AVCHD to SD Workflow?

I'm working on a multiclip project that was shot with one AVCHD camera and one SD camera. I found out you can't mix two formats in a multiclip sequence so that means I have to either Upscaling SD or Downscaling HD. I figured the second option makes more sense since the footage will likely be going out to DVD. (yes I realize either way something is going to look not as good, i've accepted that.)
As such I was curious as to what the workflow would be. I figure I should use Compressor but wasn't sure what settings I should use (specifically the frame size to ensure the footage comes out 16:9).
Also, I've brought the AVCHD footage in as Pro Res (Proxy), but wasn't sure if I should bring it in at the full pro-res then convert to SD or if the Proxy would be good enough?
Any help would be greatly appreciated!

To the second point - ProRes Proxy is not good enough source. You'll want to reconvert them into ProRes or ProRes LT and then convert to DV. You could also use Toast (if you have it) and you can do it all in one step (from the original .mts files)

Similar Messages

Speed up AVCHD Editing and workflow in PP CS4

G'day everyone,
I want to edit and cut AVCHD footage in Premiere Pro CS4. Since my PC
is a bit older I'd like to know what internal functions and settings can be
used to speed up editing AVCHD footage.
I do not want to convert to a different format.
I'd really appreciate a few hints and tips.
Best,
Alex

Thx! I am going to work with a new i7 soon. Just like to know a few
good setting in advanced which improve performance.
2009/7/4 Harm Millaard <[email protected]>
There are no steps for an older PC that will speed up AVCHD editing
noticeably, it will remain very slow, if possible at all. You have two
choices:
>
1. Do not use AVCHD as source material and get a different camera.
>
2. Get a new PC, at least an i7-920 and all the other components. See
http://forums.adobe.com/thread/436215
>
Whichever way you turn it, you need to invest in one or the other.
>

AVCHD "Rethinking The Workflow"

I have been trying to edit 3 camera multicam but unsuccessfully due to drives speeds wherein my AVCHD that was transcoded to ProRes422 HQ and ProRes422 LT and during the timeline multicam edit stops and gives me a series of messages not the least of which is something about dropped frames which I've been told doesn't happen on AVCHD yet all in the Apple support groups have concluded that my answer to solve the problem is RAID which I am going to do as soon as I can get drive space free'd up from a Windows (boot camp) drives.
In the meantime I am wondering if there is another work around to get me through these projects that I have in AVCHD until such time as I can get the drives installed and all the Mac video media transferred.
So, my projects are all recorded in AVCHD 1920x1080 24mbs but will be output to DVD Standard Def at 16:9 format which I believe is 720 x 405 widescreen (not 4:3 letterbox . . which some call anamorphic)
Thus, I am to wonder if there is a workaround solution here that would allow me to use the AVCHD files and have them down res'd to the final media (video) type and in the process the media files would be significantly reduced in size and stream and I could get this backlog of 3 camera multicam projects out the door so that I can focus on the ultimate solution to allow me to do HD multicam in the future?
If anyone has any ideas or suggestions or needs more info please advise and "Thank You" kindly in advance for your help and input.

Patrick Sheffield wrote:
It only means it dropped a frame during playback to keep in sync. It doesn't affect your edit. Avid, IIRC, does this too.
I believe you're only having problems because you have 3 video streams playing at the same time. The render codec is the codec of your timeline. You should not need to alter this.
Patrick
Great! I will do that today immediately after I figure out how to get rid of the "pbudsara.exe" trojan virus that has somehow infected ALL four of my PC's that are slowly moving out the door :o)
Glad to hear that that the dropped frames is only in the playback and not on the video itself cuz the latter would affect my output the former would not but is just a nuisance. However, I'm really thinking that for now I'd be ahead to do the down rez during the transcoding process to get me over the hump and pump out these projects and get caught up since I have a tutor coming next week or even this weekend so I can maybe learn some of the beyond basics of FCP. I'm anxious to get as proficient on FCP as I am currently on Avid however I think I will go further because of lots of reasons.

