Avchd quality

I have a cannon HF100 vid camera when I have imported and edited footage on Imovies the quality when it is burned onto dvd is bad. If I buy Final Cut Pro X and edit and burn a disk as AVCHD files to play on my PS3 would the quality be just like playing through the camera onto my tv ? Can anybody help ??

I also have the HF100 in the US NTSC model. I have burned very good quality DVD masters from the HD files I edited from the HF100, but I will say it took some experimenting to get the best settings for DVD. One key thing is to go directly from the HD files in your editor to the DVD through compressor or other product. Don't try to render to a lower quality format then send that format to compressor. You lose quality each additional rendering step along the way in most cases. IMHO, two of the most important factors in your DVD final product will be the bit rate you set for your rendering/compression, and your use of the right aspect ratio for a DVD. For quality DVD video, the bit rate should be between 5Mbps and 10Mbps. As a rule, the higher the bit rate, the higher the video quality. Pick the proper aspect ratio for DVD ... it's standard. How you set your editor to convert the HD 16:9 frames to DVD format frames will also make a huge difference. You should not "distort" the HD images to fit the DVD format, but rather crop if possible to "conform" them. That way, the actual video that makes it to the display has not been contorted. Of course, interlace and field order are also important. This is general informatin only. Sorry I could not give you actual steps since I do not do DVD work anymore. Some of the other guys might have more pointed info for you. Best wishes.
stephen

Similar Messages

Feature Request: AVCHD Quality to DVD?

Will Adobe Premiere Elements implement AVCHD quality video to DVD in an upcoming release? Corel VideoStudio Pro X2 already has this great feature. Video shot with my Panasonic HD250 camcorder looks fantastic using the AVCHD preset to DVD on VideoStudio Pro X2. I wish Adobe Premiere Elements had this capability.

Have you worked with Corel VideoStudio Pro X2?
I have not. Other than Painter and WordPerfect (used this since it was WP Corp and version 1.1), I have not used any Corel programs, since CorelDraw 3.2, and never upgraded that. I know nothing about VideoStudio Pro - sorry. For me, PrPro does about 98% of everything that I want to do.
You might want to also post to Muvipix, as many subscribers to that site use all sorts of other NLE programs. Here, there is more of a bias towards Adobe programs, though some do have other apps. as well.
Good luck,
Hunt

Can you burn an AVCHD DVD using Premiere Pro 4.1?

Alright I've been hunting the forums and net for a few hours on this one question.
I import my AVCHD video files using Sony Picture Motion Browser for the HDR SR-12 using the full HD setting (1920x1080i) I then pull these into Premiere 4.2.1 and have created an edit, my question is, it possible to output to an AVCHD DVD i.e. a standard DVD-R with the AVCHD edit on it from Premiere/Encore?
It's easy to burn clips straight to AVCHD DVD using Sony PMB, but not an edited file.
I realize there are no menus possible if you do it this way, but I have an AVCHD capable DVD deck and an HD Capable screen and would really like to see how this looks. Anybody know any tricks or workarounds for this? It seems that this would be sadly lacking if it was not possible or simply an effort to force one to adapt the entire workflow to Blu-Ray for HD content which I am not prepared to do.
I am assuming that if you could export the same file type that came in (i.e. AVCHD .mts files) that you could then have Sony PMB burn it to AVCHD DVD but I haven't figured out how to export it as such as there is only Blu-Ray output options.
Any help, tips or tricks would be appreciated!!!!
Regards,
DSW

Answering myself here for the benefit of anyone else trying to solve this problem.
I have been pulling my hair out trying to solve this problem for the last 48 hours of utilizing AVCHD footage at AVCHD quality. I finally did find somewhat of a work around, but it requires Adobe PP CS4.2.
There is a plug-in here:
http://www.mainconcept.com/site/prosumer-products-4/mpeg-pro-hd-7850/features-7861.html
Which will actually output your edit as an AVCHD file. You can then burn this straight to an AVCHD using Nero 9 and keep the highquality level of your clips and not need Blu-Ray. The DVD player will need to be AVCHD capable, but I just bought one of those for $40 as compared to the $200+ of most Blu-Ray players.
Or if you want to be really sneaky, you can transfer it back onto your camera and play it straight to your TV using the HDMI cable.
Hope that helps anyone stuck with the same problem.
Regards,
DSW

Can I burn AVCHD project to DVD disc?

