Buyer Beware: AVCHD and CS4

Greetings fellow Premiere CS4 users! This message is a cautionary tale...my cautionary tale...but it does have a hopeful ending. So I encourage you to read on. Also, if anyone out there has found a solution to this with Premiere CS4, I'd be delighted to hear from you.
I share this with a heavy heart, having been a Premiere Pro user and advocate for about a decade. Bottom Line Up Front? The CS4 release is incapable of cutting my AVCHD material (H.264, MP4, 1080, 60i). Interestingly, CS3, with the MainConcept HD plugin, worked pretty well. Memory issues when the projects got large (understandable with a 32 bit app), but all in all, a stable, robust editing environment with good export and DVD authoring capabilities.
The problem with CS4...and I don't know if others have had the same problem...is that 1080i material plays at double speed. Thus, a 10 second clip has 5 seconds of video and 10 seconds of audio. The video plays "overcranked"; the audio plays normally. Obviously, it is unusable.
This is particularly interesting given Adobe's claim that CS4 edits AVCHD formats native. This, in my experience, is not the case.
I did, as you might imagine, open a trouble ticket when I discovered the problem in September 2009. I have heard from an assortment of people in the last 5 months (Banish, Abhishek, Nargis)...and all have assured me that they would work with me to find a solution. Someone called a couple of weeks ago and scheduled a live telephone support session -- but no one showed up at the appointed time. Today I received a message from Adobe tech support asking me for a response or they would close the ticket. An interesting development, considering the last entry in the ticket log was from me in November 2009.
While cycling in this do-loop with Adobe support, I purchased the new MainConcept plugin for CS4. The problem didn't go away...but I did contact MainConcept with the same issue. They re-wrote their application to overcome the Adobe bug. However, CS4 would not edit the material "native" -- red in the timeline -- and required lengthy rendering to edit normally. So: score one for MainConcept, raspberries for Adobe.

Hello
Absolutely no problem to import, play and edit SAN0084.mp4 file here...
No color in timeline, no discrepancy beetween sound and video.
Premiere Pro CS4.2.1
Project preset AVCHD 1080i30 (60i) (non-anamorphic)
QX9650 à 3 GHz - Asus P5Q3 - Windows 7 64 bits
4 GB DDR3 PC12800 - Nvidia GTX275
The same file plays without problem on Windows Media Player 11.
Are you sure about your project and sequence parameters.
Have you checked in metrage requester of file (right clic on your file in bin, just above properties) that "Use frame frequency from file"is checked ?
Interestingly, this file is identified by PPro like XDCAM-EX type.
Sorry about your problem but it's not a PPro CS4.2.1 versus AVCHD problem.
Pierre Néel

Similar Messages

1080i AVCHD and CS4

I have a couple of questions regarding CS5 vs CS4 dealing with AVCHD files. First, I have an HP DV7 running Windows 7 Home Premium, 64 bit, Intel i7 Q 720 /2 1.60GHz laptop with 6GB of ram. I have been editing HDV footage with CS4 and have had no issues to speak of. I am looking at the
Sony HXR-NX5U NXCAM camcorder. I understand that the work flow is a bit different and have the Sony PDF outlining the steps. Below are my questions before I purchase this camera or CS5:
1. Can CS4 handle this video format well?
2. Is my computer robust enough to handle this format?
3. Would things run smoother with CS5?
4. If I upgrade, any issues with my CS4 projects opening in CS5?
5. Are there instructions to cleanly uninstall CS4 so I can install CS5?
Thanks so much,
Lisa

#2 - if you have at least two 7200rpm hard drives (physical drives, not a partition on one drive) you will be able to edit... albeit slowly
If you only have one hard drive, and an eSata external for video files, you will also be able to edit
Trying to edit with only one drive will likely be a problem

Frame rate issue with AVCHD and CS4

I've been using a Canon HG20 recently and the whole experience of AVCHD has been a nightmare. I finally have a computer that can handle playing the native files in the Premiere timeline but it looks like there's a problem with the frame rate. It was shot at 1920 x 1080 and the frame rate was set at 60i.
When starting a new project I used the AVCHD 60i preset and the clips don't need rendering which tells me the settings should be correct. But something is definitely very off. I thought there was a slight chance it was a performance problem so I tried burning footage to a DVD and it looks exactly the same. Here's a clip I uploaded that shows the problem:http://www.vimeo.com/6443990
Does this look familiar to anyone? Any ideas on what the disconnect between the camera's settings and Premiere's settings might be?

