AVCHD converting questions

[subock]

I'm planning to buy an HD camcorder (possibly Canon HF200) to shoot footage in 4:3 (XP or SP) mode. I'm using Adobe Premiere Elements 3 for the editing. I know the program doesn't support AVCHD files, and my computer isn't powerful enough to edit them, so I guess the only option I have is to convert the .mts files to .avi or .wmv.

If I shoot the HD footage in 1440x1080 resolution, how much does the quality of the movie decrease when converted to .avi or a similar file format? Is it better than a 720x576 .avi movie (the resolution I have with movies shot with my Sony DCR-TRV 19 camcorder)? What would the resolution of the converted movie be?

I just want to know whether the quality of the converted AVCHD movie is better than an SD movie shot with a DV camcorder. Because if it's not, there's no reason why I should buy a HD camcorder for $600...

BTW, is it possible to edit a movie in .avi, and when it's edited, swap the .avi file with the original .mts file to make the quality better before exporting?

Thanks in advance.

[adamoli]

"Quality," of course, is a matter of personal perception. If you can't see an appreciable difference between HD and SD broadcast programming, then you might not care about the decreased quality of your downsampled video. (I would.) However, there are other options.

I use Adobe Premiere Pro CS4, so I am not an expert on Elements, but you might consider checking to see if a thrid-party plug-in for AVCHD is available for your version of Elements. You might also consider upgrading to the lastest version, which has native AVCHD support.

On a computer with low horsepower, look into proxy editing. (Not sure what, if any versions of Elements supports it.) This is where you edit using low-res versions of your video files. Then Premiere substitutes the original HD files back in for the final render.

Good Luck,
Tony

[turk690]

Where there was a choice of either 4:3 or 16:9 recording and playback with DV, all current AVCHD camcorders will shoot and playback only 16:9, even with settings that have a 1440x1080 resolution (a flag will set display to 16:9, like it was with widescreen DV).
For playing back and editing AVCHD files, two things ARE essential (together, NOT one or the other): a powerful PC (multi-core processor like Intel Core i5 or i7), and an intermediate codec like Cineform Neo Scene.
Neo Scene takes your *.mts AVCHD files and converts them to true-blue *.avi files, using the efficient Cineform codec. The resolution (1920x1080 or 1440x1080) of the file will BE the same before and after; so ideally, your resulting *.avi files after conversion ahould look just as good as, if not better, than the AVCHD files they came from. To even contemplate whether or not the HD *.avi files after conversion may or may not look better than or the same as SD means you probnably haven't seen real HD footage lately. There IS NO comparison here. SD is SD and it's best left where found. HD is an altogether different--and more gorgeous--animal.
Interestingly, if you get Neo Scene to convert your AVCHD files to AVI, they now might even work properly on Elements 3.

[aedipuss]

you would be better off with a good miniDV cam. canon gl2 or similar if you want 4:3 footage.