I've read that AVCHD uses the DVD format. Does this mean that the nice HD camcorder recordings I have will, after being processed by PE, show nicely on a wide screen television? Does this question even make sense.

AVCHD is High Definition, a DVD is Standard Definition
For true AVCHD quality on a disc, you need BluRay (which Premiere Elements will do, if you have a BluRay burner)
There IS a way to put "about" 20 minutes of HiDef on a BluRay, but it will NOT play in a DVD player, the disc will only play in a BluRay player
AVCHD to DVD http://forums.adobe.com/thread/862611
Elements and AVCHD http://forums.adobe.com/thread/947846
The Tutorial Links Page http://forums.adobe.com/thread/1275830 may also help
Plus
Premiere Elements FAQ List (2 pages of FAQ as of September 2013) http://forums.adobe.com/community/premiere_elements/premiere_elements_faq?view=all
Premiere Elements TIPS List (6 pages of Tips as of September 2013) http://forums.adobe.com/community/premiere_elements/premiere_elements_tips?view=all

Rendering quality bad using Adobe Premiere elements.

I was told to start a new discussion about my problem: The Mpeg rendering have such bad quality in APEleements, and it trembls so much whenever there is movement in the vídeo. I have Sony Vegas Movie Studio HD Platinum 11.0 and the quality for the same videos is so much better. I wanted to buy APElements also, but watching the APE rendered film, made me not want to buy it anymore. (My camera is a Sony HDR-XR550 with AVCHD quality.
I received the following answer:
Valdo_PT
A major factor in the type of issue that you describe goes to how the project was set up and the selection for export.
For us to rule in or out those types of factors, more information is needed.
1.Computer operating system....?
2. Project Preset.....Are you setting the project preset manually or are you letting the project it do it automatically based on the properties of the first file that you
drag to the Timeline? See Edit Menu/Project Settings/General.
3. Properties of the source file(s).....You say they were videos recorded with Sony HDR-XR550/AVCHD video compression..... are they 1920 x 1080 @ 29.97 interlaced frames per second or something else? What is the file extension?
4. What is your export selection?
Are your major problems in Edit area or Export area? Have you applied Field Options to your video if your camera is recording interlaced and not progressive video?
Let us start here and then decide what next.
Thanks.
ATR
My answer:
Hello, ATR. Thank you, for replying my question.
1- My computer operating system is windows 8.1, but I also have a computer with Vista.
2- The project preset is chosen automatically, by the APE.
The project settings are already chosen(Icannot change the edit mode - that is HDV 10801 - and the timebase 25,00.
The video is 1440 horizontal and 1080 vertical. Display format is 25 fps.
3 - The file extesnsion is mts.
4- I am rendering the film to Mpeg, Pal DVD Widescreen.
5- My problem is that the rendered quality is very bad.
I tried to check if the video is interlaced or progressive, but I don't know how. I used the software bitrate
viewer, but it doesn't recognise mts video.
Thanks,
Valdo