It looks like it might be skipping frames or something. The movement looks wrong.
Just realized something. Please forgive my ignorance, it's only my second day using CS4. The clips I place into the timeline have a yellow bar above them. So I'm guessing this means that the frame rate of the clip doesn't match the project settings. I've tried all of the AVCHD presets. I can't place a clip in any of them without the yellow bar. When I right click on a clip and select 'properties' it shows the frame rate is 29.97. So what's with the yellow bar if the project settings match that?
Is there a way to tell if the HG20 shoots in 24p over 60i? And if that's the case how does that affect my project presets?
I have to be making some kind of simple newbie mistake here.

Adobe's Upgrade Policy Unfair - Buyer Beware.

I had an early version of Premiere, Version 6.1, from many years ago. I switch to Liquid Edition then, mainly because the DVD authoring was integrated and better. Recently, I decided to go back to Premiere for the AVCHD editing and the Liquid line is being dropped. I purchased the CS4 upgrade on 3/1. Adobe announced in early April CS5. I didn't feel it was fair to ask me to pay another $300 to upgrade to CS5 since I just paid $300 to upgrade to CS4.
I contacted Adobe and they could care less. I could have bought the CS4 upgrade on April 11th, one day before the CS5 announcement, and I would still have to pay another $300 to upgrade from CS4 to CS5.
Be careful when you upgrade - it may cost you more than you think.

Do you really want to belabor this argument? Months ago, adobe stated on their web site that CS5 would require 64 BIT os. Then more recently, they posted videos on their site showing the Mercury Playback Engine on CS5. Then they also told everyone (and posted it on their site too I think) that they were going announce CS5 on such and such a date. And they have been pretty steady with an 18 month release schedule the past few iterations. And they have always had a cutoff date and their has never been a sliding scale for upgrade pricing based on when you first purchased your qualifying product. Honestly, if you did not know any of these things, you did not do much (any?) research before purchasing the product. We live in the internet age. It would have been easy to ask in this forum or several others before your purchase if anyone knew what Adobe's upgrade policies were because you were considering buying CS4. I am sure you would have got as many posts telling you to hold off for a few weeks on that post than you have her telling you that you are full of it.
If you don't know what sour grapes are, it is an expression that we use in the US when someone thinks that they have been taken advantage of or treated unfairly but most others who are more objective and have nothing personally to gain/loose over the issue think that said person should simply upset at their own inadequacies. http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/sour-grapes.html I forget that this is an international forum. Sorry for the US "expression".
The fact is that your post says "unfair policy" and "buyer beware" right in the tidal. These are pretty strong statements. You did not need to beware because the same thing has been going on for years. Adobe's policy has not changed much in this regard. This is much more harse than I don;t like the fact that they don;t have a sliding scale for upgrades. What you are saying in your subject is that you were duped or tricked. this is much more harsh than saying "I would be ok with paying something towards the upgrade, just not the full $300".

Buyer Beware,What good is buying the protection!!!!!

Took my Sub Woofer in for repair under warranty. This was an act of congress to begin with ( just getting them to realize it was still under warranty). Then I had to drive an hour to the closest BB and all they could do is send it off for repair ( didn't even try to look at it for repair). Then 4 days later I receive a call from the tech saying the cost to repiar would be more than the cost to replaced and he would notify the store they needed to replace it. So, I called the store since they didn't call me and ask about it and they said I would have to come in to process the replacement ( Which is another hour drive). Knowing that this particular store would not be able to replace it because the sub woofer was a magnolia store only item and this was not a Magnolia store ( which the closest Magnolia store is a 2 plus hour drive) I will be making a trip for nothing except the hassel of going through the process of getting a gift card ( which who knows who will decide how much that will be for) and then having to come home and place an oline order and wait another week or two with out a sub for my home theater. Buyer beware.