From AVCHD to iDVD

Okay - I've gone through posts here ad infinitum until I'm thoroughly confused! Without any reference to codecs, muxed audio or deinterlacing, can someone give me a simple workflow to take 1080i AVCHD footage from my camera, edit it, then burn the resulting movie to DVD with the best possible quality (best DVD, that is - I know it won't be HD. Until the whole planet owns Bluray and DVD is dead, I have no need for HD final product).
I have a Canon HF S11 AVCHD hard-drive camera, I'm running Snow Leopard, and I have iMovie 11, iMovie HD, Quicktime 10, Quicktime 7, and iDVD 11. I also have Final Cut Express, but can't even manage to get it to import video, so let's not go there.
I thought getting iLife 11 would finally end my continuing reliance on iMovie HD, but it's not looking that way. I like some of the transition and titling effects in iMovie 11, but I still like the clean and intuitive audio editing aspects of iMovie HD for cutaways and soundtrack creation (the ability to adjust levels, cut, and drag to place with a couple of clicks). I've only used Garageband when I want specific effects put onto soundtracks.
Note: File sizes are unimportant to me. Fast is always good, but I'm used to hours of rendering and dubbing. I don't want fast/low quality. I just want the slickest way to import, edit then output the best possible quality DVD.

I would also recommend Cosmos from Shedworx to archive your original AVCHD files in their native AVCHD format. I finally found this software after hours of reading through posts about converters etc. But I wanted cataloging and asset management and I don't want to store all my footage in the Apple AIC format which takes up 10x the space of AVCHD.
The workflow now is:
1) Import from camera using Cosmos, do basic cutting in trimming of the AVCHD files right there (without recompression, so no losses!)
2) Decide which clips I'm going to use
3) Batch convert only those clips using Voltaic (by the same company) to AIC (or in my case ProRes422)
4) Edit in iMovie, FCE or in my case FCP
5) Burn with iDVD or DVD Studio
Can't believe how hard it was to find an AVCHD management software on a Mac that actually works directly with the AVCHD files themselves.

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

Sony HDR-XR500

Does anybody have experience with the Sony HDR-XR500 Hard Drive camcorder?
I'm planning to buy one in the next few days and hoped somebody else may have already used it with FCP6. It apparently uses a AVCHD codec, the workflows I have researched online use Log and Transfer to bring in FCP friendly files. Any tips or experiences would be appreciated.
p.s I would consider another camera but the sony night vision is the decider.

Go to the FCP Help menu and open the file *HD & Broadcast Formats*.
Chapter 6 explains the AVCHD workflow in Final Cut Pro.

What is the best workflow for AVCHD with iMovie/iDVD 09?

I am recording AVCHD video with a Sony HDR-SR11. I don't have a blu-ray burner yet, so I want to create the highest quality DVD's I can from this source video using my MacBook and the software I have (iMovie 09 and iDVD 09).
Currently I am importing the video clips into iMovie 09 at the 1920x1200 setting. After creating a 16:9 movie I choose "Share to Media Browser" and export at the highest setting I see (I think 1280x720, I'm not on the MacBook at the moment).
After a long while this completes and I launch iDVD 09. I drag the movie I exported above into the theme and burn at Professional Quality. After another long wait I have my DVD but I'm quite disappointed with the video quality.
Even taking into account that DVD is not a hi-def disc format it seems like the video quality should be better. Is there a better workflow I should be using with this combination of software? Maybe some way to avoid scaling/compressing the video twice? Or is this as good as it gets with iMovie 09 and iDVD 09? I may have access to iMovie 06, if that would help.
Thanks,
Gerald