ATR, thank you for your answer.
a. I am using Adobe Elements 11.
b. In the Elements MPEG rendered films there’s some distortion, flicker, blurriness and moving lines, mostly when there’s movement in the film.
1. My operating system is Win 8.1 32 bit.
2. The project is by default PAL-AVCHD-Full HD -1080i 25.
3. In the Elements MPEG rendered films there’s some distortion, flicker, blurriness and moving lines, mostly when there’s movement in the film.
b. The AVCHD.mp4 has also problems, as MPeg2-1920x1080i.25. From those exports I tried, the M2t-H264-1440x1080i has clear vision, there is no problems. But all of these I can only watch in the PC, not in the TV, because of the reason I will explain next.
The intent is to watch in my TV (or other TVs) the family films I create. The problem is that they have to be MPEG 2 because my Hd tv media player is good but a little out of time and mostly it plays dvix and MPEG.
4. I reversed the Field Dominance, but there were no improvements.
Yes, the only problem I have is with the quality of the rendering.
5. I have used MediaInfo, but in the info it provides about the file there was nothing saying if it is interlaced or progressive video.
Thanks, Valdo

Creating an AVCHD DVD with Nero Vision 5 and Premiere Pro

This seems to work pretty well as a workflow (using AVCHD clips from a Panasonic SD5):-
Get your AVCHD clips onto your hard drive using the camcorder's software.
Run Nero 8 "StartSmart", choose "Author Edit and Capture Video"
Choose "Make Movie"
Using the "Browse For Media" button, navigate to where your AVCHD clips are and select.
When they are in the media file list, drag them to the Nero Vision timeline.
Click on the "Export" button and choose "Export Video to File"
Choose format "MPEG-2" and profile "HDV HD2 (1080i)"
Specify filename for output and click on "Export".
Run Premiere Pro and choose "New Project" and "Adobe HDV"
Choose HDV 1080i 25 (Sony 50i)
Edit as normal. On my quad core (Q9300) PC it's easily possible to use 3 video tracks at once and preview full screen smoothly, or add effects etc - a much better experience that using AVCHD with the costly Mainconcept plugin IMHO.
When done, choose File > Export > Adobe Media Encoder
Choose format MPEG2, Range "Entire Sequence" and Preset "HDV 1080i 25"
In the Video tab, Basic Video Settings area, you might care to up the quality to 5.0
Click OK and supply output filename.
Repeat the earlier stuff relating to Nero Vision but this time you want to select the file you've just output from PPro.
When you click "Next" once your file is on the Nero Vision timeline, choose "Make DVD with Edited Movie" > "AVCHD"
In the next screen choose "Create Chapters"
Well, follow your nose from there to create the chapters, then choose the menu and customise it, and burn to normal DVD in AVCHD quality.
What you end up with is an AVCHD DVD which will play on a Playstation 3 and probably on a Blu Ray player (I haven't got the latter to test). The finished quality is very close to the original quality - on the test material I've just been trying (playing back on a 42" full HD Bravia) I had to play repeatedly alternating original and edited footage to spot any differences - such that could be seen were pretty subtle.
While there are cheaper conversion programs to get AVCHD into PPro, I don't think any of them take the finished edit and do the AVCHD DVD creation and layout part like Nero does.
Hope that helps a new AVCHD user wanting to stick with PPro. If an experienced PPro user can see an obvious technical fault in what I'm doing I'd be glad to stand corrected.

Mick,
I got a simple project with a Play all and Scene select menu and then a scene menu. There was about 15 minutes of video, but it only seemed to cover about half the disk.
Encore seems tempermental, so I had to be very careful not to change any of the assets, etc.
I never could get Encore CS3 to recognize regular disks, and that's why I went to ImgBurn (burning either Bluray image or folder).
I tried Nero at first, and it seemed like a long process to get it to burn a UDF 2.5 format, but IMGBurn does that automatically.
This summarizes my experience, for what that's worth, with this.
http://www.wrigleyvideo.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=29665
Also, apparently,Sony will include this capability in DVD Architect Pro http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/vegaspro/bluray.
Finally, some work by others is being done to attempt to burn the BluRay project to a dual layer SD DVD which might double the capacity, but I haven't heard if that has been successful.
Let me know what you think.
JOhn

Relinking original AVCHD files?