Hi cRobin,
I’m an avid music listener, and I’m pretty particular about the quality audio when listening. I’m very aware of the importance of a subwoofer, as well as how much a good subwoofer can affect your overall audio quality! The fact that you purchased a Magnolia assortment subwoofer leads me to believe you’re also particular about the quality of music you listen to. With that said, I’m very sorry to hear that your subwoofer is having issues to the point where it sounds like it’s going to be replaced. I am however happy to know that you’re covered due to purchasing Geek Squad Protection (GSP).
As hydrogenwv alludes to, you basically have two options here, which it appears you’re aware of. It may not be a bad idea to contact the Best Buy location near you with a Magnolia department and get an idea of what subwoofer you may be able to receive as a replacement. Otherwise, I would suggest returning to your nearest Best Buy to complete the service order and obtain the gift card.
While I’m delighted that we’re replacing your subwoofer, I do apologize as it sounds like it’ll be a slight hassle due to your location in respect to where the Best Buy stores are. I appreciate you bringing your concerns to our attention on the forums! If you have any other questions, please let us know.
Sincerely,
Brian|Senior Social Media Specialist | Best Buy® Corporate
Private Message

Infinity line checker - buyer beware

Long way from the exchange? Fed up with that slow connection? Thinking of ordering Infinity? I have just gone through over a month's worth of problems trying to get Infinity connected as promised by BT, and want to share my experiences with other rural users.
My exchange - Calder Valley- was one of the first to be upgraded to fibre. In September I had recently contracted to Talk Talk and to be honest wasn't getting good service, so idly checked BT's website and was astounded to find infinity available. I phoned immediately and asked for confirmation that my rural location would be able to get the upgrade. The line was checked and yes, I was told the line registered 39.1Mb download, 15Mb upload. I signed up on the spot. I was given a date for engineer install, but then heard nothing. When the equipment failed to arrive I phoned and was told my order had been cancelled. This was blamed on an internal error, the order had not been properly placed by the BT operative. I re-ordered. The line was rechecked as part of this process, same stats. This time I got all the confirmations you would expect. Great. The order tracker showed a message to say my engineer appointment was no longer required, but when I phoned I was told this was an error, ignore it. I got a text to reconfirm the engineer appointment. Equipment arrived, but having waited in all day the engineer failed to show. No contact, just failed to show. Before the end of the day I phoned, and was told there was a problem moving the line back from Talk Talk. I would have a phone line, but would have to wait for Infinity. I was contacted a couple of days later and told that Infinity could not be provided after all, that I would have to revert to a standard package. I was told the speeds promised earlier were based on a postcode check.
I have problems with the service I've received from BT on many levels.
Given what I know now, I would defy BT to deliver Infinity to anyone with my postcode. Its a rural location.
At no point in the order process was there any qualification or note of caution from BT that they might not be able to deliver the speeds quoted. When I ordered I was told I was told that would be roughly what I would get, subject to the normal variations for traffic etc. This would indeed form BTs side of the contract. Given my location I pressed this point on more than one occasion.
On the basis of the line check I was mis-sold the infinity product not once but twice. I severed my contract with BT's competitors on the back of very dubious information, which was sold as factual.
The individuals I have spoken to at BT have all been decent people, very sorry for my troubles etc. But try to get anyone technical, or anyone senior who can take responsibility and actually sort things out. Impossible.
I typed my details into the line checker again today. Click on 'I've got a BT line' which I now have once again - speed prediction 512k. Click on 'I'm not with BT', speed prediction with Infinity 40Mb. Buyer beware!

Thanks Hamish, I appreciate that this is not one for forum advice as such. When I first looked at infinity and wondered how BT could claim to deliver 39Mb to my location I found the forum a useful source. I posted to add to that information pool.
Although I doubted that it would be technically possible to deliver Infinity to me I went ahead on the basis of 'What's the worst that can happen?' Well now I know. I am constantly amazed that a behemoth corporation like BT can provide such p**s poor disjointed service and get away with it. They are not alone unfortunately.
I understand that Calder Valley was selected to pilot Infinty rollout into rural areas. Not much cop so far. I hope others have a better experience, good luck to them.

