameras could account for five minutes.

And regarding the 'original video', I was suggesting you merely do as you were originally doing: place all your original video in the timeline, or leave the edited video there, and include the last five minutes. If that particular bit won't play in Project preview using SmartProxy, that in itself is strange. But if you edit that bit and add transitions etc, you might need to take it on faith that it is pretty well OK... Then proceed as I suggested and simply jump straight to the burning module and burn your AVCHD disk as I already described.

I had been forgetting of course that you don't have a Blu-Ray rated player which also plays hybrid disks (not all of the Blu-Ray players do) such as the Sony PlayStation 3 which is what I use... So as you have deduced yourself, that was probably a useless sort of suggestion anyway. Though you could still recode the entire project, including the last five minutes edited but not previewable, to new single AVCHD file and then play it on a a software player such as Corel WinDVD 9 or Cyberlink PowerDVD 8, which is rated to play it, and see how it looks...

@Ken

if you need to make an ISO file of an AVCHD hybrid disc, and VS won't give you that option, you should be able to make the ISO file from the folders that VS can output to,using something like Magic Iso.

Re the Hybrid disc menu you mentioned - when you play the disc or folders on your pc, is that menu accessible using WinDVD 9?

I just tried it with one of my AVCHD discs using WinDVD 9 and PowerDVD 8. WinDVD had no trouble detecting and playing the menu (and linked video), which functioned as it does with ordinary SD DVDs (just as it does on my PS3).

However, Power DVD 8 returned an 'unsupported disc format' message. But I know PowerDVD can play AVCHD video (as I had been doing just that in relation to another thread only 5 minutes ago!) Indeed, when I navigated to the STREAM sub-folder on the disc in PowerDVD, it had no trouble playing both clips on the disc.

So I conclude that, like Blu-Ray players out there, some of which, but not all, are rated to play hybrid discs, the same applies to WinDVD (which can play such a disc with menu) and PowerDVD (which can't). However, I can't say if PowerDVD will play a hybrid disc *without* a menu as I don't have one!

Thanks for that info Ken.

Does the same apply to an HDV disc or folders?

(I think I'm starting to feel the inexorable tug of HD - probably HDV.....)

If you are talking about the old, now abandoned HDV disc format, then I can't help as I bought my HDV camera after Toshiba or whoever it was threw in the HDV disc towel. I have never bother even trying to make one as I have nothing to play it on.

But if you are talking about HDV the format more generally, then it is definitely still alive and well, and can be burned to either a Blu-Ray disc format or AVCHD disc format, either of which will give you excellent results.

Right, I did mean burning an HDV project to a regular DVD disc for playback on set top/standalone players or a software DVD player on your pc.

It's sad that the HD DVD format was killed off. It had been my hope that it would have been positioned as an affordable alternative to Blu Ray. If the blank media prices had been moderate, it might have been ideal for people like us to burn HD projects to.

At the present time, I know nobody who burns to Blu Ray - the blank media and burner prices are simply prohibitive for regular Joe the plumbers....

Could you actually burn a HDV file (in that format in HD DVD structure) to a standard DVD i.e. a hybrid disc similar to a hybrid AVCHD disc? But play it on a standard def stand-alone player...? You certainly can't do that with AVCHD hybrid discs which requires not only a Blu-Ray player, but one rated to actually play such hybrid discs... But of course the PS3 will do it, and given that SD DVD blanks cost me about 25 cents each, I find it a much cheaper alternative to $25 Blu-Ray blanks!