HF100 AVC 24p Workflow - AVIsynth + Vdub

[trevmar]

Hi,
The scripts I use with my HV20 to get from HDV to 24p don't work with the AVCHD from my new HF100. Here is one which works well to get the raw data from the SDHC memory card into VirtualDub. I always process my handheld footage with Gunnar Thalin's DeShaker in Vdub, in part because of the lovely smooth zooms it creates, as well as the stabilization. When editing in Vegas I usually output from Virtualdub into an HDV compatible MPEG2 file. It takes up extra disk space compared to H264, but Vegas likes it much better.
This script is intended to take a single file named 00001.MTS from the HF100 memory card, process it and feed it to Vdub as a 24p stream.

First you need to demux the AVC file, easiest to move the audio to WAV from the AC3 in the MTS from the camera. A small DOS batch file will do this:

xport -h "00001.mts" 1 1 1
rename bits0001.mpa 00001.ac3
rename bits0001.mpv 00001.avc
DGAVCIndex -i "00001.mts" -o "00001.dga" -e
azid "00001.ac3" "00001.wav"

Now the Avisynth script, which you open with VirtualDub:

loadplugin("dgavcdecode.dll")
video=AVCSource("00001.dga")
audio=wavsource("00001.wav")
audiodub(video,audio)
AssumeTFF()
Telecide()
Decimate(cycle=5)
DelayAudio(-0.222)

You can, of course, customize the file name to suit the one you are processing. Enjoy!


Note: DGAVCdec is a Donald Graft package from http://neuron2.net/dgavcdec/AVCQuickStart.html

ps: The compression used for the 1440x1080 24p of the Canon HF100 is about twice as efficient as the HDV in my HV20 - one 16 gig SDHC card is about the same storage as an 80 minute HDV tape, and holds about twice as much video at the XP+ data rate. Although the HF100 will do slower data rates, I find that the blocking artifacts become quite noticeable, especially when viewed frame by frame in Virtualdub

Thanks to Soupafresh at Videohelp.com for ideas and inspiration...
http://forum.videohelp.com/topic346331.html

Thanks to Eugenia for noting the audio delay omission.

[racer-x]

You can also import that Avisynth script into Vegas timeline via VFAPI reader. If your PC is fast enough, you can edit it that way. No need for intermediate codec.