AVCHD disc FCP 7

Has anyone else had this problem...
Just burnt my first AVCHD disc out of FCP7. The 4 minute sequence I exported contained several clips that I'd used the smoothcam filter on. When playing back the AVCHD disk in my PS3 and also on a Sony BD player, every clip that had smoothcam used on it, shimmers and blurs horrendously. Every clip that I didn't use smoothcam on looks great. All of the clips with smoothcam applied look fine on my computer. The shimmering only rears it's ugly head once I've burnt the AVCHD dIsc.
Any suggestions?

Ian, the DVD media itself is just a UDF filesystem format which contains the folders/files in the defined AVCHD structure. I believe the top level contains "BDMV" and maybe "Certificate"? been a while since I've looked at one.
Being just a UDF file system disc, you should be able to make copies of it. The fact that you receive an
Ian R. Brown wrote:
+"Read Errors Have Been Found On This Media"+
error message makes me wonder about the quality of the disc you are trying to copy. There is nothing inherently odd or protected about the UDF file system format. I believe you'll find that all DVDs use this.
As you probably know, consumer players are more inclined to skip errors during playback whereas a computer being asked to make a faithful copy of the media will not ignore them.
If you can, try copying the files in their exact structure off the original disc. Place them in a folder on your HD. Then use Toast to burn them (with the same layout ) onto a UDF disc.
Patrick

Similar Messages

Can you import the video from an AVCHD Disc into FCP7 for editing?

Can the video from an AVCHD Disc be imported into FCP 7 for re-editing if you have a normal Superdrive burner?
The reason I ask is because last night our film-making club gave a show of short videos to some guests.
At the end it was decided to put them all on one DVD to send to the visitors as a memento.
However, some of the films were on AVCHD discs and I queried whether they could be copied, even in standard definition.
The "copier" said it was no problem as he had a PC and had done it before . . . . . cheeky devil!
So can it be done . . . . . on a PC or a Mac . . . . with a standard burner?
I have just tried but nothing in the BDMV folder can be imported.

GOT IT!
Copy the BDMV folder from the AVCHD disc to the desktop.
Use HandBrake to convert the .m2ts files to H.264
Then convert the H.264 files to an editable format.
Rather convoluted process but it works.
Anyone know a better method?

Can an AVCHD disc contain multiple videos?

So far I have only used AVCHD discs for short single videos but a friend has just asked whether it's possible to put several videos on one.
Obviously you could string the videos together in FCP X but that would really be one long video and not what my friend wants.

What he is referring to and what you are talking about are two different things it looks like. If you have a music & music video playlist in your itunes library, you are able to play and shuffle the list through the computers menu with your home sharing.
The problem is when airplay comes into play. For whatever reason airplay is still buggy with AppleTV. If you have a playlist that contains BOTH music videos and music and you try and play it to your apple tv from your computer it will work... to a point. IF it plays over 5 minutes of music, the "now playing" screensaver appears on the apple tv and once that is on, any music video that plays afterward will only show the album art with the audio. If you skip to the next song, however, and it happens to be a video it will play the video. Basically, to force it to play videos after it goes to the "Now Playing" screensaver, you have to actually intervene in some way... which is silly. This is a pain in the *** if you want to use iTunes DJ to play a playlist of music and videos.
Until they fix this, which will probably never happen, the only viable way to accomplish playing a music & music videos playlist is through the computers menu with home sharing.

AVCHD Disc Preparation

I just acquired Compressor 4 so I can make an AVCHD disc for playing in my BluRay player. It took me several days to figure out how to do this and I read the Help sections of FCPX and Compressor. Also looked at some tutorials. I finally made a disc starting from FCPX: Share -->Blu ray, and one by starting from Compressor by exporting a .mov from FCPX and dragging it into Compressor.
I got very confused figuring out where all the menu and inspecor files were to set the batch job up properly. Apple has spread the needed information all over the place and it is definitely a hunt and peck operation. When I finally made my first successful disc I then forgot what I had done because I tried so many things.
To summarize my question:
1) Best and simplest way to start from FCPX and burn disc.
2) Best and simplest way to start from Compressor and burn disc.
An added question is "Is there a way to construct a Chapter menu like iDVD or DVDSP but for the AVCHD disc?"
Charles Lloyd
The Woodlands, Texas
USA

