AVCHD and FCE 3.5

I'm toying with the possibility of switching from MinDV tapes to AVCHD.
Will that work for me, given that I am on Mac OS X (10.4.11) and FCE 3.5? Are there any drawbacks that mean I might be better off sticking with tape?
Many thanks
Richard

You will have to get FCE4 to use AVCHD.

Similar Messages

Follow up from Real Pro thread - NTSC and PAL and AVCHD and FCE

Interesting topic line but can I just check one thing out from PAL land.
With an HD/AVCHD camera it is not recording in either PAL or NTSC as this is a analogue mode - so the issue issue of format is only relevant if i playback on a analogue TV. We have a digital tv so i record on AVCHD, deal in that format in FCE and burn to DVD (not sure in what format) play on DVD player through the digital TV.
If that is all correct then why do the manufacturers, in my case Canon HF10, talk about an NTSC and PAL version and then price differently - comparing the spec sheets from the Canon site I can see no difference. Am I missing something?

Hi Tom
The thing i was trying to establish was whether really there was a difference (other than price ) in the so called versions of the Canon HF10. The specs are exactly the same. My assumption is that as the cam records in AVCHD unless you intend to play back thro a PAL or NTSC TV (bearing in mind most European PAL sets play NTSC as well) it makes no odds which camera.
My plan- and this is what I need to check - is to record and import into FCE taking your advice not to record in the highest quality to save rendering on import. After editing can export through FCE to PAL or NTSC DVD version for playing on TV.
Does that sound right
PS I have found your book on FCE very helpful to date !!!!

FCE AVCHD and Importing

Hello,
I'm trying to import AVCHD files from a Sony HDR-SR11 to FCE 3.5 using Voltaic and the import time is excruciatingly slow (roughly 12x real time). I understand that FCE 4 works with AVCHD files but I'm also reading posts on this forum and elsewhere complaining about the slow import times.
Can someone please tell me if an upgrade to FCE 4 will dramatically improve AVCHD import times? I don't want to purchase/upgrade only to find out I'm right where I began. Anything close to real time import would be a huge improvement since I'm working with shorter clips.
Thanks for your help!

Are you converting the videos to QuickTime using Apple Intermediate Codec? (that is, with Voltaic?)
Correct. I'm currently using Voltaic to convert the MTS files to Quicktime/AIC. This allows me to import and edit without rendering in FCE 3.5. And it is so sloooooow.
Are you talking about Voltaic taking 12x real time; or importing the clips into FCE taking that long?
I'm talking about Voltaic talking so long. I have to convert them before importing them in to FCE 3.5. After being transcoded, the files are fine and FCE 3.5 is great.
So, I'm curious if others are having super long import times with FCE 4 and directly logging/transcoding within vs using a third-party app like Voltaic.
Again, once the clips are converted to AIC they work great in FCE 3.5 on Snow Leopard. Don't think that is the issue. The issue is converting from MTS to AIC.
Will FCE 4 do a quicker job than Voltaic?
Thanks for your replies!

Which Imports Faster HDV or AVCHD in FCE and iMovie?

I'm planning on getting my first HD camcorder and I'm leaning towards the HV-20 or HG-10. I'm leaning towards the HV-20 HDV. Tapes are cheap and a good archive medium and I'm leery of small hard drives being robust. Do AVCHD camcorders use similar drives as the iPod?
I've read AVCHD takes some time to import. Does HDV import faster to AIC?
Does FCE 4 import faster than iMovie 8 for both formats?
Thanks for any advice.
Kelvin

Import speed depends on your computer, but I think the the AVCHD and the HDV transcoding is about the same. It's all being done by QuickTime. AVCHD transfer gives you more options in terms of selecting clips and portions of clip, which is more difficult to do manually off tape. But, as you said, tape is cheap and a good archive medium.

