AVI container encoded with H.264/AVC video and PCM sound

[LoLaha]

Hi all

I was getting help from people here about AVCHD 2.0 conversion software from other section of this forum, and I found Vegas Movie Studio HD Platinum may be good, but I'm searching another option to go. I tried MediaCoder 2011 for several options, and feeling like it needs more knowledge to get best possible result for combination that works. Question that I need to get along with the most priority is this: AVI container encoded with H.264/AVC video and PCM sound is better editing capability rather than M2TS as recorded in Camera and Camcorders? In old age knowledge AVI is better editable than AVCHD format, how's it true in this setting? Please share your knowledge here.

Note: I've heard that AVCHD is derived from Quick Time Format so computer spec is good enough than it would be also better editable than MPEG2 format, not sure for certain...

[poisondeathray]

Hi all

I was getting help from people here about AVCHD 2.0 conversion software from other section of this forum, and I found Vegas Movie Studio HD Platinum may be good, but I'm searching another option to go. I tried MediaCoder 2011 for several options, and feeling like it needs more knowledge to get best possible result for combination that works. Question that I need to get along with the most priority is this: AVI container encoded with H.264/AVC video and PCM sound is better editing capability rather than M2TS as recorded in Camera and Camcorders? In old age knowledge AVI is better editable than AVCHD format, how's it true in this setting? Please share your knowledge here.

Note: I've heard that AVCHD is derived from Quick Time Format so computer spec is good enough than it would be also better editable than MPEG2 format, not sure for certain...

No, AVI is a poor choice for long gop h.264 (such as that used in AVCHD camcorders) and can lead to decoding corruption, green frames (or black frames in vegas). But I-frame only h.264 should be ok in AVI container. "AVI" is only a container, it's what's inside that counts. Shorter GOP means easier to edit, but worse compression. I-frame only is the shortest possible GOP size = 1.

No AVCHD has nothing to do with quicktime. "Quicktime" denotes Apple spec , basically anything in a MOV container. It can indicate about several dozen different things or types of compression

[LoLaha]

Thanks for sharing about GOP and AVCHD and Quicktime relation. I was wondering about GOP what it is, it relates with editability? I've searched some information on GOP and got some ideas plus what poisondeathray told in the reply. In the information I read, says cineform HD codec can have better editable capability, since it converts video having only intra GOP. cineform HD good for edit?

[LoLaha]

And one more: intra GOP means I-frame only?

[poisondeathray]

Thanks for sharing about GOP and AVCHD and Quicktime relation. I was wondering about GOP what it is, it relates with editability? I've searched some information on GOP and got some ideas plus what poisondeathray told in the reply. In the information I read, says cineform HD codec can have better editable capability, since it converts video having only intra GOP. cineform HD good for edit?

GOP is group of pictures used in temporal compression, I, P , and B frames. The differences between frames are coded and stored, instead of every frame being self reliant (such as intra). In editors, all other things being equal, the longer the GOP, the more sluggish the performance.

Yes, cineform is fantastic for editing performance, and is I-frame only. But you need lots of HDD space, it's "less compressed" and will be several times larger than original

And one more: intra GOP means I-frame only?

Yes "intra" means I-frame only

[LoLaha]

Today I've tried conversion by settings done with help from poisondeathray and others, still have some question on MPEG-2 conversion. (other than AVI conversion)

When framerate is downgraded from 59.940fps to 29.970fps, the resultant video shows certain changes in moving object in the scene, which I don't know exact term to describe it one word, whatever, its movement looks unnatural or so, which is also reported by other's experience. I guess it's typical problem when downgrading framerate. If the downgrading is mandatory, how can we prevent it??

The source codec: H.264/AVC 1080 60p
The intermediate codec I used is: cineform HD and Canopus HQ 720p 59.940fps
The output codec: MPEG-2 720p 59.940fps Level High1440

I don't have much knowledge on the codecs above, so I just guess and tried, is this settings typically making some unnatural transition to moving object's movement? If so, is there any method that keeps smooth movement as original while downgrading framerate?

[poisondeathray]

Not much you can do to keep smooth movement. 59.94 => 29.97 means you're thowing away 1/2 the frames

You can try add some motion blur after the fact to enhance the perception of smoothness, but it won't be the same

Before shooting, you should plan your shots better with slower pans, controlled movement as if you were shooting 29.97 in the first place