3) Share to Media Browser with Best Quality
For folks like me that wonder exactly how did you do this:
(I don't know what Media Browser is yet.)
I did this: (I got some warnings - did you?)
In iMovie:
Selected my 1280x720 "HD" video in the Project panel,
Share->Media Browser...
- if HD is greyed out, you already shared this size to Media Browser, go to next step,
or select "Remove from Media Browser, check HD, click Remove"
- if HD is not greyed, but is not check marked,
select Computer icon, then uncheck Mobile, Med, and Lrg, leaving only HD checked
With HD checked, Click Publish - watch "Creating the HD movie.."
Bring up iDVD, Select Create a new project, browse for location and enter project name
If Themes at bottom right is not selected (Dark), click it
Double click a theme - for example under Revolution, choose Chapters.
At bottom right, select Media, At top right, select Movies
Under iMovie should be your iMovie project - mine says "My First Project" (I didn't name iMovie proj)
Select your iMovie Project,
you should see a thumb of your video with dimension, size listed
(movie duration is down at bottom right.)
Drag the thumbnail onto the iDVD preview window (I don't what that window is officially called)
drop it under the theme title "Revolution Chapters" for this example
You should see a running preview of your video with the project name below it.
Important step: Project->Project Info, Under Encoding: select Best or Professional Quality
Ok re-encoding warning, close Proj Info window.
File->Burn DVD... Popup says "Warnings in Project", select Continue Burning
Insert DVD (Apple designed sharp edges on the SuperDrive on purpose?)
I used Staples 4x DVD-RW first.
Watch process proceed till DVD is ejected...Don't believe "Time remaining: about one minute"
My DVD-R120 player-recorder would not load the disk. It played fine on iMac, a WindowsXP laptop, and a Windows XP desktop. This DVD machine only likes old 1X RW media for some reason. I wish someone made a standalone Blu-Ray recorder/player. I burned a second copy to some gold Sony 1X/2X DVD-RW media, and this disk played fine.
Picture quality is soft compared to HD material, but the moire patterns on some edges is only somewhat reduced over the Share to iDVD version. This Share to Media Browser version is acceptable for folks that won't go to Vimeo or YouTube to see my videos in HD.

What is the best workflow for AVCHD and iMovie/iDVD 09?

I am recording AVCHD video with a Sony HDR-SR11. I don't have a blu-ray burner yet, so I want to create the highest quality DVD's I can from this source video using my MacBook and the software I have (iMovie 09 and iDVD 09).
Currently I am importing the video clips into iMovie 09 at the 1920x1200 setting. After creating a 16:9 movie I choose "Share to Media Browser" and export at the highest setting I see (I think 1280x720, I'm not on the MacBook at the moment).
After a long while this completes and I launch iDVD 09. I drag the movie I exported above into the theme and burn at Professional Quality. After another long wait I have my DVD but I'm quite disappointed with the video quality.
Even taking into account that DVD is not a hi-def disc format it seems like the video quality should be better. Is there a better workflow I should be using with this combination of software? Maybe some way to avoid scaling/compressing the video twice? Or is this as good as it gets with iMovie 09 and iDVD 09? I may have access to iMovie 06, if that would help.
Thanks,
Gerald

I am recording AVCHD video with a Sony HDR-SR11. I don't have a blu-ray burner yet, so I want to create the highest quality DVD's I can from this source video using my MacBook and the software I have (iMovie 09 and iDVD 09).
Currently I am importing the video clips into iMovie 09 at the 1920x1200 setting. After creating a 16:9 movie I choose "Share to Media Browser" and export at the highest setting I see (I think 1280x720, I'm not on the MacBook at the moment).
After a long while this completes and I launch iDVD 09. I drag the movie I exported above into the theme and burn at Professional Quality. After another long wait I have my DVD but I'm quite disappointed with the video quality.
Even taking into account that DVD is not a hi-def disc format it seems like the video quality should be better. Is there a better workflow I should be using with this combination of software? Maybe some way to avoid scaling/compressing the video twice? Or is this as good as it gets with iMovie 09 and iDVD 09? I may have access to iMovie 06, if that would help.
Thanks,
Gerald

A workflow to burn AVCHD camcorder video and 5.1 sound to BluRay disc.

