Workflow for AVCHD > Premiere > DVD/Web

[phowe]

Hi. I want to record AVCHD video using a Panasonic HDC-SD1 and then edit it in Premiere Pro CS4 before exporting it to either DVD (for high quality) or to a web-format (e.g. for YouTube distribution.)

Can someone recommend a decent workflow to retain quality until exporting? Should I edit the AVCHD directly in Premiere (which seems slow/jerky) or should I convert the MTS files to something else first? What software do you recommend for any conversion?

Thanks in advance.
Pete

[tinker]

If the Premier is jerky, it most likely is due to your processor and video card, unless you run more than one program at the time of edit. Even antivirus may slow things down.
The best way to import-edit is to stay with one format until export, preferably not compressed avi.
If you do not like Premiere, than use other software, but do not re encode.

[Soopafresh]

Neo Scene will make your experience much, much easier. It's worth the $130. Test the 3 day trial.

AVCHD (MTS) -----> Neo Scene Conversion -----> AVI (Cineform Codec)---->Premiere



The conversion to the Cineform codec will make your editing significantly smoother. Scrubbing through your timeline will no longer be the start-stall-stop grief you've had with editing MTS files. You just need enough disk space to hold the Cineform AVI files (2-4 times the size of the MTS)

[phowe]

Thanks. Is there a reason why the Cineform AVI codec is preferential to, say, the free Lagarith AVI codec? Are there free (or cheaper) batch converters for AVCHD->Lagarith you are aware of?

[Soopafresh]

Cineform is faster than Lagarith and the output AVI files are smaller. Plus, Neo upsamples the chroma during the conversion, resulting in a file which loses less detail as you save multiple generations of it.

VoltaicHD is cheaper, but the output files aren't lossless. They don't specify the codec used in the output AVI. I'm guessing it's a flavor of WMV, which isn't optimized for editing either.


There are free solutions (including one I put together), but they're kludgy in comparison. Depending on your camera, your output files may have visual artifacts. You really get what you pay for in this particular case.

https://forum.videohelp.com/topic346331.html

[edDV]

Thanks. Is there a reason why the Cineform AVI codec is preferential to, say, the free Lagarith AVI codec? Are there free (or cheaper) batch converters for AVCHD->Lagarith you are aware of?

Lagarith is optimized for bit rate reduction for uncompressed capture to a single drive sustained rate. It is not optimized for editing workflow. Cineform is optimized for decompression of 8bit 4:2:0 interframe compressed source (HDV, AVCHD, XDCAM, etc.) to 10bit 4:2:2 intact frames using wavelet intraframe compression. The low compression rate used is well within sustained rate of a single SATA drive even for >5x timeline scrubs. Since conversion is to lower compressed frames, timeline scrub decode processing time is within CPU capability to give fluid response. 10bit and 4:2:2 color space conversion allows less rounding error or pixel displacement through repeated filtering, translation or compositing operations on the timeline. The cost of this performance is increased working disk space and the $130 product cost.

Digital intermediate formats are typical for pro edit workflow. Alternative is full decompression that requires large multichannel RAID to achieve similar response. That is usually reserved for uncompressed source.