MS Office iPAD - Buyer Beware

Buyer beware. I purchased a University 365 subscription, not from Apple (but legally, as I am a student). However, after downloading Office to my iPAD Air, when I attempted to activate Office on my iPAD, I could not use the code because the activation process takes you back to the App Store, and of course, there is no key to be found. And of course, Microsoft Support was useless with an iPAD issue. So, I am the proud owner of a useless University 365 subscription. Apparently, Apple only supports MS Office subscriptions purchased through their site where they get their 30% cut. What a surprise.
LRB1955

The requirements in the AppStore listing say you should be ok. Have you activated the subscription elsewhere first?
Requirements:
A qualifying Office 365 subscription is required to edit and create Word documents. Qualifying plans include:
• Office 365 Personal
• Office 365 Home
• Office 365 Small Business Premium
• Office 365 Midsize Business
• Office 365 Enterprise E3 and E4 (Enterprise and Government)
• Office 365 Education A3 and A4
• Office 365 ProPlus
• Office 365 University
• Office 365 trial subscriptions

AVCHD and premiere problem!

Computer I have to use is triple-core, 2.10 GH.z, 32-bit Vista, RAM 2 Gt, so not the best one. I shot my footage with Canon legria HF200 and Im using Adobe premiere CS4.
Main problem is that I can't see the playback in realtime, it's laggy and Im getting pissed off.
First of all, should I just covert these mts-files to some other format. I believe my computer can't handle those huge AVCHD files. The footage is for school movie so the quality should be good but it doesn't have to be the best.
What sequence preset should I choose when I'm not even sure about the settings of the camera. I know its AVCHD and it was 25fps and 1920x1080 so do I choose AVCHD-> 1080i or 1080p or what? And how about then if I convert these mts to some other format, which setting do I use then?
What format do you recommend? AVI??? Quicktime??? What should I do?
Thanks for the help!

Convert AVCHD to HDV
http://forums.adobe.com/thread/390605?tstart=0
or use Cineform Neo Scene http://www.cineform.com/neoscene/

AVCHD in CS4 working realtime only under MAC OS X

Even Dual Xeon (8 cores) MAC Pro with 8 GB RAM is not a realtime AVCHD playback machine in CS4, under any Microsoft OS.
I tested the same AVCHD footage under MAC OS X Leopard in CS4 and under Windows Vista on the same MAC hardware and the result is smooth realtime playback under MAC OS X and NO realtime playback at all under Windows Vista 64 bit SP1.
I guess that is the reason that in Adobe they use MAC based system for demonstration of AVCHD in CS4 !!!
For example: In the link http://tv.adobe.com/#vi+f1510v1000, Dave works in CS4 under Mac OS X, not under Microsoft OS.
Any other smooth playback experience under Windows Vista with AVCHD footage on MAC PRO dual Xeon?

Did you get this resolved..
I am using Internet Explorer v. 5.2 on Mac OS X v.10.2.8. I have successfully run an applet, using jre 1.3.1 which implements the "showDocument" method and opens a new page.
Could you post your code..

"Limited Warranty" is useless - buyer beware!

