Help with widescreen and AVCHD

galla47 · Post by **galla47** » Mon Dec 28, 2009 8:19 pm

Hey Everyone,

I've used VSx2 for some time to edit 4:3 videos from my small camera, but now I've steped up to AVCHD and am having some issues:

1) How can I export a file to an h.264 encoded file that is 16:9 format, say 640x360 or so. I cannot seem to do this. I can do 640x480, but this is letterboxed top and bottom.

2) How can I create an AVCHD disc without actually burning a disk. (I want to create it on an SD card. There seems to be an option for "Create AVCHD folders". but it is grayed out, and I cannot select it.

I've been trying to do these things for hours, and have scoured this and other forums, but don't seem to be able to find an answer.

Any help would be GREATLY appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

Post by **Ken Berry** » Mon Dec 28, 2009 10:38 pm

First, what are your intentions? Why are you trying to produce a file, which presumably is AVCHD/h.264, in a format which is not one of the standard AVCHD frame sizes (e.g. 1920 x 1080 or 1280 x 720)?

Second, you cannot produce an AVCHD hybrid disc folder (which is what I am assuming your are wanting to do) regardless of what might appear on screen, grayed out or not. An AVCHD disc, as you probably know, is a high definition AVCHD video burned in something very like a Blu-Ray structure but on a standard DVD. VS requires you to actually burn to a real DVD. If you did that, say on a rewritable disc, you could then presumably copy the folder structure to an SD card -- though again I am not sure what your intentions are with this...

However, you can 'burn' a Blu-Ray BDMV folder using your AVCHD video to a folder and then copy it wherever you like. The encoded video is located in a sub-folder called STREAM.

Finally, it would be extremely helpful if you filled in your System button so that we know without asking what your computer set-up is. As you may know, AVCHD is possibly the most demanding of video formats on the consumer market at the moment, and you need at least a decent Core 2 Duo to be able to play it properly.

galla47 · Post by **galla47** » Mon Dec 28, 2009 11:07 pm

Ken,

Thanks for the quick reply..

I have 2 different intentions with the 2 requests.

1) My Blu-Ray player (Panasonic) allows me to play AVCHD files off of an SD card. I'd like to be able to render the files onto an SD card (with the AVCHD file structure and playlists.

2) For the "small" h.264 videos, I'd like them to be able to upload to video sharing sites and to my iPod. I'm talking about .mp4 videos on this request.

-KG

Post by **Ken Berry** » Mon Dec 28, 2009 11:30 pm

Sorry -- I don't know anything about your (2) since I never use those sites or send videos via phone, and thus never prepare video in a format they use... But there are others here who do and who will hopefully chime in...

Re your (1), I can think of nothing further than I have already said. Your Panasonic would presumably play an AVCHD hybrid disc so there would obviously be no point in producing one of those and then transferring its content to an SD card!

But when talking in terms of an AVCHD hybrid disc, that is the only way of getting a menu for it.

However, try the Blu-Ray route I suggested. The Blu-Ray can of course include a menu, and has a true BDMV structure which the Panasonic should recognise and play when in folder form on an SD card.

Otherwise, my own practice these days, when not producing an actual AVCHD hybrid disc, is simply to copy my edited high definition files to a USB stick drive as is, and plug that into my Sony PlayStation 3 (which is an excellent Blu-Ray player) and play them from there. You don't get the fancy menu, but I imagine that your Panasonic, like the PS3, displays a list of the video on the stick or card, and you can select from there. And after all, it is the video which is the important part, and not a fancy menu!!