AVCHDlite woes

paulus · Post by **paulus** » Fri May 01, 2009 11:56 am

I recently bought a Panasonic TZ7 which records video in AVCHDlite (which just seems to be limited to 720p) and installed VS X2 Pro (and the update patch) to be able to play with the video - oh boy I should have read this forum first! The Panasonic software handles it quite well, but the only "editing" it will do is cutting. I would like to do more than that (vary speed, rotate, transitions, menus and themes, etc.)

Firstly, if I stick to the wizard in VS X2 Pro the produced video plays very jumping, with the video speeded-up and then backtracking to get in time. If I go via the VideoStudio and do a bit of editing then back to the wizard I end up with clips whose video runs fast then freezes on the last frame waiting for the sound to catch up! Both results are useless! Any help would be appreciated, especially:

1. Are there any tweekes I should have made to eliminate these characteristics?

2. Is there a way of "outputing" the clip from Videostudio in ACVHD format? - all options appear to be disc etc. and the frame title in VS alarming states (Untitled, DVD PAL 720*576 - Stereo).

Many thanks,
paulus

Post by **Ron P.** » Fri May 01, 2009 12:44 pm

First if you're going to be working with AVCHD you must have a computer that can handle it. The minimum seems to be a quad-core system. Others just are not powerful enough to playback AVCHD smoothly.

Yes you can output AVCHD in VS, go to the Share step, Create Video File, select AVCHD NTSC 1440. Then press the Options button, and in the Options dialog that opens, go to the General tab, and under the Frame Size section, press the drop-down menu and change it to 720 x 480. The problem with this is that the Aspect ratio can not be changed from the 16:9. I think you may be alright using this if your video clip is actually 16:9.

Black Lab · Post by **Black Lab** » Fri May 01, 2009 1:23 pm

You may want to try converting your AVCHD before editing.

Please read Peter Milliken's post in this thread: http://forum.corel.com/EN/viewtopic.php ... 9&start=30

paulus · Post by **paulus** » Fri May 01, 2009 1:35 pm

Thanks Vidoman - found the ability to save as AVCHD - however, having done that I see that VS is introducing the jitteriness, so no real advantage in that. My PC is only a dual 3.0GHz so I know it will not play propertly, however I just need to get my stuff onto disk so that my Blu Ray player can show it on the TV, and (altho' somewhat slow) my PC is up to that.

Regarding converting prior to editing - this eems somewhat regressive . . . AVCHD to something to edit and back to ACVHD . . . but if that's all we can do the I will try this next.

Another question, my camera will also save in 720p using motion jpeg - would this be better to work with?

paulus

Post by **Ron P.** » Fri May 01, 2009 1:52 pm

It would be easier to edit, as it is not highly compressed. Motion JPEG also known as MJPEG is the predecessor to DV (avi).

paulus · Post by **paulus** » Fri May 01, 2009 3:00 pm

I take it then that VS X2 would be happier with motion jpeg?

Finally (?) in outputing ACVHD earlier post Vidoman suggested dropping the frame size to 720x576 - yet the origianl clips are in 1280x720 (which I see is not an option in the drop down box). Why is it not an option? and surely selecting 720x576 will end up giving me SD video won't it?

paulus

Post by **Ron P.** » Fri May 01, 2009 3:15 pm

I suggested the 720 frame size as you stated that your camera is limited to 720p, understanding that to mean the width not the height. So if your frame size is 1280 x 720 then keeping that frame size would be best.

Yes reducing it to 720 x 576 would be a SD, not HD.

paulus · Post by **paulus** » Fri May 01, 2009 3:47 pm

I agree, however 1280x720 is not an option in any drop-down box.

paulus

Post by **Ron P.** » Fri May 01, 2009 3:58 pm

I've gone as far as I can, as my knowledge and experience with AVCHD is very limited. Try searching in this forum (VS) for AVCHD and in the author's box use Ken Berry. He has some experience with this. If he was not away on a trip he would be jumping in here. Some of his posts may help you with this..

jjak · Post by **jjak** » Fri May 01, 2009 5:00 pm

Hi,

I have Panasonic FT1, which also can record movies in AVCHDlite format.

I did some testing and I ended up using the Motion JPEG option, because my PC can edit that format lot easier. (there is a small discussion thread about this http://phpbb.ulead.com.tw/EN/viewtopic.php?t=35172 )

You can then export (share) it in any format you wish.

Good luck!

paulus · Post by **paulus** » Sat May 02, 2009 7:44 pm

Thanks jjak - that looks to be the way to go until VideoStudio can properly handle AVCHD. Presumably, after editing you can "share" the file as AVCHD, but what do I then use to burn the disk - since what I am trying to do is produce AVCHD disks that are showable on an HD TV?

Post by **Ken Berry** » Sat May 02, 2009 11:59 pm

Share > Create Disc > AVCHD, and insert a standard DVD. Build a message and burn. Be aware that using a high bitrate will give you excellent qualilty, but 18 Mbps will only allow about 20 minutes on a single layer DVD.

paulus · Post by **paulus** » Mon May 04, 2009 3:25 pm

Thanks for all the help - I now know not to use AVCHD in the future until VS can properly handle it. However, I have one holiday recorded in AVCHD which I cannot re-shoot!! I have tried using VS "Share" to convert files to HDV, alas with no success. It appears that my AVCHDlite records at 1280x720 50fps, and no matter what I do with VS the video of the "converted" file runs at double speed and needs to pause to let the sound finish. Is there anything in VS that would convert my AVCHD into a more usable (to VS) format so that I can edit and then share back out as AVCHD for TV viewing.

File properties are 1280x720 50fps 16:9 VBR (max 16568), sound Dolby Digital 48000Hz 192kbps.

Black Lab · Post by **Black Lab** » Mon May 04, 2009 4:00 pm

I don't think VS can do the conversion, or else that would be the solution. Please see Peter Milliken's response in this thread: http://forum.corel.com/EN/viewtopic.php ... 9&start=30