After one somewhat helpful email exchange with HP desktop tech support (which did not solve the issue) and two thoroughly frustrating phone calls to HP, I'd like to give a caveat emptor for HP peripheral products, especially flash drives.
I purchased an HP c320w 1GB flash drive in July 2008. A couple of weeks ago, I tried to open an Excel spreadsheet that I had saved to the drive, and got an error that the file was corrupt and unreadable. I then copied all of the files from the flash drive to my laptop hard drive, and tried to open every file I copied, to find about a dozen that had been corrupted, scattered across multiple folders, combination of MS Office, Adobe PDF, text files, etc. were damaged.
So I entered a support request on the HP website. HP Desktop Support responded & told me to try formatting the flash drive (they sent me instructions that looked much like a Google search hit, not an official HP document). I tried the instructions and got a Format Failed error. When I emailed the error message to HP support, they told me they could not help me any further, that I needed to call HP peripheral support.
I kept the original receipt and packaging for the flash drive. The packaging states:
"Two year limited hardware warranty from date of purchase. For additional warranty/product information and optimal performance, check the HP website and apply the latest software and/or firmware upgrades: visit www.hp.com/support"
Believing that, like OCZ, Corsair, and others, HP would simply RMA the drive under warranty and send me a replacement, I called 800-474-6836, and spoke with Kumar, who politely took my contact information, and made me aware of HP's privacy policy. I explained my problem with the drive, and he asked for the model # and serial # of the flash drive. I have the model # (it's on the packaging) but there is no serial # on either the drive or the packaging; there's only a bar code # which is apparently not the serial #. Kumar told me that he had to have a serial # to fill out the support ticket. I explained to him once more that there was no serial #, and offered to scan an image of the original package and email it to him to verify. He made no reply to my offer.
After 5 minutes on hold, Kumar told me that free email support is my only option. I told him I had already tried free email support, and they were the ones who told me to call. I reminded him of the 2-year warranty statement printed on the packaging. He put me on hold to speak to his supervisor. 10 minutes later, Kumar told me that his supervisor says the same thing, that free email support is my only option. I asked to speak to his supervisor.
That started a 52-minute on-hold process, punctuated a couple of times by Kumar apologizing for the long wait, and asking if I wished to continue to hold. At about the 50-minute mark, Kumar asked again, and in less than 2 minutes on hold HP hung up on me.
After a 10-minute break from the action, I called the 800-474-6838 number again. This time I spoke with ?Anna? (I'll call her Anna). I told her I didn't have a support ticket # but gave her my phone #. She confirmed my email address, and I explained the problem to her, told her the last support call hung up on me. Told her the model #, explained it had no serial #. After a few minutes on hold, Anna asked me for the purchase date of the drive, and whether I had purchased an Extended Warranty. I said no, the packaging says 2 year limited warranty from date of purchase, so I'm well within the 2 years, since it's February 2010. She asked again for the serial #, I explained again that it had no serial #, and gave her the barcode #.
After 13 minutes on hold, Anna asked me if I was interested in purchasing a new flash drive? I told her that if I don't get a warranty replacement for this failed drive, then I would have to buy a replacement. She said let me check prices and I'll get back to you and put me on hold.
3 minutes later, Anna asked me what size drive I would be interested in purchasing, 8GB, 16GB, etc.? I said wait a minute, I don't understand, I have a flash drive with a 2 year warranty, I expect that I would receive an RMA replacement, and you're telling me the only option I have is to purchase a replacement? She said yes, the flash drive is not supported, only free chat support is available. I said "What possible interest would I have in purchasing another flash drive from HP if HP will not honor the warranty on the drive I've already purchased?" She said it's only a 1 year warranty, and only has chat support. I asked to speak with her supervisor.
After another 11 minutes on hold, I gave up.
So. I have wasted nearly 2 hours on the phone with HP. I have an unusable flash drive. And a chapped, red a**.
By contrast, I recently had an OCZ flash drive do something similar. After a single email exchange with OCZ's support, who sent me a useful utility to field-test their drive, which indicated an over-the-threshold number of bad memory cells on the drive, immediately gave me an RMA # and an address to send the failed drive, for an exchange.
I would love to hear feedback, especially from anyone who was actually able to get HP to honor their printed warranty.
Dave Singleton
[email removed for privacy]

I can totally agree. I purchased a Pavilion Notebook last August. Was told by salesman that BestBuy would repair it onsite if something should happen... NOT!!! I had issues and took it to them, where they said they could send it out to HP for me. I tried the authorized service centers that HP gave me but 1 # was disconnected, and another told me they don't work on HP anymore as they didn't get reimbursed. The other was BestBuy where I bought it. They said they would send it to HP for me. I then took it to CompUSA where they found it to be a bad hard drive. They fixed it and it cost me a total of $216.18 which HP told me I was out of luck in trying to get reimbursed. Lesson Learned. Never again will I buy an HP Product. I do not feel they have a consumer friendly warranty, as I for one can't go without my computer for 2 weeks as they tell you it will take.
So, BUYER BEWARE!!!!! Don't let a salesman BS you about the warranty....

