AVCHD : Is a "Disk" format similar to the Blu-Ray format that specifies how devices like Camcorders lay down a file structure on media that can include menus, file naming conventions, chapters etc and what format the media files must be in. The AVCHD specification supports a subset of the H.264/MPEG-4 AVC file format notably 1080 video in 24p, 50i and 60i. In 2011 a Version 2 of the AVCHD specification was introduced to also allows H.264/MPEG-4 AVC 1080 video in 50 and 60p. The specifications of what are acceptable H.264/MPEG-4 AVC file formats is outlined in this table:
For more information on the actual popular "Disk" Formats have a look at:
- DVD : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD-Video
- Blu-ray : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blu-ray_Disc
- AVCHD : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AVCHD
Each of these "Disk" formats specifies what Video Formats are supported for the media files that the "Disk" format accepts. I keep using the phrase "Disk" format but the writing of these structures can be to various Optical Disk Formats, HDD, USB keys, Memory Sticks etc and some of these "Disk" formats may place restrictions of what is officially supported though many devices are more liberal than the official specifications.
H.264/MPEG-4 AVC : Is a specification for Video Files and covers a range of potential Resolutions, Frame Rates, and Bitrates. These are grouped and described as Levels or Profiles. As you can see from the table at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H.264/MPEG-4_AVC there are a very large number of potential combinations all the way up to the new 4K Profiles.
So what does X6 Support? : Unfortunately the terminology in X6 is confusing as under "Create Video File" we see a range of options such as "Blu-ray" and "AVCHD". While the naming of these profiles is done to make it easier for the user it is simply incorrect. You don't make a "Blu-ray" or "AVCHD" file (as there is not such thing) but you are creating a "H.264/MPEG-4 AVC" file that is compatible with that required by the "Blu-ray" or "AVCHD" specification.
This would not be so bad except that under the "Create Disc" option you then have the ability to create an actual "Blu-ray", "AVCHD", or "SD Card (Menu)" "Disk" format and unfortunately, X6 only supports Version 1 of the AVCHD specification for either the "AVCHD" or "SD Card (Menu)" options. This leads to the confusion where you can create a 50 or 60p "H.264/MPEG-4 AVC" file under the X6 File Creation Process labelled as "AVCHD" that can not be used without transcoding to 50 or 60i under the "Create Disc --> AVCHD or SD Card (Menu)" option.
Quite simply, while X6 can create 50 or 60p "H.264/MPEG-4 AVC" files that are compatible with the AVCHD V2 specification it can not burn to a V2 AVCHD structure that includes a Menu at this time. As pointed out by the user "Kingston" below, if you use the "Create Disc --> SD Card (No Menu)" option, the you can create a AVCHD structure where you can optionally selected to create a 1080 50/60p output for the video but:
- there is no Menu or the ability to add other clips (eg it is for only playback of the one title on the timeline), and
- the files are re-encoded to below 20,000 kbps
- if you just wanted to remux a high single high bitrate 1080 50/60p clip to a BD or ACHVD structure then the free tsmuxer util will be more suited.
If you need or want to be able to do this then there are other Video Editing Packages that do support this.