AVCHD and DV

If I use ClipWrap2 to rewrap AVCHD media to QuickTime, then use MPEG Streamclip to convert it to the Apple Intrrmediate Codec at 29.97fps with uncompressed 48k audio can I edit it with footage shot at the same event on minidv?
If I can, will there be a significant difference? Can the client tell the difference?
Please advise.
Thank you in advance

If you only have the MTS files from the AVCHD camcorder then yes you do need ClipWrap or MPEG Streamclip. Sometimes outside videographers only give you the MTS files instead of the entire AVCHD folder from their camcorder. If you only get MTS files then the only way for you to get the video into QuickTime/Apple Intermediate Codec form is to use Clipwrap or perhaps MPEG Streamclip - but you do not need to use both programs.
If your videographer gives you the entire memory card from his/her AVCHD camcorder then as long as you have a memory card reader (SD card readers are built into some Macs) you can use FCE to import the video from the card same as if you were importing directly from an AVCHD camcorder.
If you have an AVCHD camcorder you can connect it to your Mac via USB and use the Log & Transfer feature in FCE to import the video directly from the camcorder into FCE. In this case, FCE will take care of transcoding the video into QuickTime/Apple Intermediate Codec.
The problem with mixing AVCHD and DV footage is that they use different codecs, different resolutions and different aspect ratios. AVCHD will be 16:9 but DV will be 4:3. When you combine them in a sequence you will be faced with a number of decisions & tradeoffs as to which will be your primary video type.
For example, you said you wanted to use the DV camcorder for wide shots. But you will then have to enlarge (scale up) the DV video in order to cover the full 16:9 frame of the AVCHD video. When you do this you will lose sharpness. So, if you are using multiple cameras it is best that they all shoot the same kind of video (AVCHD) and use the same settings (frame size, frame rate, white balance, etc).

My report on AVCHD and FCP

After mucking around with AVCHD files on FCP and mixing them with HDV footage I have finally got a good working outcome which may be of interest to others wanting to do likewise.
From the same .mts file from a Panasonic SD5 camcorder I made 3 versions via Clipwrap:
1/ Pro Res HQ
2/ Pro Res
3/ AIC
I then placed each clip in succession on the timeline and carefully observed the result. I couldn't discern an obvious difference in spite of the fact that pro res hq was using a huge amount of memory. I therefore suggest simply using the AIC codec. Another point is that when I have attempted to import my AVCHD into FCE, and Pinnacle, WITHOUT using clipwrap, the 5:1 sound wasn't mixed down to stereo properly. Clipwrap seems to solve this problem.
So finally I can use AVCHD in FCP, mix it with HDV footage all, with a minimum of fuss and perfect stereo sound.
I hope this info is of use to others wanting to use AVCHD with FCP.
NOTE: I havn't checked with fast moving footage.The footage was of a person moving around in a well lit room.

Your eyes can see digital code when you're looking at a video? Wow, I'd love to have that ability.
Sarcasm aside, you can't use your eyes to judge the quality of your video, and you can't trust the display of your computer monitor. A well done mpeg2 can look amazing, and most people can't tell, or don't know how to tell, the difference between the DVD movie they bought, and the original it was compressed from. That's why home theater has become so popular.
The file size of ProRes is bigger because it contains more information. That's a no-brainer. Unless you're zoomed in all the way, looking at the videos on a pixel-to-pixel basis, you probably won't see the difference. Some will, most won't. But AIC is not nearly as high quality as ProRes. And you don't need HQ, as has be said already.
You can get portable 1TB hard drives with FW800 and eSATA capability from LaCie, and they're only slightly bigger than rugged drives. I use them all the time in the field, and I use ProRes and DVCProHD to edit.
AVCHD is an amateur codec. It's compressed. It was designed to make acquisition to delivery one step. (You know, film the kids in the back yard, and then show it on your HDTV so Grandma can see them). That's not what professionals use. Even the pros that use these cameras (mostly because of the price, and that the lenses are getting better) are capturing directly to ProRes in the field (using recorders like the AJA Ki Pro, or I/O HD to a laptop) and bypassing the AVCHD encoding altogether. The fact is, you can't improve your AVCHD footage. It will look only as good as it started, no matter what codec you convert to. You can, however, make it worse.
Early AVCHD used 4:2:0 color space, but the more recent AVC-INTRA uses 4:2:2. If you go to AIC, you're throwing out color information. That being said, if you can't see the difference using your eyes, then your eyes are not reliable. If you understand the reason why different color spaces work (in regard to the sensitivity of the human eye) then you would understand that we all know our eyes don't tell us enough.
But here's the real crux. If you're happy with the result, and it gives you what you want, then do it the way you're doing it. But I certainly wouldn't advise others to do it your way. It's not a better way. It's just an acceptable-to-you way.