Accelerating AVCHD in CS4

I have Premiere CS4 and do not want to upgrade at this point in time. With CS4, is there any way to accelerate playback of AVCHD footage? On my current system, the footage plays ok for a few secs and then starts to judder. Scrubbing the timeline is impossible. Am I correct in thinking that certain NVIDIA CUDA cards accelerate playback of AVCHD in CS4 like they do in CS5? If so, which card is recommended for CS4?
Thanks

Am I correct in thinking that certain NVIDIA CUDA cards accelerate playback of AVCHD in CS4 like they do in CS5? If so, which card is recommended for CS4?
No. The MPE was added with CS5. This ARTICLE on MPE might be helpful. This also might be a good reason to upgrade, but the CPU is still very important with AVCHD and H.264 footage.
The only way to accelerate the heavily-compressed AVCHD footage is by upgrading the CPU. That is where most of the work is done.
A stout I/O will help some, but the big load is still on the CPU.
Good luck,
Hunt

BUYER BEWARE- Ask questions on hard drives BEFORE you purchase!!

In another post I detailed the issues with the new Dell Studio 15 laptop with the i5 processor and 500GB hard drive. Dell has configured the 500GB hard drive with 58GB on the C drive and 397GB on the D drive. I verified this today in the Tampa Citrus Park Best Buy. I was being told that even with the limited amount of memory space on drive C (58GB) that it was a simple matter to save documents, pictures, newly loaded software, etc. to the D drive that contains the bulk of the memory (397GB). I had 4 different Best Buy computer sales people work on this today at the Best Buy. The Best Buy Computer Sales staff found that since the my documents is already on drive C you cannot save them to drive D. When you bring up your system on drive C nothing you have on drive D will show up. I realize most people do not do the research on how a hard drive is configured BEFORE the purchase a computer but you better start. The Best Buy Sales staff told me they had received complaints from customers that purchased computers configured in this fashion AFTER they had the computer for a while and realized they had no space on Drive C. I am still waiting for someone to properly explain why these hard drives are being configured in this fashion. If you are a really good computer person you can repartition the hard drive but that is not a simply procedure and cannot be done with the software that comes standard on the laptops. BUYER BEWARE!!

Hi ezzrider,
I am sorry to hear your computer buying experience at Best Buy is a bad one. Unfortunately the configuration of the computer was a possible mistake at Dell and not a intentional misleading in the Best Buy store you completed your purchase at.
Did you know that the Dell Computer Corporation has their own community forums to participate in?
Their community is located here: http://en.community.dell.com/forums/
Please be aware that a seperate account login is required but its free without having to purchase anything.
I advise you to check on support.dell.com for any service bulletins regarding your problem ,and the dell community forums regarding your issues with the hard drive configuration.
If you require further assistance beyond this problem , please post on the appropriate customer issues forums toward the bottom of the page.
Thank you for your understanding.
hockeycanuckjc
Super User on the Best Buy Community Forums
If you find my post helpful , please click on the start next to my name and award Kudos when its due
*******DISCLAIMER********
I am not an employee of BBY in any shape or form. All information presented in my replies or postings is my own opinion. It is up to you , the end user to determine the ultimate validity of any information presented on these forums.

Vista 64 bit and CS4 and color management

This is a question about Vista 64 bit and CS4 and color management. I scan 4x5 film and sometimes end up with up to or even bigger than 1 GB files. Obviously that needs as much memory as possible. Windows XP is limited in this regard and I am in the market for a new speedy computer which won't force me to stay at a snail's pace. In this month's Shutterbug, David Brooks in his Q&A column says to avoid Vista for color management reasons, but offers no explanation or support for his opinion. He implies one should wait for Windows 7 for some unstated reason. With a calibrated monitor and printer and Photoshop controlling color files sent to the printer, why would Vista be any different or worse than XP? Is he on to something or just pontificating? Does anyone know any reliable info about Windows 7 that would make it worth waiting for?
Thanks.