Hi again folks,
I converted a whole load of AVCHD footage to Prores 422 Proxy (in order to save HD space). I have now completed one section of the edit and want to output back to the AVCHD quality. But when I carry out the following method FCP 7 isn't able to find the associated files on my external HD.
What am I doing wrong?
* Highlight the entire Timeline where the edited Sequence is.
* Go to Reconnect Media.
* Locate the original AVCHD files (which are on an the external HD).
* Click Reconnect.

Tom, what I done was in the Browser selected all the clips which I'd used in the Sequence.
I then clicked Batch Capture, which opened the Log & Transfer window. I then selected the external HD which stored all the original AVCHD clips and set the Log & Transfer settings to ProRes422 HQ.
This method then converted all the clips in my Sequence to ProRes HQ.
So, in a way, yes I did use Log & Transfer, but only because that's the screen Batch Capture took me to.
What is Pro Res HQ good for then Tom?

Burning DVD with AVCHD format on Final Cut Express

Anyone knows how to export the edited file in the highest/closest quality of AVCHD on a DVD media? I tried all output and it seems the AVCHD quality is still superior when played in my Sony BD350 Blu-ray player. Thanks!

Hi(Bonjour)!
Here's my workflow to produce Blu-ray format DVD:
I shoot in HDV and edit into a 1080i60 AIC sequence. This process should work with AVCHD too.
Save the movie to quicktime. No conversion.
Drop the movie into toast with the HD plugin installed...(Toast 10 is available now)
http://www.roxio.com/enu/products/toast/plugin/overview.html
I burn a maximum of 20 minutes on a single layer DVD at 1080p in blu-ray tab in toast on my G5 2.3 dual 4.5 Go Ram, dual layer factory installed DVD burner.
Sorry, in my tests, menus are designed by roxio and there is issue with them and the looping feature, so I stay with the autoplay no menu. The latest PS3 firmware update may solve this issue.
I play the blu-ray DVD on a Playstation 3 perfectly.
You can also burn DiVX format in toast, but the res is limited to 720p. I encountered some playback problems with this format, but it is okay on PS3.
See those link about Blu-Ray authoring, they give a general idea on the workflow and option for BR burners and players:
http://www.kenstone.net/fcphomepage/taming_the_wildblu.html
http://www.kenstone.net/fcphomepage/taming_the_wild_blu2.html
http://www.kenstone.net/fcphomepage/blu-ray_fcpfields.html
Michel Boissonneault

AVCHD Conversion

I am currently shooting SD, but am researching moving to HD.
So far, my research has concentrated on HDV, since that seems to be PRE7's preferred HD format. But truth be told, I'd rather use flash or HDD storage than the miniDV tapes that HDV requires.
So let's say I went with AVCHD. Not being a masochist, I don't want to edit AVCHD directly, so I started investigating AVCHD conversion programs. Based on 2 options presented by Steve in a January post:
AVCHD Upshift. If I understand correctly, this will
Transfer my AVCHD footage from my camera to my computer
Optionally de-interlace 1080i footage
Create a MPEG .m2t file for editing
Voltaic HD. Again, it seems like it:
Doesn't actually do a transfer from camcorder to harddrive
(Optionally?) de-interlaces 1080i footage
Creates an AVI file for editing
Dang. As usual, I ended up with more questions that when I started. And here's where I need help...
Is MPEG .m2t the same thing as HDV?
If a converter (e.g. Voltaic) doesn't actually transfer the files from camcorder to hard drive, how would I do that? PRE?
What's the best way to split the AVCHD files by timecode? Would I use HDVSplit on the .m2t files created by AVCHD Upshift? What about the AVI files created by Voltaic HD... would I just run Scenealyzer against the huge AVI file?
Is de-interlacing required/desired? Is the conversion tool the best place to do this, or should I leave it interlaced and let PRE handle it upon output? I'm assuming my final output would be BluRay, but so far nobody in my family has BluRay so I might be forced to (temporarily) create SD DVDs somehow...
Given a choice between converting AVCHD to HDV(?) or AVI, which would PRE7 be happier with?
What about quality? It seems like HDV is king. Some people say AVCHD is equivalent (or close or better), but it seems like AVCHD quality can vary more widely than HDV based on what camcorder you're using. Also, would converting AVCHD to HDV (or AVI) result in quality issues?
I've also seen several interwebs posts saying AVCHD is more the consumer-targeted format, while HDV is more pro/prosumer-oriented. I don't care about that so much, but I would like to create the best videos I can with the least problems.
Whew! Sorry for so many questions, but they all seem related. Let me know if you think they should be separate posts???