AVCHD and Snow Leopard (I-Movie / Final Cut Express)

AVCHD and Snow Leopard. I have been using Final Cut Express 4 and I-Movie 08 since they both came out. I have been using the same AVCHD camcorder (Cannon HG10) with both programs, and it has worked perfectly. Now I have installed 10.6 and 10.6.1 and now neither program will allow AVCHD transfer. Both recognize the camcorder but won't transfer.
A little poking around on the internet and I discovered that Snow Leopard won't support AVCHD (http://www.shedworx.com/no-avchd-in-snow-leopard). Third party web site mind you.
So far I agree it won’t work with AVCHD. Now since both programs were developed to use one of the most widely utilized formats in HD camcorders, again AVCHD, this accidental or intentional over site smells of Microsoft, not Apple.
I like some of the features of Snow Leopard but for me the video aspect is one of the top requirements. Apple had been the leader in the multimedia revolution and this mis-step with AVCHD is it’s typical of Apple.
I have just restored back to 10.5 and every thing is working again.
Now that were around the block here is the question. If anyone can come up with a solution…that does not include the used of third party software to convert, please let me know.
And to Apple, please fix this problem, I’m already hearing the complaints with QuickTime X, and seen the headlines, “Snow Leopard, is it Apples Vista?”.

CAM2399 wrote:
A little poking around on the internet and I discovered that Snow Leopard won't support AVCHD (http://www.shedworx.com/no-avchd-in-snow-leopard). Third party web site mind you.
This is, to be polite, a misunderstanding. Shedworx are being careless with their terminology.
1. SL itself does not support AVCHD, but neither did Leopard.
2. AVCHD support is built in to the movie editing software (iMOvie, FCE, FCP), exactly as it was in 10.5
3. I am happily editing AVCHD from my HG10 in iMovie 09 and in FCP, in exactly the same way I did under 10.5
So you have a specific issue with your camera, you've taken that with some carelessness from Shedworx, and on that basis you've decided, incorrectly, that Apple does not/will not support AVCHD.
There were many cases under Leo where people reported problems getting their camera to communicate with iMovie. Solutions include:
1. Trashing iMovie preference files
2. Repairing permissions
3. Copying the AVCHD folder tree from the camera to disk, and importing to iMovie from there
4. Using MPEG Streamclip to convert the camera footage before importing to iMovie
5.Making sure the camera is running on mains power, not battery, and that it's in playback mode.

AVCHD and Final Cut Express

When Apple says you must have an Intel processor to use AVCHD with FCE, they are not kidding! If you have an Intel Mac, you can import AVCHD in the 'log and tranfer' window. There you can view and import clips from your HD camera with a hard disk. However, if you have a Power PC Mac, it will most definitely not work. This is all in the manual by the way. I just learned this the hard way.
I bought a Canon HG-10, recorded a few minutes of video, and tried to get it into FCE. After some time poking around in the software, a phone call to Canon and doing a search for "AVCHD" in the PDF manual, I found out, my PPC Mac was SOL.
The manual also says that if I did have the Intel chip, it would format convert the files using the Apple Intermediate Codec and the resulting files will be TEN TIMES bigger. That would mean that if I fill up the 40 GB hard disk on the HG-10 just once, and then import it using FCE, it would become 400 GIGS!!! Yikes.
So that would make the whole idea of AVCHD a giant bust for me. Sounds like I'm definitely gonna stay tape based if I go HD at all. Of course I found all this out after I purchased the HG-10. Hopefully I can help someone out there in cyberland to be better informed.

