Need Just General Advice, Give Your Opinion

[mikeopurum]

Hello there!

Yes im new here and need just some really helpful advice. So please tell me what you think.

My goal is to shoot music videos. I have friends who do music, so of course Im going to shoot them first. Im just starting out so I bought a Canon HF20, on black friday. I have a HP Pavilion dv5 1002nr and I downloaded Adobe Premium Pro Cs4.

The problem is the format AVCHD will not playback correctly on my computer. I messed with settings and i got it to play maybe 20-30 seconds but still choppy. All the camcorder’s coming out are AVCHD but then it claims you need a super computer to edit it!!?

So what do i do? Do I take the camera back and get a less quality(HF20’s AVCHD is beautiful). Do i upgrade computer? Im just starting out, I dont have 2500 to go spend on a quad core! Or do i try another software? I tried vegas pro 9, still choppy playback.. Please give you advice it would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

[composite1]

Mike,

You had this same post listed twice so I got rid of the other one.

All right. If you don’t have at least a dual-core type CPU and a minimum of 4GB of RAM, you’re going to have problems editing AVCHD footage. It’s a highly compressed HD codec intended primarily for use with Blu-Ray technology. As is you may need to get a conversion codec compatible with CS4 and convert it to MPEG2 which will make it much easier to edit with Premiere. For that option, you’ll have to look through the other posts concerning AVCHD to get tips on what converters may work best for you and not cost an arm and a leg.

[mikeopurum]

Alright, ive done a little looking in this section. I see alot of talk about AVC Upshift, is this a good converter? I was wondering does it take a long to convert these files,(my files are 25 3-5 mins videos). Futhermore, when i Convert them to M2t, will the files be larger?

[Anonymous]

Composite1, i have to disagree with you. I used to edit AVCHD footage on a PC with 2GB RAM and a crappy processor with Vegas Pro 8, and i had no problems at all… The only downside was that the rendering kinda took forever. But besides that, i had no problems whatsoever. Now that I got some extra cash, I upgraded myPCto 4GB RAM and a better processor, and i have to admit, it is way better. But if Mikeopurum dont mind a few extra hours of rendering, i think he will be ok. I think his problem might be thesoftware(I despise Premiere Pro xD )…

[mikeopurum]

i used vegas pro 9 also, the playback still had a lot of lagg…

what software u suggest?

[Daryl]

You can get cine form to convert your files

[Daryl]

sorry with Vegas 9

[birdcat]

Hi Mike –

I use Vegas Pro 8 and for editing MTS files, did have some (not major) lag problems on a Core 2 Duo w/ 2GB RAM.

AVCHD UpShift will make your files larger but will eliminate the lag (even on my 2.53GHz Pentium 4 w/1GB RAM) and make rendering much faster. It also has a batch capability so you can just set up a whole list and convert overnight.

I like the product and it works well for me – your mileage may vary.

[mikeopurum]

i downloaded AVC upshift the trial version, which converted 10 sec for each video. It worked ok, but made the files alot larger. However, the more files i added the lag came back, even though they were only 10 sec long. Thanks to everyone that helped me, Ive realized i need to invest in a SD camera.

[composite1]

“I used to edit AVCHD footage on a PC with 2GB RAM and a crappy
processor with Vegas Pro 8, and i had no problems at all… The only
downside was that the rendering kinda took forever.”

Shippo,

You echoed one of the main complaints editors I’ve spoken to have all mentioned. The editor’s who had the least complaints all used Vegas 8 or later, but still B’d & complained about rendering slower than glaciers walk. Also, after trawling through numerous forums, the consensus has been ‘working with AVCHD on a single core system is not good. Doing it with premiere on the same system, bad.’

Even the editors I discussed it with who use multicore rigs and premiere for AVCHD work just convert it to whatever format they’re working with and avoid editing natively altogether.

I personally am not fond of AVCHD, but unfortunately it only seems to be growing as HD cameras get cheaper. The only long render times I’m willing to put up with these days come with final renders.

[composite1]

Mike,

I spec’d out your laptop and if you have the standard model, you have a dual-core chip and 3GB of memory. You should be able to work with MPEG2 based HD without a lot of problems. You’ll still have slow render times if your system is 32-bit (you won’t be able to take advantage of both your sys RAM and your GPU RAM at the same time.) Even if you’re running 64-bit, your render times will still be kind of slow. However, everything suggests you’re under the system requirements to work with AVCHD natively.

I checked on a number of consumer ‘bricks’ and everything that shoots HD uses the H.264 codec. So you’re options are work with SD video, convert your AVCHD video to MPEG2 etc. or get a system that can handle the footage. If anyone knows other options, I’d like to hear them myself.

[MORUGY]

HI

I have a HP PAV and at the time of purchase its spec seemed ok ,until I looked into the

hard drive spindle speed.

I have looked up your HP spec and it looks like they are stil puting in 5400 rpm hardrives.

You cant do any serious editing with a hard drive this slow, the dual core is not terrible if you put in max ram.

With my Hp pav I bought a new faster hardrive (easy to fit a child could do it) maxed the ram and fitted a ESATA Expresss card for external raid system.

Its still not a Macbook pro but it has a lot more capabilities.

Tanya

[XTR-91]

The quality of editing software, in terms of how effeciently it utilizes processing power, plays a huge factor that affects your editing experience. I have always been working with standard definition MPEG-2 files. With Cyberlink PowerDirector, the lag was horrible when editing. The playback normally progressed just fine, but I had tons of crash episodes when working with PiP. The wait time between basic editing functions (such as cuts) was above average, also.

Editing SD MPEG-2 files with Sony Vegas Pro 9 is very smooth on my 1.66 GHz Dual core – 1 GB RAM system, though the playback will every now and then become a bit choppy.

Mikeopurum, you’d probably at least want to be editing ona Dual Core (preferably 2GB RAM or more) for editing AVCHD video.

[pseudosafari]

Don’t get rid of the camera. Keep HD–a few years from now you’ll be glad you did.

Make sure your computer specs meet the requirements for the software, even if it’s just the minimum.

Make sure you computer is doing NOTHING when you edit. Then render and burn your video on a DVD and play that in a DVD player independent of your computer. You might be surprised to see that it plays fine.

I had one laptop that struggled to edit HD files in Pinnacle 12 because it did not meet the specs. It took forever to render, too. But when done, it played beautifully (not in HD or blu ray but as a regular DVD, it looked great). Eventually I built a better computer, but I still have all that old video I shot in HD and I’m glad I do.

Good luck.

[Anonymous]

Totally agree with pseudo. Don’t get rid of the camera. Vegas Pro 9 should work fine, but you may need to lower the preview quality. At the top of the video preview window, you can choose the quality of the preview. This should fix the choppy playback problem.

[Anonymous]

Hi, Can I have your word for my latest model digiCamcorder from .. Sony DCR-DVD650.

The Sony Handycam DCR-DVD650 offers an all-in-one, on-the-go way to
capture standard-def video and burn it to a DVD, but hard-disk-drive
and flash-memory models are otherwise a better option.

Camcorder, Advanced HAD CCD, 60 x, Flash card, DVD-R (8cm), DVD+RW (8cm), DVD-RW (8 cm), DVD+R DL (8cm), 13.8 oz

Is it recommended for trekking kind of video shooting..

Please have you word… Its precious.

Thanks,

James.

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[Author]

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