Thanks, Paul.
I'm sorry if I'm being dense, but I still don't get what happens if I define the project as AVCHD > 1920x1080 and then try to add AVCHD assets that have been "Upshifted". An Upshifted video will be 1920x1080 m2t file (correct?), so...
It seems like an AVCHD PRE project would have the right pixel dimensions (1920x1080) but be expecting the wrong file format (m2ts AVCHD).
While a HDV PRE project would have the wrong pixel dimensions (1440x1080) but be expecting the right file type (m2t).
So... what would happen if I defined a AVCHD project and added a correct dimension / wrong format Upshift file?
And what would happen if I defined a HDV project and added an incorrect dimension / correct format Upshift file?
If I understand correctly, and HDV project would accept the file, but constantly have to render it (red line over clips) due to the incorrect dimensions? Would that rendered file end up "stretched" (or compressed, not sure), or would it be OK?
Still not sure what an AVCHD project would do. Would it constantly have to render due to the incorrect format?
And what would be a better rendering... the HDV converting the pixel dimensions, or the AVCHD project converting the file type?
Your trial idea is good, but the problem is that if I get an AVCHD camcorder, and can't find a suitable conversion/workflow, I'd be stuck trying to natively edit AVCHD - which would not be good! I'd have to return the camcorder. I know an HDV camcorder would work. But I like the idea of the AVCHD workflow, so I'm leaning that way but definitely nervous
Thanks so much for your patience!!

Best Preset to in CS5 for AVCHD

I am experimenting with one of the newer Canon Vixia AVCHD cameras that is capable of shooting 1920 X 1080 video at 24 MB/sec. I believe that the resultant MTS files are natively captured in 60i format. I want to make a demo reel for a client for a product shoot using this camera to show the AVCHD quality and clairty. It seems natual that if I select the 1080P preset for this codec in CS5, I would be discarding half of the vertical resoluiton if the native format of the video is 60i as would be case when shooting SD video with a native format of 29.97 frames/sec. which reduces resolution. My guess is that the 60i is a field rate and not a frame rate.
The preset for either 1080P or 1080i are both set for a pixel ratio of square or 1, as opposed to retangular or .9, as with NTSC DV. It would appear that with a pixel aspect ratio of square when viewing on a 16:9 widescreen format monitor, this would produce an incorrect picture.
Could I get some clarication/confirmation regarding the two questions above? This would be the first time I have used this format of HD video and I want to be certain that what I produce is both true to standard and fully optimized with the native video that I for the demo real.
I will likely produce this video to be viewed as a mp4 file only rather than incorporatin it into a DVD.
Thanks indeed in advance for this assistance.