Here's a very good explanation on why AVCHD isn't edited natively.
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=6152344#6152344

Canon HF100 and FCE

I just bought the HF100 and need to get a new computer to handle the avchd video. Can someone give me the workflow for editing avchd with FCE or point me to the right place? I have read that imovie and FEC transcode to AIC during log and transfer and drastically increases the file size. I want to do the following:
1. Record in highest quality on hf100.
2. transfer to computer in a reasonable amount of time.
3. edit by adding fades and effects, titles, menus and music
4. burn about 30 minutes to a one sided standard dvd in SD and another copy to standard dvd in hd to play back on my ps3 without losing any quality on the dvd for my ps3.
5. What minimum macbook or imac is needed to edit hd efficiently?

To edit AVCHD, you need an intel mac and FCE 4.0. The way that you would do your workflow is as follows:
1. Make sure you have the right easy setup preset to match your footage
2. Connect the camera to your computer, boot up FCE, open the log and transfer window
3. Select the clips or portions of clips to upload, and wait for FCE to ingest the media (this will take maybe a little longer than actual playback of the file. Also, since Apple transcodes to AIC, 10 minutes of video on 1920x1080i60 footage for me on my AVCHD camcorder took up about 15GB of memory. Be prepared to deal with these large file sizes. I suggest having a separate media drive to which you set your capture scratch, so as not to be running both the program and your media from the same drive. I use a 250GB external for my media)
4. Edit your footage into a movie. If you chose the right Easy Setup preset, no additional rendering should be required unless you add something like a filter or motion. The fades are under transitions, filters under video filters, etc. in the effects tab of the viewer. Titles can be made nicely using the Boris 3D or Boris Crawl generators in the generator pop-up. Music can be added as long as it is DRM free. If you want to use a song that has digital rights management on it (for example, an old song from iTunes) for non-commercial use, follow this link's instructions:
http://fcpbook.com/Audio4.html
5. Export to either quicktime movie or using quicktime conversion
6. Import this movie into iDVD or other DVD authoring software
7. Burn it to a DVD for watching on your ps3
As I said, only an Intel mac will be able to edit AVCHD. This Mac also has to be running at least Mac OS X 4.11 to use AVCHD. Make sure to have plenty of room on your hard drive (or external) for storage of the files from the capture scratch folder. I would also recommend at least 2GB of RAM for efficient rendering. As long as you meet these requirements when purchasing your computer, you should be fine. I use the new Macbook aluminum 13", which I have often been told is not a good choice for editing, but it fits my needs very well, and edits AVCHD perfectly.
Hope I was of assistance,
-skalicki
Message was edited by: skalicki`

Animations and FCE 3.5

I have been searching the internet and I can't find an answer.
I have Final Cut Express 3.5 and I want to add animations into my video.
The animations I want to add would be similiar to a movie introduction credits (ie- Kiss Kiss Bang Bang).
I do not know if you add the animation to your video in FCE, or do you add the video to your animation in an animation program.
Also, what would be the best program for this. I have Flash, but I hear it's hard to work with Flash and FCE. What are your thoughts on Blender?
Sorry for all the questions, and thanks in advance.

You will have to get FCE4 to use AVCHD.

What's the difference between FCE and FCE HD?

I'm thinking about getting Final Cut Express 4. I was poking around on Ebay and noticed that some were selling Final Cut Express HD and others were selling just Final Cut Express 4. Is there a difference? If so, what?
Thanks.

Back in 2005, FCE 3 was introduced with the name "FCE HD" simply to show that it could also edit HDV material which was quite rare then.
Nowadays we take it for granted that editing apps can deal with HDV and AVCHD so it is no longer necessary to advertise the fact.
For your info the only versions of FCE that have been produced are FCE 1 (that was simply called FCE), FCE 2, FCE 3, FCE 3.5 and FCE 4, though please note that these are not the names used on the boxes!