A workflow to burn AVCHD camcorder video and 5.1 sound to BluRay disc.
After weeks searching through many posts by the Forum’s experts with Final Cut Pro and Compressor, I have a crude workflow that seems to work for me, and might be of interest to others. This information I couldn’t find in the Help files of either FCP or Compressor, and would appreciate feedback on other options. Thanks to the Forum contributors who have helped me with suggestions.
I have successfully burned a BluRay DVD of the video and audio outputs of my new Panasonic AVCHD camcorder, that is, 1920x1080 video and 5.1 surround sound, using Final Cut Studio 2 (FCP 7.0.2, Compressor 3.5.4.) on an Intel iMac with OS 10.6.3
Using AUNSOFT-PAVTUBE or CLIPWRAP, I converted the camcorder’s MTS files to ProRes 422 .mov files containing 5.1 six channels of audio.
In FCPro, set the Sequence / Settings / Audio Outputs to 5.1 Monitoring:
     L+R Stereo,     Stereo
     Center             Dual Mono
     LFE                Dual Mono
     Ls +Rs            Stereo
Uncheck the “Downmix…to Stereo” in Warning box that pops up when this step is completed.
Drag the ProRes .mov file into the time line of FCP 7:
The next steps are important for assigning each of the six audio channels to the Dolby 5.1 configuration (L, R, C, Lfe, Ls, Rs). This step was new to me and something I couldn’t find in the FCPro or Compressor Help file manual. If anyone can reference a page number, I would appreciate that info.
In the FCP time line, unlink the video from the audio channels (Linked Selection) in the upper right corner of the FCP time line.
Select each audio channel, then right click in the area of the blank column near the padlock. Assign A1, A2, A3 etc to each of the audio channels as they fit the Dolby configuration ( L+R, C, Lfe, Ls+Rs) This process is kind of clunky and it may take patience to accomplish.
The best Forum ideas that I could find for setting up the six channel audio came from the following posts which I credit for their help:
https://discussions.apple.com/message/9095726#9095726
https://discussions.apple.com/message/12525373#12525373
In FCPro, Mark In and Out points, Select In to Out
Under File / Share option ………Select BluRay job……then Select either “Export” or “Send to Compressor”
(Note: At this point, the Option Export which enables FCPro to burn a BluRay DVD, seems to work well, and the resulting DVD video and six channels of audio seems as good as that produced by the more complicated option of “Send to Compressor”……..which is described below.)
If the Send to Compressor option is selected, Compressor is automatically started by this selection. At this point, do not Quit FCPro, because Compressor needs to transfer file data (or something like that) to Compressor.
In the job pane of Compressor, will exist two targets, H264 for BluRay and Dolby Digital.
I deleted the Dolby Digital and replaced it with Dolby Digital Professional Auto.
Clicking any where in the Sequence 1 job pane (not in H264 nor Dolby target rows) will reveal the A/V attributes:
Under the Job Action tab, select the BluRay unit that will eventually do the burning.
Clicking on the target H264 for BluRay located in the larger Job Pane reveals the settings I chose:
Clicking on the target Dolby Digital Professional (Auto) reveals these settings I chose:
I left settings on the Bitstream tab untouched. However the Preprocessing tab, I set the Compression Preset to “None”.
I found that turning on the BluRay burner with a preloaded BD/RE is best to do at this time, or even better, to energize the burner at the time that the “Send to Compressor” function is activated.
When settings are complete, select “Submit” in the lower corner of the Compressor larger pane and processing will begin, and a status pane indicating time elapsed and time remaining will appear. These estimates are not very accurate.
I have found that my 1 minute test video was initially estimated to require about two hours of processing time, but actually required only 1 hour which is still unusually long. Based on my experience, be prepared for an “overnight” processing to occur for longer movie durations.
This is the part of the overall process I need to understand better: How to estimate the duration to encode and burn 1 minute of video / audio? This 1 hour duration for 1 minute of video/audio was the same whether I SHARE-Exported to FCPro to burn DVD, or SHARE-Send to Compressor option.
Wondering if the encoding of the six 5.1 audio channels caused the lengthy processing(?). Perhaps settings that I made in Compressor affected time to process and burn.
Finally, I hope this poorly written process will help someone who has been looking for the same information as I had been. I would appreciate feedback from those who have already done this; what OS are you using, what hardware are you using? What software package have you tried. And lastly, Thanks to all who contribute to these Community Forums, who take the time to detail their processes. You all have helped me to get this far.
BoBo