Ann,
Thanks for the info regarding BD.
This project, like many I have been asked to work on in the past will be primarily be presented in DVD format and for that I will likely use Adobe Link to Encore to automate the process of conversion as you mentioned. I have also been asked to make available a limited number of playable HD files of the project output which could be played on media hubs for home entertainment systems that are becoming so popular today. These files are basically kept on an NAS (Network Addressable Storage) which stores the video content and generally contains a streaming hub to distribute video to HD sets within the house or residence for viewing HD content.
In experimenting with the Blue Ray output preset in CS5 in an effort to use this format for those users who wish to stream this content, the H264 codec produces an output file with an M4V file extension which neither Power DVD would play/recognize. The streaming hub I use to test these outputs before distributing them to clients would not play it either. This is the first time that I have attempted to use the Blue Ray H264 file output as a standalone playable file without burning a BR disk. I was wondering if you are aware of a means of generating an MP4 compatible file output that can be played avoiding the M4V file extension. Can you offer any guidance to me for this objective?
Aside from attempting to generate a stand-alone playable BR file above, I noticed that when using any of the HDTV presets, there seem to be a noticeable quality improvement when I changed the video frame rate from 29.97 to 30 fps in the video properties in the export media output settings. I noticed this on my PC monitor only and there was a distinct improvement but this may not apply with the actual file output. Can you shed any light on why this would be so noticeable and if maybe I should use 30 fps for the output file setting as opposed to 29.97?
Again, much thanks for your support and time to offer any additional input.

AVCHD or mpeg2

Dear Adobe experts
I have a JVC HD-30 and can choose to record in either AVCHD to mpeg2. Do you have an opinion on which one to go for?
I am especially concerned about quality as I have read that AVCHD quality is not as good as mpeg2.
Are there any editing issues I should bear in mind? I assume PRE7 can handle either?
Thank you for your help.

I recommend MPEG2. Greater compatibility. AVCHD was supposed to be the next big thing, but the support and compatibility hasn't really materialized.
I have a Canon that only records to AVCHD and I regret my decision because the AVCHD files have been a pain.

Comparing video quality of AVCHD BluRay discs using Final Cut Pro Share vs Compressor