Charles, both FCP and C4 are pretty much the same.
1. In FCP make your HD project timeline pane active. Go to Share>Blu-Ray. The dialogue box will give you different options for output device, depending on the optical drives you have connected. If a DVD drive is selected, FCP will create and burn an AVCHD disk.
or:
2. Export your movie from FCP, using Export Media. If the Batch Template doesn't open automatically when you open C4 select New Batch from Template under File. Select Create Blu-Ray. with the job selected (not the settings) look at Extras. Again, if you have a DVD burner (internal or external) connected, the option will be to make an AVCHD disk.
You can set chapter markers in C4, but currently not in FCPX. You set them in Preview. They will work with the basic menus that you get through Compressor's disk creation.
Good luck.
Russ

Can I play avchd discs on a Mac

Can I play avchd discs on a Mac?

You will need to get a bit of help for your iMac to playback AVCHD files. No native support for AVCHD playback.
Get VLC and you can open most .mts or .m2ts files.
iMovie/Final Cut will also let you import AVCHD.

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 on FCP 6, what about FCE HD???

Now that there is some support for AVCHD on FCP 6, does anyone know when the same type of support will come to Final Cut Express HD? Pleass please please please tell me it's coming...

as Donna said, speculations are not allowed on this board..
interesting fact is, that FCP needs a conversion first of AVCHD (=doesn't handle that codec 'natively'), and that the conversion allows the options 'rs422' AND 'Apple Intermediate Codec' .. which is well known to FCE users ...

Whats the best file output spec for a file output i.e rather than an AVCHD disc

I have been making travel videos for many years and in all the formats available at the time at the time. I moved from analogue to digital and latterly HD video (1080x1920) via Panasonic HDC-SD600 camcorder. Using software I created AVCHD Discs and played them on my Blu Rayer Player. However I now realise that the discs can degrade? and start to stick on playback. So I moved on to creating Video Files that I can transfer to my flash drive to feed directly to my HD tv. In previous software I took the option MP4 HD and I had no problem. However the software did start giving an unrelated problem and I changed to Adobe Premiere Elements 12. But the MP4 HD option offered in Publish and Share when transferred to Flash Drive will not play on TV (No Movies Found). Could it be that I reformatted the flash drive to NTFS to allow greater tha 4G?. I have scanned various adobe forums and tutorials but not luckly enough to find one that explains the best outputs for this type of use
Can you help. I am slightly knowledgeable about codecs and containers.

Bill,
Finally solved my problem. It turned out to be the Flash Drive! I realised this was at fault when the TV stopped seeing any files irrespective of format. I re-formatted the drive back to FAT 32. I then used a ten minute video and with PE12 Publish and Share options created 6 files with different formats. 2 of these played back perfectly. I then went and done some homework and read up on Frames and Refresh rates and how PAL and NTSC still matters in this digital age. I finally opted for the AVCHD option of MP4 H264 1920x1080p at 25fps. Which I believe is correct for PAL countries.
My TV has 100hz refresh rate so that means at 25fps each frame is repeated 4 times every 25th of a second. Forgetting all the Tech when I watched the video I found it really good and that decides it for me!
It does leave me with something to live with however, I am apparently stuck with the 4 gigabyte barrier of FAT 32. However this gives about 30 minutes of HD video so I may have to opt for Video part one and Video part two for longer videos. I will re check the spec of my TV just to ensure the USB inputs are definately restricted to FAT 32.
I am now thinking about DNLA as another means of playing a video file from computer to TV. But this new to me so it looks like more homework.
Any tips or help will be welcome
Jack

Creating AVCHD Discs?

Am I correct in thinking that an AVCHD disc is basically Blu-ray encoded video burned to a standard DVD-5?
I have encoded a 5 minute test video and now have an audio and video file.
What do I do with them?
Do I use DVDSP and if so how do I configure the project settings as the only choice apart from SD DVD appears to be HD DVD (which I have been told is not suitable)?
Incidentally I have tried both project settings and when I try to import the 2 files I am told they are in an incompatible format.

I tested the 5 minute disc on my son's PS3 and it didn't work. Nothing appeared on the screen to show that the DVD had been recognised.
However, there could be a couple of reasons for that.
1. DVD+RWs are not the best media for this task . . . . . let's face it, many ordinary DVD players won't recognise them.
2. Apparently, according to David's second link, PS3s are notoriously unreliable at playing AVCHD discs and my son's is straight out of the box and never been updated.
So my next step will be to create an AVCHD disc on a terribly expensive (15 pence!) DVD-R and see what happens.
What a waste of a DVD!