Go to https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4719249
BoBo

Workflow for avchd clips and meta data

Just started using a Panasonic AG-AF100 on a 5 month project. Will be producing 1000's of clips. So I have off-loaded the first 3 cards we shot and have discovered something about avccam material. If you just copy the .MTS files from their /stream folder or rename the file with a name instead of its original number produced in the camera you lose the timecode and other meta data.
If I leave the clips in that folder and other card folders in their associated directories and "import" clip with Premiere Media Browser it retains the timecode. Trouble is that I cannot see thumbnails in Media Browser and the clip number means little. Bridge on my Win7/64bit machine shows thumbnails (but no preview) and a double-click will preview in Win Media Player.
On my main edit station (Vista/64bit) Bridge neither shows thumbnails or previews and I get no avchd .mts playback in Windows Media Player. Everything worrks the same within Premiere, nice solid editing and playback of avchd clips. (I will probably upgrade this machine to Win7 next week)
So my request for advice/questions are:
Suggestions for managing and organizing large qualities of clips with what will be similar names, etc
Previewing updates or options to find media
How do you manage AVCHD material and still maintain meta data?
Thanks so much!! As I get older and the technology seems faster, stronger, sharper, the demands on my brain get tougher.
Rick

Rick,
If you just copy the .MTS files from their /stream folder or rename the file with a name instead of its original number produced in the camera you lose the timecode and other meta data.
If I leave the clips in that folder and other card folders in their associated directories and "import" clip with Premiere Media Browser it retains the timecode.
You mustmustmust keep the files in their folder structure, if you intend to maintain timecode. You've clearly discovered this Good you did so early. The folder structure thing is really not a big deal; there is very little need to manipulate these at the OS level, and the Media Browser in PPro makes it reasonably easy to bring these in for editing. You can pre-build a folder structure into which you can offload each card's worth of clips.
Trouble is that I cannot see thumbnails in Media Browser and the clip number means little. Bridge on my Win7/64bit machine shows thumbnails (but no preview) and a double-click will preview in Win Media Player.
On my main edit station (Vista/64bit) Bridge neither shows thumbnails or previews and I get no avchd .mts playback in Windows Media Player. Everything worrks the same within Premiere, nice solid editing and playback of avchd clips. (I will probably upgrade this machine to Win7 next week)
Windows 7 has built-in splitters and decoders for H.264 media, so that's the reason you can at least get thumbnails in Bridge and playback the files in WMP there. The Media Browser, even on Windows 7, won't show thumbnails as they are not saved into the folder structure the way that P2 saves a poster image into the folder structure. Note that even "standard" containers like AVI or MOV do not display a thumbnail in Media Browser.
As far as Bridge is concerned: I know a lot of people like it, but from my perspective, it's just about worthless for video. This is largely an application designed for photography workflows that has been shoehorned into "working" with video. I don't even like it for AVI/MOV.
The ugly truth is that Bridge is not going to be much, if any, help in this workflow. However, there may be another tool in the suite that will accomplish what you need: OnLocation. You won't get thumbnails, but you can browse through the folder structure without knowing you're doing it, import clips to preview them, and add metadata. You could do this for each card you offload. Then, in Premiere, simply use Media Browser to navigate to your OnLocation Project, and it will open up just like a folder, listing all your clips with the metadata you added. Granted, it is not a perfect workflow, but once you added that metadata, it will flow with the files wherever you move them around in the Adobe suite--it won't go elsewhere, as it's not injected into the files themselves. So long as you're editing in Premiere, you're good.
Now, there is another thing you can do that may make clip management even easier, though it does require a bit of forethought in pre-production. It will really depend on the type of project you're shooting, but you can preload metadata on to an SD card and into the camera, and then automatically record this to the clips as they are shot! I don't have an AVCCAM to give you exact workflow steps, but I do this all the time with my P2 workflow and it's a tremendous help once you hit the edit bay.
If you haven't already, head over to the Panasonic support site: Support Desk Top / Broadcast and Professional AV. You'll need to register for a "PASS" membership (it's free, and you don't need to register a camera), but you can then download the AVCCAM Viewer application. Unfortunately, this application is not quite as helpful as P2 Viewer is (it's rather cartoony, actually), but it does have the metadata editor in it that will let you create your metadata files in advance and save them to an SD card. Then, after consulting the camera manual , you can set those metadata files to be a data source for the footage as you record it. Here's what you can add to the metadata files and, summarily, the clips:
Once you load this into the camera's memory, that data is saved into the clips, and is readable by Premiere. The "User Clip Name" field can be set to auto-increment (again, this is going off my knowledge of the way metadata works in a P2 camera, but the AVCCAM should be similar) so that each clip has a base name and then a serial number. When you're done with a particular scene/shot, you'd load the next metadata files, reset the indexing, and continue. Lather, rinse, repeat.
The biggest hole in the metadata workflow, at least as it pertains to AVCHD/AVCCAM, is that there is no tool (that I'm aware of) that lets you edit this metadata after the fact. With P2, you can--there are a number of applications, both free and payware, that let you do this--but I've yet to find one that works with AVCCAM. Even Panasonic's own AVCCAM Viewer is incapable of this, it seems.
The major advantage to adding file metadata like this is that it travels wherever the clips go, and into whatever application they land in. Not being able to edit it after the fact, though, just plain sucks. This is where the clip metadata you'd add in the Adobe applications comes into play, with the obvious disadvantage that it's only useful in Adobeland. As always, ain't no such thing as a free lunch.
So that's my take on this--it's good you're looking into this before you have a couple terabytes worth of footage on hand Let me know if I can help fill in any details that I might have overlooked. And be sure to check on the Panasonic site linked above for firmware updates to the AF100--I see one came out just a few days ago. It's always good to stay current.
Good luck!

