New Member Question (AVCHD Editor for HG camera)

[dimkapdx]

Finally...looks like I found a great resource where it isn't a bunch of marketing speak. :hv20-smilie77:

So I recently bought an HF20 and grilled the guy at Best Buy regarding the transfer functionality between the camera and the laptop. I am so used to using my digital camera where you plug in and drag and drop the .JPEG's wherever you want. The Best Buy rep re-assured me it was all click and drag...BUT this has NOT been my experience.

All I want are to create .wmv or .mpeg files I can easily share with family/co-workers. As far as I can tell, I have to transfer the videos using ImageMixer. After it transfers, I can't seem to open the files (.mt5?) with anything but the same ImageMixer software. It is only after using the ImageMixer movie editor I can create the desired file format on my hard drive. I much rather prefer to use Windows Movie Maker (I know, I know...not that great) over the software bundled with the camcorder.

Is there an easier way over the process I described above??? Am I the only one who thinks this is a LOT of work to get a video into the desired format?

[Rumpelgeist]

Get an editor that understands AVCHD. Or get an editor that understands 3-rd party codecs and get CoreAVC Pro for $15.

[dimkapdx]

Get an editor that understands AVCHD. Or get an editor that understands 3-rd party codecs and get CoreAVC Pro for $15.

Thanks for the reply! Do you have any recommendations for editors? Or is CoreAVC Pro what you are recommending?

[thechiz]

If you have a Vista system you should be able to use Windows Movie Maker Version 6 with AVCHD .m2ts files.

In the import>vidoes section change the drop down list from "Picture and Videos" to "All files".

Now your .m2ts files should show up when you browse a folder.

Works great for me and creates .wmv for free.

[dimkapdx]

Can anyone confirm that AVCHD is the same exact thing as .mts files? If I understand it correctly, .mts is just a type of AVCHD file. I am thinking of buying the Pinnacle Studio Plus, but want to make sure it will be compatible with the output of the video camera.

Also, what are some of the other comperable editors in similar price range?

[Bif]

.MTS is an AVCHD file format and Pinnacle Studio 12 plus or ultimate will edit it natively.

I have HF100's, they produce .MTS files and I simply copy them from the SDHC card (using an SDHC card reader) to a folder on my hard drive where I "navigate" the Studio 12 video album to.

From there it is "drag 'n drop" to the timeline. Trim clips, add transitions and titles, a menu if you are going to render to disk, and you are ready to output to a variety of formats.

Pay attention to Pinnacle's system requirements. 1920x1080 video will require the fastest quad core you can get. They say 2.66Ghz minimum clock speed.

Believe them. My older quad core clocks 2.4Ghz and I had many problems, lucky I was able to edit at all! Current machine is Intel Core i7 based and is MUCH better.

Graphics card should have minimum 512MB and the computer should have 4GB of fast RAM.

[Rumpelgeist]

Can anyone confirm that AVCHD is the same exact thing as .mts files? If I understand it correctly, .mts is just a type of AVCHD file.
"MTS" is a file extension. File names have nothing to do with actual file content, though by convention AVCHD files have either MTS or M2TS extension.

[Yone]

I am using Vegas Movie Studio 9 Platinum. Picks up AVCHD files just fine. Problem is preview window. VERY jumpy. I have a quad core 2.20GHZ processor. Ive already been told I should get at least a 2.8GHZ processor. The thing is though if I edit with Image mixer 3 which came with my HF S100 the preiew footage is perfect. Does anyone know if this is just a Vegas thing. Also if I used Cineform Neoscene to convert the AVCHD files to avi format what would that do to my footage becides give me native 24p. Is AVI a better file format?

[pro-hobbyist]

Does anyone know if this is just a Vegas thing.

It's a "your graphics card sucks" thing. Try setting the preview window to either preview-auto or draft-auto. That lowers quality but only in the preview, you can render and watch in full quality with windows media player and it should be fine.

[Yone]

It's a "your graphics card sucks" thing. Try setting the preview window to either preview-auto or draft-auto. That lowers quality but only in the preview, you can render and watch in full quality with windows media player and it should be fine.

Yeah i thought It was my graphics card too, but now I don't know. My Brother has the exact same computer I do and he upgraded his graphics card when he bought it to a 1 gig card an he gets the same problem, I'll try the rendering and preview in media player though