AVCHD to FCP for editing

AVCHD to FCP workflow. I've just upgraded from the dvx100B to the HMC150, and I have a problem that I don't see discussed when I search. I'm surprised, because it's a really simple question:
I just received my new HMC150 and I’ve filmed something at 1920x1080, 24p. So now I’m trying to figure out how to edit the AVCHD files in FCP (version 7.0.1). I’m running an eight-core Mac Pro w_ 20Gb of RAM. I assume that I need to transcode the HMC150 files to ProRes 422 or 422 (HQ) to work with them in the Browser.
So, I transfer the data from the HMC150 SD card to my desktop, and I get a folder labeled AVCHD. Inside this folder I see two more folders entitled “AVCHDTN” and “BDMV”
Inside “AVCHDTN” are two files, “THUMB.TDT,” and “THUMB.TIC”
Inside “BDMV” are three folders and two files. The files are labled “INDEX.BDM,” and “MOVIEOBJ.BDM”
The three folders are labeled “CLIPINF,” “PLAYLIST,” and “STREAM”
Inside “CLIPINF,” one finds three files labeled “00000.CPI,” “0001.CPI,” and “00002.CPI”
Inside the PLAYLIST folder is one file labeled “00000.MPL”
Inside the STREAM folder are three files labeled “00000.MTS,” “00001.MTS,” and “00002.MTS”
I’ve tried using MPEG_Streamclip, but it doesn’t recognize any of the above files. I’ve also tried importing each of the above folders or files into FCP (to used Media Manager), but it doesn’t recognize any of this data either. What’s the workflow that works? Help!

Hi
What's AIC? It's not listed as a Target Format in the Log&Transfer Preferences
not even if you click on the "ProRes 422" name? It should drop down and show at least Apple Intermediate (others if you have specialized workflows installed eg RED) or FCP 7 offers ProRez 444, I think.
Anyway if you have lots of Disk Space ProRez is a Higher quality CODEC ... but both AIC and ProRez are bigger "containers" (ie better 'quality') than AVCHD. If your footage was shot well, both will work well. Experiment for yourself and decide your needs.
IMO it's best to provide Vimeo and YouTube with a file which is *exactly * the size, frame rate and CODEC (including bit rate ) they want to play. That way they won't have to re-process your image at all and potentially introduce distortion.
Vimeo have a page that specifies exactly what the want .... an MPEG 4 with H264 encoding, 720P (for HD ... deinterlaced if shot at 1080i) capped at 5000Kb/sec bit rate (check it out yourself though. I'm sure YouTube has a similar page). You can set that up in compressor as a new setting, or go on the internet (try Limewire) and find a copy of Visual Hub (V 3.3 is good) with a serial #. It's no longer sold, supported or developed so you won't be able to pay for if if you wanted to! But it still does a great job of You Tube /Vimeo' ing movies. I've loved it for years!
For DVD Studio Pro, Compressor's presets are fine.... though they only make Stanadrd Def DVD's. I wouldn't recommend the HD-DVD option which is still listed. The HD-DVD format is now obsolete.
You can make a "BluRay" DVD using your FCP Movie and a Copy of Toast 10 Pro with the( Blu Ray Plug In). It will put up to 20mins of BluRay Data (actually H264) on a 4.3 Gig disk that plays in a BluRay Player. I think there are some options in FCP Studio 3 for BluRay, but I don't have it yet ... maybe it can do the same thing?
Hope this helps
Lee

Help importing/exporting AVCHD in FCP 6.0,6

I have been having numerous problems in Final Cut Pro for the proper procedure on how to Export HD footage at its fullest quality. I shoot with a Sony NX5U and after im done exporting the footage, it always looks terrible. meaning that the footage is distorted and when i go to view full screen it almost looks like Standard Definition... Im not shooting without any gain on the camera so i know that cant be a factor in this case. My import settings are.. Sequence settings " Apple Pro Res (HQ) 422 1920 x 1080 30P" (for when im shooting 30p of course) Capture Preset "HDV Apple Pro Res (HQ)" when i export as a "quicktime movie" set to current settings it always looks bad! I have been messing around with this for a while and i cant seem to figure out what it is that i am doing wrong.
Could it possibly be that i am using a older version of final cut that i dont have the current up to date capture preset/sequence settings?
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

we just bought a volume license and were shipped 6.0.1 studio. the AVCHD plug in at the panasonic site shows a 6.02 and a 6.03 version. I went to the apple FCP support downloads and do not see an update to 6.03 or 6.02. these are on new IMacs in a tv lab.
thanks.

