Importing AVCHD Issues in X2 - Application 'Not Responding'

[AZSL1326]

HI,

I am new to using VS X2 and am having an issue when attempting to import (capture) my AVCHD Videos. The videos are on my HD and I am using the import digital media button. I am then able to browse to the correct directories and import the files. I can then select which individual files I want to import. After selecting the files and clicking import, it appears as though all files get imported. However, the program never seems to come out of this import mode with the cursor just spinning and I see a '(Not Responding)' header on the title bar. This happens if I import 1 video file or 20. I have been unable to get past this point.

Thanks for any and all replies.

[2Dogs]

Hi and welcome to the forum.

It's possible that VS is simply creating proxy files from the AVCHD files, which can take a long time.

Task manager might show a "not responding" message even if the program is working, and sometimes you just need to be patient.

How long are the video clips?

Next time you try importing the video, run Task Manager in the "Performance" tab, so that you can see if there is any cpu activity. On my C2d laptop, VS uses about 50% of the cpu when creating proxy files.

If you do see some cpu usage, if you then click on the "Processes" tab you should be able to see how much vstudio.exe is using.

You might try importing just a single short video clip - and if that doesn't work, try adding the same clip to your library.

[AZSL1326]

Thanks for the reply. I think it had something to do with some bad video files? When reviewing what files to import, some of the files did not offer a preview when I clicked on them. If I did not include these files, then everything worked fine.

Looking at the settings. Do I need to have the 'Smart Proxy' enabled?

Thanks for the assistance.

[2Dogs]

Your pc is pretty fast, so you might try working without Smart Proxy enabled.

I believe it is enabled by default. To change the setting, go into "File>Preferences" or just hit the F6 key, then click on the "Smart Proxy" tab which will give you access to all its settings, including being able to disable it if you prefer.

It would be interesting to know what speed of pc is necessary to work with AVCHD clips without Smart Proxy, and yours should be towards the upper end of what people commonly use.

[AZSL1326]

I just got this machine and this is the first rendering I have done. I upgraded from a P4 3ghz machine which wouldn't render the AVCHD content at all. I just rendered about 70 minutes of AVCHD content with the Smart Proxy disabled and it took about 2 hours.

[Ken Berry]

That rendering sounds relatively fast to me. On my older Quad, it takes usually over three times real time for rendering, so on my computer, your 70 minute project would take over 2.5 hours...

[2Dogs]

I just got this machine and this is the first rendering I have done.

Happy new pc!

I upgraded from a P4 3ghz machine which wouldn't render the AVCHD content at all. I just rendered about 70 minutes of AVCHD content with the Smart Proxy disabled and it took about 2 hours.

More significantly, however, are you able to play your AVCHD video in the preview window when editing, with Smart Proxy disabled - without any jerkiness? You need to try that both in "project" and "clip" modes. It would be interesting to check cpu usage for that playback too.

Disabling Smart Proxy will have no effect on the time taken to render a project to an output file, since the proxy files are only used for previewing, but as Ken cofirms, your rendering time looks fine. Your poor old P4 would not have managed much!

The new Core i7 cpu's reportedly encode about 40% faster for a given clock speed than a C2D quad - though the price of suitable motherboards and DDR3 RAM puts them out of reach of mainstream users at the moment.