Best way to export from AVCHD to highest quality possible

Hello,
I just got the Canon HF200, a AVCHD Camcorder and new to Premiere Pro CS4.
Does anyone have the time and is willing to explain what would be the best way to export AVCHD source material after editing ?
I'm interested in the best quality you can get out of AVCHD.
It would be nice to have a list of the settings in Premiere to be customized (i.e. setting up new project, exporting format settings and so on) to have the best quality of the footage exported.
Thanks in advance
best regards
checop

Geezus the guy just wants a simple answer.
MASTER FILE / FOR YOUR BLU RAY PLAYER / ARCHIVAL
1) use the Bluray H.264 preset to get a Bluray master. Best quality, takes a while to encode though.
Unless it's a five hour movie I'm pretty sure it'll fit on a BD disc.
GENERAL RULE OF THUMB FOR ARCHIVAL AND MASTER FILES: try to match the final product with your source file.
If your source is H.264/AVCHD export in that format too (In this case, Bluray H264 preset)
If it's 1080i then export as such
If it's 24Mbps then use that bitrate to export as too. Etc. etc. etc.
Now that's for archiving - getting the best looking Master file. Uploading  your movie to the web is different...
IF YOU'RE GOING TO SHOW YOUR MOVIE ON THE WEB
1) use that Bluray master (or encode directly from your CS 4 timeline if you have the time) to WMV.
Choose the NTSC setting and then customize it.
640 x 360 or 575 x 324 sizes are good; Make sure to use the SQUARE pixels option since the sizes here are figured for that. Keyframes every 2 seconds, or every 5 seconds if there's not a lot of movement and background business going on. In the 1000 - 1600 kbps range is good (larger dimensions = higher bitrate).
Audio 96/44 is fine.
Choose 2 Pass Variable Bitrate for best quality/size ratio.
If you're using CS4 it'll automatically deinterlace when you encode to WMV. In other programs you need to check "Deinterlace".
2) Flash (FLV) is popular too. Same sizes, you can get away with lower bitrates than WMV. Requires special players either on the web or on the users' desktop so only do this if you feature the movie on your site and you know how to make a SWF file with your FLV embedded.
Lost me here? Then just forget Flash for now.
Other Primer Notes (VERY GENERALIZED SPEAKING):
Forget MPEG 1. Bad quality/size ratio compared to WMV.
Use MPEG 2 for archival purposes, but use high bitrates (like 1920 x 1080 @ 24 Mbps or similar. )
Quicktime is good for archiving too but takes a long time to encode on PCs. Not worth it for web delivery anymore... although there will be Mac fanatics disagreeing with me right now.
Hope this helps
For more info hit me up http://www.kroycom.com

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