Importing AVCHD and DCIM folders into iMovie that someone has sent me. They live on my desktop. How do I bring them into an event library?

Someone has sent me the AVCHD and DCIM folders to import into iMovie. They live on my desktop. How do I bring them into an event library?

DCIM contains only stills.jpg ...
AVCHD is a highly complex file structure:
the 'video iself' is within STREAM as .mts, plus corresponding .cpi files in the CLIPINF ...
if the structure is intact, you go via File/Import/Camera Archive …
WITHOUT such a complete structure, the mts are not readable for iM and the automatic conversion routines don't get triggered. you have to manually convert/rewrap with 3rd party tools.-
the pics/jpegs can be imported via Finder/drag'n drop.-

Working alternating with iPhoto and FCE tgrying to import pictures from iPhoto into FCE suddenly all my 22300 pictures disappeared leaving empty frames. Does somebody know where the pictures could have gone and how can I get them back into iPhoto? Lothar

Working alternating with iPhoto and FCE tgrying to import pictures from iPhoto into FCE suddenly all my 22300 pictures disappeared leaving empty frames. Does somebody know where the pictures could have gone and how can I get them back into iPhoto? Lothar

The ! turns up when iPhoto loses the connection between the thumbnail in the iPhoto Window and the file it represents.
Option 1
Back Up and try rebuild the library: hold down the command and option (or alt) keys while launching iPhoto. Use the resulting dialogue to rebuild. Choose to Rebuild iPhoto Library Database from automatic backup.
If that fails:
Option 2
Download iPhoto Library Manager and use its rebuild function. This will create a new library based on data in the albumdata.xml file. Not everything will be brought over - no slideshows, books or calendars, for instance - but it should get all your albums and keywords back.
Because this process creates an entirely new library and leaves your old one untouched, it is non-destructive, and if you're not happy with the results you can simply return to your old one. .
Regards
TD

How to put AVCHD and AVI formats in a timeline using Adobe production suite?

I shot an event with two different types of cameras (AVCHD camera and tape camera with AVI output). I converted the video of avchd into 1080p first, then put it with the tape output together, the video was jittery. How can I put them together in a timeline to have the best video as possible?

The video was taken from capture card by using the adobe DV Format. I copied the settings of capturing bellow to give you more info of how I did it. I'm not sure if this the right way to do it.
For editing with IEEE1394 (FireWire/i.LINK) DV equipment.
Widescreen NTSC video (16:9 interlaced).
48kHz (16 bit) audio.
Drop-Frame Timecode numbering.
General
Editing mode: DV NTSC
Timebase: 29.97fps
Video Settings
Frame size: 720h 480v (1.2121)
Frame rate: 29.97 frames/second
Pixel Aspect Ratio: D1/DV NTSC Widescreen 16:9 (1.2121)
Fields: Lower Field First
Audio Settings
Sample rate: 48000 samples/second
Default Sequence
Total video tracks: 3
Master track type: Stereo
Audio Tracks:
Audio 1: Standard
Audio 2: Standard
Audio 3: Standard
The final output of the two format (AVCHD and .AVI) should be Widescreen 16:9
thanks again for help me.
Rolly
Message was edited by: Rolly\'91

Are FCP and FCE user interfaces the same?

I was recently talking to a pro videographer and complaining that I miss the old iMovie, it was so easy and intutive to use, Final Cut Express confuses me, etc. He said that I should try Final Cut Pro because the user interface is better than FCE. Is this true? I thought that FCP and FCE have the same user interface?
I just edit HDV videos for my business or personal videos. I don't do anything "pro." I just want a video editor that's easy, intuitive, and fast to use. I don't edit videos often so I don't want to spend an hour reading the manual every time I edit a 3-minute video, i.e., use FCE. iMovie drives me up the wall.

Thomas Kehoe wrote:
He said that I should try Final Cut Pro because the user interface is better than FCE. Is this true? I thought that FCP and FCE have the same user interface?
No. Just download the trial version and see for your self

AVCHD and FCE 3.5

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for