AVCHD to HDV batch conversion software freeware?

[jasonlava]

Hi all.

I'm sure this has probably been asked before so forgive me if it has.

My wife gave me a Sony HD camcorder which creates AVCHD files (and don't tell me to tell her to exchange it for an HDV one :P ).

Anyway, after doing a bunch of research I need to convert them to HDV (Mpeg 2-HD?) files for editing in an NLE.

I've been using the trial version of Elecard AVCHD converter and after figuring out how to make an HDV mpeg 2 program file that an editor can use, I'm very impressed with it. It's fast, the quality looks good to me.

Is there a freeware way to convert AVCHD to HDV with comparable results?

Conversely, what are other options besides Elecard for conversion?

Thanks for any help you all can give me.

Sorry if I sound like a noob but I am with this.

[minidv2dvd]

i haven't seen a free encoder with HDV as a preset. what editor do you have or plan on using? and what is the final output format going to be?

i wouldn't recommend going from compressed avchd mpeg-4 to compressed HDV mpeg-2 and then re-compressing again to the final output format. use an uncompressed intermediate codec like cineform neo if you need to speed up editing. it would help if you filled in your computer specs so we could see how fast an editing machine you have.

[jasonlava]

For software, I have Adobe Premiere Elements 7, and Cyberlink Power Director 7. I'm also trying out Pinnacle Studio 12.

The final output will be DVD, and Youtube or Vimeo HD videos. In the future, Blu ray

The PC is a Dell XPS 720
Core 2 Quad Q6600
Geforce 8800GT (can use CUDA apps)
3gb RAM (Hyundai generic ram that came with the system)
750gb Seagate HD.

Upgrading the PC or buying a new camera is impossible right now, so I need to use what I have.

So what do you suggest?

[minidv2dvd]

computer's fine, just about what i use for editing machines. i just o/c them a wee bit and have 4 hard drives in each. if you can at some point add more h.d.'s as it speeds up encodes by using separate source and destination drives. 3 is ideal as then there is also a boot/program/temp drive.

i'd start with trying to use the straight avchd in elements 7. as it's the latest one it should handle it for basic cuts/edits/transitions. power director 7 i find ok for a straight drop source video in and encode to an output format, but editing/authoring are clumsy and very buggy. i've never used studio 12.

try a couple short test clips from the cam and see which you prefer. don't expect fast scrubbing on the timeline, but saving as much of the HD quality by avoiding the extra encodes should be worth it.

if it bogs down to molasses then start looking to go intermediate codec for editing, and since dvd and streaming are the desired outputs, you could use huffyuv lossless codec and encode to 864x480 to keep the widescreen. the files will be 10 times bigger. huffyuv 1080 files are 50 times bigger than the originals so that may be out...

another option would be to set the cam to record in SD mode and avoid all this.

[jasonlava]

Thanks for the help and suggestions. My cam doesn't have an SD mode but it does have a lower resolution 1440x1080i(9,000kbps) which doesn't bring the computer down to its knees when I try to work with it.

[minidv2dvd]

1440x1080i non-square pixel widescreen is what is used for HDV also.

[edDV]

Don't forget to try the Cineform Neo-Scene demo, $129 to buy.

[jasonlava]

By the way, my cam does have SD mode. It's buried in the menus. It's AVC 9mbps. Edits and plays fine.

Thanks again!