AVCHD and FCP?

Are there different file extensions within the AVCHD format? I have a Panasonic HD camcorder from some years ago which I think is m2ts files which FCP hates.A friend of mine is using a new Sony 550/VE with FCP and not getting any trouble.Any ideas?

I purchased clipwrap and simply "Transferred" the .mts file to .mov without changing the clip. I then imported it to FCP and it tells you the "imported video is different to all possible sequence settings, do you want it to match?" and I clicked "No". The red rendering line appeared and after rendering it worked fine. If you answer "Yes match the clip...." the clip plays very badly, in fact the same as the pre-transformed clip.
I transcoded the rendered clip to prores hq 422 1920X1080 and that worked fine as well.

Using AVCHD with FCP 7

Hello
I import my footage from my JVC HD GZ HD40, using the function "Log and transfer"
Does it transfer the files on my MAC HD in "full quality" ?
Will I need the originals files that are on the HD of the camera when I will make the .mov file ?
Thanks in advance for your help
Best
Cyril

Since FCP cannot edit AVCHD, it re-encodes the video into a codec that is better for editing. The Apple Pro Res codec is a very good codec. You can select which codec FCP will transcode to by opening the log and transfer window and by clicking on the gear at the top middle of the window. It will let you select preferences, and from there select which codec you would prefer to use - so if you prefer a different flavor of Apple Pro Res, you can select it there.
I think you need to decide if the video is "full quality" when it is imported into Final Cut. Of course, it will converted from the original, but my experience is that very few people can tell the difference between the original and the imported file.
The decision with what to do with your original files is up to you. Since you could archive the imported files just as easily as the files on your camera HD. It depends if you want to keep the originals for any reason, and only you can decide that. If it were me, I would leave the files on the camera while I was editing, in case something happened to my imported files. The I could return to the camera to recover the files. But once the edit was complete, and I had archived off the elements I used, I would probably delete the files on the camera HD.
Sorry that this is not more helpful to you.

AVCHD Crashes FCP on Log and Transfer *SURPRISE*

OK after days of scouring the net I've not been able to come up with a solution...
I'm running FCP v7 on a quad core Intel mac with 8Gb's RAM
Whenever I open the Log and Transfer window to attempt to import my AVCHD footage I get the beach-ball of death and a crash.
iMovie crashes as well if I attempt an import.
The files are .mts from the new Sony Pov cam
And yes, I've disabled Perian
Failing a solution I'm about to ditch Final Cut and go with Premier Pro which now seems to be streets ahead of FCP!
Any help would be much appreciated

Sounds like Premiere is indeed the best option, if it's working for you now, and there's a deadline ahead.
Best of luck with it.

Need an app to import avchd into FCP 5.1

I've been running FCP 5.1 on a G5 in 10.5.8 for a long time, and always been able to do everything I wanted to with it. However, my tape video cameras are dying one by one, always with failure of the tape drives. Tape is dead. Time to move on to AVCHD videocams.
So, if I am going to eventually have to move to an AVCHD videocam, the problem is that FCP 5 does not import video from AVCHD videocameras, only from tape.
This means that I am either going to have to find some app that will import AVCHD from a videocam, and convert it into a form that FCP 5 can use, or else I'm going to have to move up from FCP 5 to FCP 6 or 7, which will also necessitate moving from the G5 to a Mac Pro box. Which also means that my Adobe CS2 software will not work anymore. Jumping up to an Intel box from PPC could get very expensive due to all the software upgrades necessary.
So to start with, I'm investigating the least painful solution, which would be to find some app in 10.5.8 that I can import AVCHD from a camcorder into, and then move the video from that app to FCP 5.
Can anyone suggest such an app? Or is this a vain hope?
Tom

Thanks Shane. I believe FCP 6 will import AVCHD. If I were to buy a used Mac Pro from someplace like Ebay, and switch from FCP 5 to FCP 6 (which is much cheaper than buying 7), and continue to run 10.5.8, would that not solve my problem?
This assumes Mac Pro boxes can run 10.5.8. Can they?
If they can, then that seems like the least expensive way to acquire a version of FCP that can import AVCHD.
Unless there is some other fatal flaw in this reasoning.

AVCHD disc FCP 7

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