Does Video Studio X5 support AVCHD 2.0?

[ianincrete]

I recently posted to see if anyone could tell me whether Video Studio could handle the video file format from a high end Panasonic prosumer camcorder. It seems the question I should have asked is whether Video Studio X5 can edit and export files in the new AVCHD 2.0 format, which is used not only by Panasonic but by other camcorder manufacturers and which, according to an email from a reviewer for camcorderinfo.com is not compatible with a large number of video editing software programs. So can anyone answer the question? Can X5 handle AVCHD 2.0?

[Ken Berry]

To the extent that AVCHD 2.0 is essentially AVCHD fully progressive i.e. 50 (PAL) or 60 (NTSC) full frames a second, yes X5 certainly handles it. But there is a switch under Settings which has to be ticked to allow editing of this video.

The catch is that when outputting video, while you can select 50/60p, the bitrate provided by Corel still does not go near the new AVCHD 2.0 maximum of 28 Mbps. It remains stuck at 18 Mbps (or in one case, AVCREC, 20 Mbps). That's if you choose Share > Create Video File > AVCHD. However, you can make a Custom template using the Add function which will allow you to use a piece of AVCHD 2.0 video shot with a higher bitrate as the reference point.

While X5, like X4, can also produce 3D video -- the other part of the AVCHD 2.0 standard -- it is anaglyph type 3D, and I for one remain unconvinced as to its validity. However, I don't have either a 3D camcorder, or a 3D player/HDTV , to be able to comment sensibly on this aspect.

[teknisyan]

If you already have the Panasonic camera, you may want to download the trial of VS X5 and test if the program can handle AVCHD 2.0 format. You can download the trial at http://pnoy.me/coreltrials

[ianincrete]

Thanks for those answers. If I get the Panasonic I will be using it initially to produce video clips for YouTube so I'll be outputting in MP4 HD, but I'd like to be able to output in 50p AVCHD for my own use. As a matter of interest, what difference to picture quality does the lower maximum bitrate of Video Studio actually make? Obviously there is less information going through per second, but I was wondering if the difference between 18 and 27 Mbps is really noticeable given that they are both very high bitrates.

[Ken Berry]

Personally, I don't see much difference on my 46 inch HDTV between 26 Mbps and 18 Mbps -- though I have only a limited number of 50p/26 Mbps clips sent by others to me. But really, only you ultimately can be the judge...

[aljimenez]

.. the difference between 18 and 27 Mbps is really noticeable given that they are both very high bitrates.

As Berry says, quality is in the eye of the beholder, the equipment you have to view the results, and your concern about future improvements in displays. High bitrates make the most impact on rapidly changing material, like sports... Al

[erdna]

I have Panasonic TM700 and often use the 50p (28Mb/ssetting). If the original bitrate is prefered in X5 just use "same as first clip" (if it is a 50p one!). Because the resulting file doesn't seem to playback without some stutter (not on the original .MTS file) I prefer to render at 20Mb/s. Although the bitrate viewer shows the same bitrate profile for the original and the rendered file, there must be some difference. MediaInfo shows some slight difference in max vs average bitrates (higher max in rendered files). Using 20Mb/s I don't see differences when compared with the original. Both seem to be VBR, but as we know all VBR's aren't made the same...The visibility of atifacts depends on the VBR "intelligence"'

[Ken Berry]

Thanks for that useful explanation, Erdna... You may recall that about a month or so ago, we had another thread about the sort of stuttering you describe in 26 or 28 Mbps 50/60p video, but never found any satisfactory solution at the time. It is good to know that using 20 Mbps eliminated that. But to get the 20 Mbps, did you select AVREC under MPEG Transport Stream as the output format?

[erdna]

No Ken, I unchecked both AVCHD and AVCREC for the 20Mb/s.

[Ken Berry]

So in effect you are converting your AVCHD to Blu-Ray compliant mpeg-2... In which case I think you can use an even higher bitrate than 20 Mbps.