Workflow using FCPX and AVCHD.

Hi All,
I'm about to start on a new series of projects, and just wanted some clarification from people cleverer than I about the proposed workflow from the client (who knows as little about this as I do!).
The footage is to be recorded 1080i (Sony hxr-nx70e). The footage recorded in AVCHD onto SDHC cards. Those cards will then be sent to me. I would import the footage into FCP X directly from the cards through my Imac's SDXC inbuilt card reader (and in 'capturing' the footage I would save it - and the project to an external raid drive) then I edit away.
Now A) Does that workflow make sense?
and B) Will FCPX be able to see the footage and use it imediately without converting it?
Be really greatful for any help here. I think that's all correct but I just wanted to clarify before I tell them this suggestion would work.
Thanks.
Tim

The first thing you should domis use FCP to make an archive of the card onto a backup drive. Import from the archive. No need to wait for conversion, you can start editing immediately after you've selected the clips and closed the import window.

Workflow - AVCHD to DVD but without optimised footage?

I am an enthusiast and I have a few Panasonic prosumer camcorders with which I shoot basic AVCHD and ultimately I burn DVDs - which people tell me look just fine.
When importing I have “Leave files in place” checked and I create Proxy files ONLY as obviously these work best for multicam editing. I used to create optimised files too (someone told me I should) but they don’t seem to do anything for me - am I wrong?
After editing, I click on Share to create a 'Master File' from which I go on to author the DVD iso. I leave the 'Media' on 'Proxy’ (is there any reason to ever change that?) and all by itself I get a file with the following characteristics:
Dimensions: 1920 x 1080
Codecs: Apple ProRes 422, Linear PCM, Timecode
Color profile: HD (1-1-1)
I’m very happy with that but my question is: should I be creating optimised files too? If so, WHERE in my workflow would they come into play?
Many thanks in advance!

Sounds right to me.
AVCHD should work fine in up to date date Macs.
Using Proxy (without switching) in the Timeline will give you a sub-standard DVD as that will be the size of the export.
Roughly 30% of original.
Al

Best workflow for AVCHD 1080i50 footage in iMovie 10.0.7?

I shoot video using both my iPhone 5 and my Canon Legria HF R16. The first shoots progressive video, but with the second I shoot AVCHD (mts files) interlaced 1080i50 (that is 50 fields/second, giving 25 interlaced frames / sec). I recently purchased iMovie 10.0.7 from Mac App Store and I like it a lot. I don't have any problems with iPhone's (progressive) footage, but Canon's (interlaced) footage appear very noisy. Do we know how this version of iMovie handles interlace video? Any proposed workflow for interlaced video for good quality of export?

To increase the possibility of getting an answer, I would like to set a simpler general question: when using interlaced video with iMovie, do you:
a) import it as it is (interlaced)?
or
b) deinterlace it and then import the resulting progressive video?

