Editing AVCHD in Premiere without intermediate codec.

racer-x · Posted: Aug 05, 2007 05:35

Here's a tip for all of you that bought an AVCHD Camcorder and want to edit the footage in Premiere without first rendering it to an intermediate codec.

Tools nedded:
Avisynth - Intsall
PremiereAVSplugin - Copy the "IM-Avisynth.prm" in to the Premiere plugins folder. For Premiere Pro 2, thats: C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Premiere Pro 2.0\Plug-ins\en_US

*You'll also need an AVCHD directshow codec installed. If you don't have one, you can use the latest QTalternative
* You'll also need to install Haali Media Splitter.

1) Create a script like this:
DirectShowSource("myclip.MTS") #use the name of the clip

2) Import the AVS script into Premiere just like any other asset. It will show as Sqare pixels by default. Just Right-click on the AVS script and choose "Interpert Footage" Change to "anamorphic 1440 x 1080".

3) Edit at will.............

I tried it with some downloaded clips from a Panasonic AVCHD Camera. It works fine on my AMD 3800x2. Slight stuttering, but nothing major.............
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nouveaunails · Member Joined: 18 Aug 2007 Location: United States

Hello, Maybe Im misunderstanding your entry. I installed the Avisynth but I cant find the file "IM-Avisynth.prm"

I own a panasonic HD Cam and Id like to edit my content in Premiere CS3.

Baldrick · Administrator Joined: 09 Aug 2000 Location: Sweden

I guess you have found it by now but you download the PremiereAVSplugin from http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=105017&package_id=116722

gecko672 · Member Joined: 14 Jan 2008 Location: United States

Using premiere cs3

Almost have it working I think but have a few problems with this article maybe someone can help.
I followed the above info installed Avisynth installed PremiereAVSplugin and the IM-Avisynth.prm installed Haali media splitter. Only part that didnt make sence and I couldnt find more info on was the AVCHD direct show codec install.
Where can I find this?

It didnt quite work.
I made a script to my shot with AVSedit and imported it. I got an error message:

Avisynth configuration error
old avisynth version please do a fresh install at a recent version of avysynth

I close the error message and the clip comes in black I right click and interpret footage and the only option is HD anomorphic 1080 (1:33)
The clip is still blank although it shows up in premiere. Uneditable.

1st question: When I set the project I have a HD folder but no presets for it. Do I need to set a custom setting for the project. the only presets that I have are the standard NTSC PAL standard stuff. Are there presets out there for the AVCHD projects

2nd Question: What is the error message? did I miss a step or forget a plugin

3rd question: If all goes well one day and this works and I edit some stuff what are the options now for exporting, burning to disc, etc etc.

4th question: my clips are m2ts clips does this change anything?

As you can tell Im a newbie at this but willing to learn.
Thanks in advance for the help.

tonygil · Member Joined: 29 Sep 2006 Location: Brazil

tested above method with CS3 and it worked like a charm. About version problem (question number 1 above), reinstall avisynth with newer version (i used aug08) and it disapears.

very good solution for those who dont want to work with vegas and dont want to go thru all the conversion problems (space and time).

tks!

thepartyguy · Member Joined: 08 Oct 2008 Location: Canada

What is the point of the Haali Media Splitter? every time a play a video it opens and there is no way of controlling it.

jagabo · Member Joined: 09 Dec 2005 Location: none

DirectShow needs an MTS file reader/splitter to open MTS files. That's what Haali Media Splitter is for.

You should be able to use ffdshow to decode the AVC video data. Or CoreAVC if you want to spend a few dollars.

Soopafresh · Dismember Joined: 01 Jan 2004 Location: United States

There's also the option of DGavcdecNV , which (if you have an Nvidia card) will use the GPU on the video card for decoding the AVCHD file. This could work pretty well for the original subject of feeding Avisynth files to Premiere. See this post for specifics:

http://forum.videohelp.com/topic357041.html

CS4 of Premiere is supposed to support AVCHD natively.

thepartyguy · Member Joined: 08 Oct 2008 Location: Canada

maybe its not working because i don't have the AVCHD directshow codec installed. can any one post a link to it?

cheers

jagabo · Member Joined: 09 Dec 2005 Location: none

I already gave links to two DirectShow AVC decoders: CoreAVC Pro, ffdshow. You can also use a player with a built in AVC decoder: MPCHC, VLC, KMPlayer, etc.

thepartyguy · Member Joined: 08 Oct 2008 Location: Canada

k, i finally got it working. thanks a lot for your help guys but i have one other question. the quality if the imported video is very shitty and interlaced looking. is there any way i can import the video the same quality as it was filmed? or do i just have to export is in a cretin format to get the best quality?

thanks a million

jagabo · Member Joined: 09 Dec 2005 Location: none

I think what you have is exactly what was filmed -- interlaced video. You should shoot in progressive mode (if your camcorder has it) if you don't want interlaced video.