Up front, I will admit to being a newbie when it comes to using Final Cut Studio 3 and would appreciate some feedback from the Apple forum experts.
I have spent a lot of time trying to determine how to achieve an optimum group of Compressor 3.5.2 settings so that the playback video quality of an AVCHD BluRay disc is equal to or better than one created by using the simpler auto settings of FCPro Share, version 7.0.2.
When using Compressor’s auto/default maximum settings, I experienced the same error message reported in:
Error MessageDuring Creation of Blu-ray Disc in FCP and Compressor 3.5
https://discussions.apple.com/message/12073794#12073794
I have since made some Compressor AVCHD Discs with smaller bit rate settings and compared video quality with a single FCP Share AVCHD disc. Both seem to be equal in providing a very good video when viewed on my new Panasonic DMP BDT 310 BluRay player. However, the Compressor AVCHD discs show some motion artifacts not present with the FCPro Share version, especially when scrolling text or when objects are moving through the field of view, and visible artifacts are seen from a stationary chain link fence and other lattice work in the background of the video sample.
My sample video used for the comparisons between Compressor and FCP Share discs is a 21 minute duration home movie, originally captured from a mini DV, Canon HV30 1080i camcorder using ProRes HQ encoding(1440x1080), and dragged into FC Pro 7.0.2 timeline where 10 chapter markers have been inserted.
To create an AVCHD disc using FCPro Share, Markers are used to set the IN and OUT points, Select IN to OUT from the timeline, pull down File Menu Share, Select Create BluRay from options in pop out Share pane, and designate output device along with picture files for Background, Logo, and Title options. When these are completed, click on Export. My 21-minute video required almost two hours for encoding including about 10 minutes for burning. This accomplished on an iMac 3.06 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo.
To prepare this same 21-minute video for use with Compressor, I again Select IN to Out from the FCPro timeline, but this time use File Export as a QuickTime Self Contained movie including Chapter markers. Then Open Compressor, choose Create BluRay from Template pane, right click on the down arrow in the Batch window and load the QT self contained movie file. From there I went to the Inspector window and tried various combinations of bit rate settings along with Frame Encoder options such as Better or Best motion parameter controls.
I have tried the following combinations of Bit rate settings along with varying Frame Encoder controls and burned an AVCHD disc for each example:
Example A
Compressor set to 6 Mbps Average and 8Mbps Maximum, Frame Encoder settings OFF. Approximately 4 hours to encode although the time remaining estimator indicated a larger value of ~7 hours; not an accurate estimator at all.
Example B
Compressor set to 6 Mbps Average and 8Mbps Maximum, Frame Encoder settings ON, using “Better (Linear Filter) and Better (Motionadaptive)” settings. Approximately 4 hours to encode, not the 13 hours that were estimated.
Conclusion: Comparing A & B Compressor versions, Disc B showed some improvements in reducing motion artifacts over Disc A.
Example C
Compressor set to 13 Mbps Average and 15 Mbps Maximum, Frame Encoder settings ON, using “Better (Linear Filter) and Better (Motion adaptive)” settings. Multipass checked. DeInterlace was checked. Unknown hours to encode; about 8 hours done overnight..
Conclusion: Disc C showed some minor improvements reducing motion artifacts over Disc B
Example D
Compressor Auto settings,i.e., 15 Mbps Average and 17 Mbps Maximum, Frame Encoder settings ON, using “Better (Linear Filter) and Better (Motion adaptive)” settings. Multipass checked. Approximately 12 hours to encode, done overnight. Inserted disc next morning after the overnight encoding was completed, and a few minutes later an error message pane appeared that the maximum bit rate had been exceeded. This message was consistent with the Apple posted thread referenced above. Unfortunately the long overnight encoding was wasted.
It seemed to me that the best Compressor settings for suppressing the motion artifacts were displayed by the disc burned in Example C, i.e., 13/15 Ave/Max Mbps with“Better” Motion settings in the Frame Encoder.
However, when this disc was compared to the AVCHD Disc burned using the FCPro Share, the latter still seemed much better. I do not know what the auto bit rate values are as set in FC Pro, but for me, the quality is quite good AND the motion artifacts are significantly reduced, especially evident with the scrolling text.
Sorry about this long post, but I thought the detail would be necessary for the experts, and maybe helpful to others trying to get started in this BluRay arena. Did I misuse Compressor? I think the sample video exported as a self contained QT movie was the right thing to do? Not sure where I went wrong.
Thanks in advance for Feedback and Recommendations. For now, I’m going to stay with the simpler process using Final Cut Pro Share function.
BoBo

Thank You, Brad, for responding; glad to hear I'm not the only one having similar Compressor issues.
You may have hit on something. Perhaps Compressor's use of H.264 encoding was the reason for my motion artifacts? And perhaps Final Cut Pro Share retains the 1440x1080 quality as it burns the AVCHD BluRay disc?
I had Toast 10 for less than 30 days a couple of years ago, and was lucky to get a refund.
What version of Toast do you have? Wondering if new Toast 11 has improved previous bugs, especially upgrading its Chapter text, pictures, music. I would go back to Toast if it came close to mirroring DVD Studio Pro, or even iDVD capabilities.
Thanks,
BoBo