Zeno Bokor wrote:
Photoshop has direct access to max 3.2gb
On Mac OS X, PS CS4 can use up to 8 GB of RAM, but only directly accesses up to 3.5 GB. (Figures quoted from kb404440.) In using PS CS4 on Mac OS, though, direct Memory Usage maxes out at 3 GB even. If you set usage to 100% (3 GB), then plug-ins (including Camera Raw and filters), as well as actions and scripts, can access RAM above that 3 GB to between about 512 MB and about 768 MB total (seems to vary depending on which filters et al that you are using), leaving the rest up to 4 GB for the Mac OS. If you have more than 4 GB, then the amount of RAM above 4 GB is used by PS as a scratch disk. This increases performance significantly for most things because writing to and reading from the hard drive is much slower than doing so with RAM.
I haven't done the testing for actual RAM usage and such for PS CS4 on Vista 64, and Adobe's documentation is very much lacking in detail, but, based on the statement "If you use files large enough to need more than 4 GB of RAM, and you have enough RAM, all the processing you perform on your large images can be done in RAM, instead of swapping out to the hard disk." from kb404439, it seems that PS would be using RAM in very much the same way as I described above for Mac OS, except that the scratch disk usage in RAM wouldn't be limited to 8 GB (instead to how much you have installed). Has anyone done any performance/load testing to know for sure? I didn't see any such studies published, but I am curious if one has been done.
I will agree that there is a definite performance advantage when using PS CS4 (64-bit) on Vista 64, which I've experienced, especially when working very large compositions.
My initial recommendation to the OP to use Mac was based upon reading those articles about bad color management. As I stated before, I have never experienced that problem, and clearly the views of all that have posted here so far indicate that the problem may not be a real issue. (Perhaps this David Brooks fellow and Steve Upton both like to mess with their computers and broke something in Windows?)

Enabling Installation of CS3 and CS4 products that will not install on Windows 7 64Bit.

Adobe installers are not known for their helpful or forgiving ways & I have more than once had to reinstall Windows when installation of CS3 and CS4 products has failed with patently inscrutable errors.
The background to the current issue that I was attempting to install PS CS4 on a W7 system which already had CS CS3 installed. The CS4 installer threw up inscrutable messages indicating that the installation could not proceed and to contact Adobe (they are joking right ? Their phone & web support is notoriously UN-helpful).
After reading through threads suggesting that I uninstall CS3, apply CS3 and CS4 cleaning scripts I was in exactly same position I have found myself in on least 2 occasions with WinXP. By this time I couldn't event get CS CS3 to reinstall!
Then I decided to review the event log and found a number of installer events thrown up by the Adobe installers resembling "Error 1402. Could not open key: UNKNOWN\Components\xxxxxxxx".
I tracked down this very helpful solution which allowed me to change the registry permissions on the parent key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Installer\UserData\S-1-5-18\ Components and propagate the new permissions down to the child keys.
http://www.okino.com/conv/changing_windows_registry_permissions.htm.
My advice is to follow instructions for "A More All-Encompassing Solution" and propagate the permissions right down to all the child keys as I could see a number of separate adobe installer errors in the event log. Also note the instruction to change the Owner from 'System' to 'Administrators' in Advanced settings. This is necessary in order for the Permissions change to be accepted and replace all the child object permissions.
As with most registry changes good advice to backup your registry hive first (although I didn't; by this time I was already expecting to have to reinstall Windows) and restart your system after making the registry changes before attempting to install / reinstall CS3 or CS4 products.
Hope this solution works as well for others as it did for me as the Adobe support on this issue has been next to useless.
[P.S. Q: Did you hear the joke about the guy who worked on product installation at Adobe rocking up at job interview with 'Adobe Installation Project Team' on his Resume? A: That that is the joke! If you wanted another job in installation development you would hardly admit to experience at Adobe ;)]

John Joslin wrote:
We don’t want people messing with the registry when they don’t need.
My apologies John I didn't realize that I was addressing the official custodian of Photoshop.
Incidentally my advice is intended for others in a similar situation who find themselves stalled during installation and otherwise contemplating a re-installation of Windows. I believe this would be obvious to most forum participants who had actually read my original post.

End of Upgrade Cycle for CS3 and CS4... Really Adobe?

