Multiple questions on best file format & quality, conversion from AVCHD

[Scanderoon]

I'm a complete noob to video editing and my brain is about to explode trying to understand all the varables I need to deal with. I thought I'd post here to see if I can get answers to any or all of my questions.

My goal is to post a multi-track video to YouTube - the kind where I am singing all the vocal/instrumental tracks to a song myself. I don't need it to be professional quality, as this is just a first attempt and I don't have any fancy gear. I have a Canon Vixia HF R200 camcorder which records in AVCHD. My first question is: What video quality setting is necessary for a YouTube vid like that? I set it to the highest quality (I have recorded all my tracks already), cause I figured I might as well. So now I have a bunch of 1920x1080 clips.

My first editing problem is that after acquiring Adobe Premiere Elements, I found that it would not recognize the audio tracks on my .MTS files. This may be because I did not purchase the program legally. I have also read that AVCHD is super-resource-intensive for editing, and that other formats are better for more basic computer systems. Is this true? Is Mpeg-2 HD a better format for editing, or would you recommend something else?

I decided to try converting one of my clips to Mpeg-2 using Koyote Soft's Free Video Converter. I tried to match all the output settings (fps, bitrate, audio bitrate, etc) to the properties of the AVCHD file I was using. Is that the right way to go about it? I then ran into problems playing the resulting Mpeg-2 file. Windows Media Player will play it (after a long pause), but there are lots of horizontal lines in the frame whenever anything moves. VLC media player will play the audio fine, but the video freezes after 5 seconds. Can you let me know what I am doing wrong?

Thanks so much for any help.
System:
Windows 7
4 GB RAM
Pentium Dual-Core
200 GB HDD

[Scanderoon]

...Nobody? Crickets?

I know it's a lot of noob-ish questions, but I have no idea where else to go for the information I need.

[budwzr]

Someone should be along shortly. I'm cooking a lasagne right now and can't leave it alone. Best I can do is bump you.

[turk690]

1. The cricket shouldn't bother anyone now because I dipped it in flour and deep-fried it.
2. I have reservations about your Pentium. Having anything to do at all with AVCHD requires a current Core i5/i7 PC, 6GB memory (and 64bit OS to see it) or wading through treacle will be faster.
3. Video editing basic: separate system and program HDD from capture and editing HDD; mandatory, NOT optional.
4. MPEG2HD requires less editing horsepower than any flavor of MPEG4 (AVCHD, etc) but will still tax your setup.
6. Even on a powerful workstation with the latest Corei7 and 12GB of system memory or more, non-linear editors do not normally directly edit AVCHD, but convert it first to *.avi with an intermediate codec like Cineform.
7. YouTube is best served by converting to a CBR *.f4v or *.flv progressive stream.

[Scanderoon]

Thanks for your response!

3: I do indeed have two HDD - the 200GB one I mentioned is my data drive; system and programs are on the other.

6 &7: Given what you've told me about my system and what my final video needs to be, what would you recommend for my next step? (ie. what should I convert my video into to work with it?)

[budwzr]

If your computer can't handle Mpeg-2, then you're hosed. You need a new computer. Trying to convert to this and that will take hours too, so even if it's halfway useable, the time element gets you.

YouTube has some basic video editing capability online, but I doubt it's any faster. Maybe worth a try though.

Another option is to use SD instead of HD. It all looks the same later anyway on YT.

[Scanderoon]

budwzr - My computer is only a year old and I'm certainly not getting a new one any time soon. How do I know if it can handle Mpeg-2? Are the problems I've had playing the one file I converted indicating that I'm not going to be able to use that format, or just the probable result of some wrong settings somewhere?

At this point, I'm not going to be able to do much editing because school is starting in a week and a half, so hours of conversion time are actually fine with me - I won't need the clips immediately.

As for SD versus HD, I believe my camcorder records in AVCHD no matter what settings I've got it on. The manual does not give any other recording format in the specs section.

[budwzr]

You may have purchased the computer a year ago, but a dual core machine with a 200 gig hard drive came out about 5 years ago.

[Scanderoon]

Thanks for your help.

[turk690]

Thanks for your response!

3: I do indeed have two HDD - the 200GB one I mentioned is my data drive; system and programs are on the other.

6 &7: Given what you've told me about my system and what my final video needs to be, what would you recommend for my next step? (ie. what should I convert my video into to work with it?)

Is the other HDD locally connected (SATA) or is external USB? The latter will NOT do.
AVCHD, which is a form of MPEG4, is VERY processor-intensive. Any Pentium system will simply choke up and freeze from time to time playing an AVCHD clip, let alone edit it. Even on my PC (Core i7-920), playing an AVCHD clip with Windows Media Player consumes 80-90% of CPU resources, as per Task Manager>Performance. About 70% of the time it plays OK; the rest the clip tears up or audio-video sync gets lost. You may or may not want to replace your relatively new Pentium PC but that doesn't make AVCHD any easier to manage.
Your Pentium PC can handle MPEG2--just. With the appropriate s/w player like Cyberlink PowerDVD, you can play DVDs, etc. But that is SD. HD MPEG2 clips (like HDV) will make it behave like that with AVCHD. If you are serious about tangling with AVCHD you've got some tough decisions to make...

[ricardouk]

Instead of reconverting you can always upload it in its native format, instead of full blown editing just cut and trim and resave it without reconverting, i dont think you need a powerfull pc for that and then upload it to youtube, you can trim, cut,delete with avidemux and for the kind of videos you want to upload i think thats all you need.

if you're not adding FX to your video give it a shot altough a fast internet connection will be required to upload those "big" m2ts files.

[Scanderoon]

Thanks for the additional info!

turk690: The 2nd HDD is part of my laptop. As for AVCHD, I did not deliberately choose that file format - I didn't know when I bought my camcorder that that is all it records in. So I would rather not "tangle" with AVCHD, but it looks like if I want to use my camcorder I have no choice. Unfortunately, it's looking more and more like my laptop is not going to be able to handle it. I guess if I record in SD and convert to Mpeg-2, there is some chance?

ricardouk: I would love to just upload to YouTube and do my thing; however, that's not possible for the kind of video I'm trying to make. I wish I could just cut and trim and be done! But I'm wanting to make a multi-track that involves me singing all the vocal and instrumental parts to a song. (Also, I don't believe YouTube allows AVCHD uploads.)



It looks like I have purchased a camcorder that records in a format that my computer isn't equipped to handle, and then naively gone and recorded all my tracks at high quality which makes it even more impossible to work with. Is there such a thing as a format and/or quality I could convert to that would be useable for me? At this point, the quality of the video is not actually as much of an issue as getting the damn thing done.

[edDV]

It looks like I have purchased a camcorder that records in a format that my computer isn't equipped to handle, and then naively gone and recorded all my tracks at high quality which makes it even more impossible to work with. Is there such a thing as a format and/or quality I could convert to that would be useable for me? At this point, the quality of the video is not actually as much of an issue as getting the damn thing done.

Cineform Neoscene (digital intermediate) $129 should work but you are under their recommended minimum Core2 Duo. Also you would need a much larger second hard drive.

Alt is convert to high bit rate MPeg2 ~25-35Mb/s 1920x1080 60i. That should work with your CPU.