Multi-camera AVCHD editing workflow in Premiere CS4

I have a client project that has me wondering what workflow to use and I someone on this forum probably has the expertise to know the right solution. My requirements...
1. Client is recording a scene using 4 cameras at once, like a live TV show is shot, all AVCHD footage, 1920x1080px 17mbs, square pixels.
2. I must playback in Premiere the 4 video streams in real time and choose one camera to output, like a director would switch a live TV show. So, all 4 streams are playing in Premiere's multiple-camera editing windows. Each show I'm editing is about 1 hour long. The advantage of multi-camera editing of course is I can play all 4 cameras at once and live switch between them in Premiere to arrive at a 1 hour show in 1 hour of editing time.
3. Until I can upgrade my hardware that can possibly handle 4 streams of AVCHD, I'm stuck needing a workflow to convert the original AVCHD to some lowres format, edit those offline low res copies to get my edit decision list, and then reconnect the online HDV AVCHD clips to export through Media Encoder for a final production. My output format is Flash F4V 640x360 px square pixels for Internet playback.
4. Hardware: I'm running Windows 7 RC using CS4 Premiere 4.1, 4gb RAM, 2.4ghz dual-core processor with 64mb Intel turbo boost on a notebook PC. I do have 4 hard drives to hold each camera's footage on its own drive, and a fifth drive to ouput the edited version to, in addition to a drive to hold my OS and Premiere. The external drives are connected via eSATA to the notebook.
Question 1: what do you suggest as the lowres format I should convert my AVCHD footage to for multi-camera playback/editing in Premiere?
Question 2: do you think it's even possible to buy a desktop PC that can handle playback of 4 multicam AVCHD native format files in Premiere in real time? I'm concerned this may be too much for even the most powerful systems, and I would need to resort to editing lowres footage even with the most powerful desktop. As you know, decompressing one or two AVCHD streams is taxing to a PC so 4 at once is a challenge.
Question 3: an alternative workflow would be to feed live video out of the HDMI connectors on the cameras into four HDMI capture cards (Intensity Blackmagic) and capture uncompressed HDV bypassing AVCHD compression altogether, but the disk space required would be substantial. Does this make sense? I've even considered feeding those 4 HDMI feeds into a video switcher between the cameras and PCs but the cheapest solution I can find that can provide genlock (frame sync) between the 4 cameras for clean glitch-free switching is quite expensive, thousands of dollars invested.

I must playback in Premiere the 4 video streams in real time
Good luck with that. Many folks have trouble with even one stream.
edit those offline low res copies to get my edit decision list
I'm not sure offline editing with AVCHD will be possible because of the folder structure. You may not be able to 'replace' the lower res copies with AVCHD.
My output format is Flash F4V 640x360 px square pixels for Internet playback.
Oh, man. Shooting HD of any flavor is just overkill that adds unnecessary work to the process. Have your client shoot in DV.

Mobile workflow for AVCHD

I am using MacBook Pro and capture all my video with Panasonic HDC-SD9EP-S. I use large external Firewire disks to archive (already) and cut (soon hopefully) my video. However, I spend a lot of time away from home, so I am wondering if FinalCut (Pro or Express) will allow me to apply the following workflow:
1. Copy AVCHD media from my SD card to an external hard disk archive
2. Backup the AVCHD archive to another external drive
3. Convert each clip to a small (480x270) preview and store it on an internal hard disk
4. Away from home (no access to the external had disks) - review new clips using the small previews, name them, rate them and assing keyowords and other meta data to them, mark those I want to delete permanently
5. Back at home - delete the clips I marked for deletion permamently from the archive
6. Again away from home - precut a video using the small previews
7. Back at home - convert only the clips used in the video to AIC or ProRes, store the converted media on external hard disk, and finish cutting with all details
8. Export result video to the desired destination formats
Can anyone suggest whether FinalCut Express or FinalCut Pro will let me apply this workflow? If not, what would be the minimum necessary modification of the workflow to make it possible?
Also, do you see any problems with my workflow which I seem to be overlooking?
Thanks!
HOnza

Roger,
What is the workflow like for the newer AVCHD format hard drive and memory stick camcorders? Do you use the USB port to just pull files directly off the camcorders memory, then import these into premiere elements?
>> After connecting the camcorder to your system, you can either
1. Copy the files locally and then import them into Premiere Elements.
Or
2. Directly use Media Downloader and import files. A copy of file will be saved in the default location.
Does the camera make a separate file for each "scene" each time you turn on/off the record button that is?
>Scene Detect is available however this feature does not exist for AVCHD camcorders. For DV camcorders, one can certainly use this feature.

AVCHD to SD Workflow?

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