As if business wasn't bad enough now I see there will be no upgrade paths past december for CS3 and 4 users. Is this how Adobe plans to keep users away from stopping their upgrades and reducing the number of machines they run Adobe products on? I understand Adobe is not a non-profit and has has to turn a revenue, but the geniuses at Marketing here have made a huge mistake by basically telling their customers that what they have so far will be worth zilch in comes 2013. That arbitrary deadline, is not consider some people who on the east coast are now cash strapped as anyone having to choose between home repairs and other such marvelous stuff and upgrading to CS6 guess what they'll choose. And for the lucky ones not heavily affected by the storms, they will donate to help their community before they will spend money to upgrade perfectly good software.
It wasn't enough that the upgrade path wasn't much of a discount, but in the current economy every penny counts! The choice of stopping support for CS3 and CS4 in my personal opinion an ill-advised move. I personally went from 3 to 4 within a short amount of time... then when 5 came out my budget didn't allow so I needed to wait. The new CS6 isn't direly needed so I decided I'd have to loose some additional "upgrade power" because money need to be directed elsewhere now... but the news that I'd loose all the upgrade power and would have kept on upgrading for nothing it's just ridiculous... and if that's the treatment a customer will have to expect from now on I think I'll use what I have and move to alternatives stopping to personally support Adobe products an rely on licensed copies at work instead. Perhaps Adobe hasn't notices we aren't exactly doing that great in US between the current economical situation, the various setbacks experienced across the country and for the fact that in this particular business most work is often being outsourced out of US these days... I am sure you will have a huge market on the countries where the outsourced work is being sent... as far as I am concerned comes 12/31/2013 I will no longer be an Adobe customer as Adobe is forcing me out of the upgrade cycle and I won't plan to re-enter anytime soon in the coming future... lesson learnt.
Thank you for your time (if any of the marketing gurus will have cared to read this far without laughing and discounting with a "screw those old customers, they should've upgraded earlier" which was basically the content of the email I got this week... pasted below)
Cheers,
tfbkny
Content of email received from Adobe saying last chance to upgrade now or what you got will be worthless in less than a couple months.
Dear Creative Suite customer:
We want to make sure you're aware of an important change to Adobe's upgrade policy that may affect you.
Beginning January 1, 2013, only Creative Suite customers with licenses for CS5 or CS5.5 versions will qualify for upgrade pricing to CS6.
Due to this change, we will only continue offering CS3 and CS4 customers like you special upgrade pricing through December 31, 2012.*
* Owners of CS3 and CS4 individual products and suite editions will be eligible to receive upgrade pricing to CS6 until December 31, 2012. After that date, only customers on CS5 or CS5.5 will qualify for upgrade pricing to CS6.

Adobe doesn't care, they don't have to. I like Phsotoshop and have been using it professionally for 20 years, but lets face it, I wouldnt mind some really good competition from another source. It didnt use to be the only game in town, and doesnt have to remain so.
I could brainstorm how I would want competing software to look like. Pshop is not the easiest workflow possible. Illustrator is clearly deficient to even CorelDraw, and certainly Freehand. I've been meaning to reconnect with CorelDraw. It did some cool things.
Google Chrome is pulling a lot of manoevers software wise and I hope they try to go a little deeper and give Adobe a run for their money on the one program they feel justifies unbelievable gouging. Go investigate Ableton Live if you want to see what a company that cares about its customers is doing, ADOBE. Audition is a JOKE compared to Ableton Live. Thank God we're not powned on the audio side by these suits.
The idea that a company would peddle buggy software, which CS4 was..., although some of that was Apple's fault, is bad, the upgrade prices were ridiculous, and this is the end of the road for me currently. The idea that a company would actively
push away customers is pretty incredible. "But I sent you an email!" Whoops, you gotta pay $1900 for production premium CS6! HAHAHAHAHA. Time for a YT video with my old hard copy box. Sounds like a good idea.
There are too many options on the motion graphics side, and I'll keep a static machine to run Pshop and AE CS4.
The masters of the universe will have theit way, and the rest must bow to their ambivalent greed. At least that's the way they think. It would seem that Adobe and Apple really, really want some upstarts to come up. Maybe $360 for a year to figure out an exit might work. It will be interesting to see if this hits earnings. VERY interesting.

Buyer Beware: AVCHD and CS4

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