Help with getting high quality DVDs from AVCHD footage

Hello,
I know enough about video editing with PE7 to be dangerous, and was hoping someone could help me out.
My question is regarding getting the highest quality standard DVD from AVCHD footage. I have a Sony HDR-SR12 camcorder recording in AVCHD. I am editing footage natively in AVCHD with PE7 on a quad core system. No problem with that. However, when I export to standard DVD the quality of the video goes down drastically. (Yes, I know burning to Blu-ray would give me higher quality, but I am giving this DVD to a friend who doesn't have Blu-ray).
So far I have tried starting my project in both HD 1080i 30 5.1 channel:
General
Editing mode: HDV 1080i
Timebase: 29.97 fps
Video Settings
Frame size: 1440h 1080v (1.333)
Frame rate: 29.97 frames/second
Pixel Aspect Ratio: HD Anamorphic 1080 (1.333)
and Full HD 1080i 30 5.1 channel:
General
Editing mode: HD 1080i
Timebase: 29.97 fps
Video Settings
Frame size: 1920h 1080v (1.000)
Frame rate: 29.97 frames/second
Pixel Aspect Ratio: Square Pixels (1.0)
But I see no discernable difference in the quality of my output onto DVD.
This is where my knowledge is lacking...how can I get the best quality output from my AVCHD onto a standard DVD? Is there some format I can convert to first, and then burn to DVD? Also, I am willing to break the footage into a couple of DVDs to improve the quality, but I don't know how or what to do for that.
My footage looks REALLY great when viewing from the HDR-SR12 direct to HD TV with HDMI cable, but not very good on the DVD. My footage is of a ballet recital, and I lose definition in the faces, costumes, etc on the DVD output.
Any help is appreciated! Thanks!
Gina

Hey Gina,
This may be a year late, but as I have been pulling my hair out trying to solve this problem for the last 48 hours I finally did find somewhat of a work around, but it requires Adobe PP CS4.2.
There is a plug-in here:
http://www.mainconcept.com/site/prosumer-products-4/mpeg-pro-hd-7850/features-7861.html
Which will actually output your edit as an AVCHD file. You can then burn this straight to an AVCHD using Nero 9 and keep the highquality level of your clips and not need Blu-Ray. The DVD player will need to be AVCHD capable, but I just bought one of those for $40 as compared to the $200+ of most Blu-Ray players.
Hope that helps.
Regards,
DSW

Is it possible to transfer Full-HD videos (from a Full-HD camcorder) from iMovie 11 to compressor 4 and create there a AVCHD DVD which can be played in HD quality at a PS/3?

Is it possible to transfer Full-HD videos (from a Full-HD camcorder) from iMovie 11 to compressor 4 and create there a AVCHD DVD which can be played in HD quality at a PS/3?

Yes.
In iMovie use SHARE/Export Movie.
http://help.apple.com/imovie/#mov3a9e5615
Choose 1920x1080 (or size of your choice.
Give it a name and location.
You can drag this file into Compressor.
In Compressor, use "Create BluRay Disk"
That should work fine.
There is another alternative, where you could skip the DVD and Compressor.
Just SHARE/EXPORT USING QUICKTIME
Choose Movie to MP4
In Options, choose h.264 as the Codec.
Choose a bit rate of 16000 or less.
Create the movie.
You can then put it on a USB thumb drive and play it on the PS3.

My avchd video I imported looks great on the monitor, but once I run it through iDVD the quality of video on my HD tv is much less than I had on the monitor

Hope you can help. I imported AVCHD video into final cut express 4, Ive used the broadcast safe filter, and others in the final cut color correction suite. but to no avail. When I export using quick time, and burn the DVD in best performance, the quality of the video is much less on my HD TV than on my monitor during construction.
Im looking for some insight here.
My DVD player is pretty cheap, but movies I buy are crisp and clean, my video looks blotchy and cheap.
I tried using iMovie and got the same results
Jeff

Hi Jeffrey. You're probably going to get a lot of comments as to the fact that DVD is not HD quality. It's resolution quality is much lower than actual HD and there's a lot of compression going from HD footage to standard definition of DVD. You might experiment with BluRay if you can get a BluRay burner to work with your mac or burn a BluRay project using Toast on your mac. You can search the forums for more informaiton.
I've been experiencing some of what you're describing for years. I also agree that the overall video quality going from HD to iDVD is just not as good as it's expected to be. The commercial DVDs use complex compression techniques and of course are shot with perfect lighting and equipments,
Make sure you're exporting your FCE project (not self-contained). In iDVD use professional quality unless it's a really long video. Check the iDVD forums for more informaiton about that. Good luck and I wouldn't expect any improvement from iMovie. iMovie is more targetted towards online viewing rather than DVD...

Avchd quality

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