An .M2T is a media container file and does not contain uncompressed video data, it normally uses the MPEG2 codec which is much easier to decompress than h.264 on which AVCHD is based.

Frank Knox,
Your best bets are:
1) Set your Project Properties exactly to the media -- right click on the "Folder" icon and select one of your media files;
2) Set your Preview to "Preview->Auto" and uncheck "Scale Preview to Window" ;
3) If still choppy, you can go to "Preview->Half" and / or uncheck "Simulate Device Aspect."

Bear in mind that the memory requirements of AVCHD are very hard to deal with and still maintain a smooth preview; that is why so many people take either an intermediate or proxy file approach to editing (they are different, see the docs).

I have done all of that, still chopy at each file break. file format is m2ts. I don't think I have another file format option ont he SR11 unless I shoot at a lower resolution which would not work for me either.

I am willing to upgrade if that would fix the problem. Watching the resource manager it pegs the processor at 100% at each file break. I am all ready running a quad 2.2 AMD 2+, anyone have any luck with a 3 gig or a rippin video card?

Trouble is I am doing sports highlights so each file is only a few seconds long, then another file and another tranistion. Everytime you hit a new file it gets chopy, since each file is only a few seconds, it's constatnt chop.

Three things you can try:
1) Pre-render the transitions. Otherwise, the preview frame rate will always drop at transitions or effects, since they must be rendered.

2) Probably better, render an intermediate file and work on that. Cineform is the preferred format, but has had a few issues on Vegas 9. Search the forums.

3) Render a proxy file. A proxy file is a surrogate that you use to edit your project, and then replace with the original footage. Directions are in Vegas Help, and again in the forums.

4) Adding more memory or a new video card will not improve preview performance to any noticeable degree. It's all CPU.

That appeared to be the issue, the CPU. I appreciate your help. Does anyone know if upping the processor will do the trick? I really can't afford a few hundred dollar upgrade that doesn't do what I need.
For what I am doing I can't see any of the other options working. I start with 250 shots from a weekend tournament that have to be cut into highlights for individual players before I even get to Vegas. It is all ready painstaking.

My soon 2 year old QX9650 clocked at 3,8GHz screams thru native AVCDH on the timeline. No need to prerender or batch convert to something else.

I can preview best/full at full 25fps (PAL). I can even watch realtime crossfades of AVCHD native files on the timeline. It's all CPU (and somewhat RAM speed). However, VP9.0b has a (recognized) bug that prevents smooth preview of the timeline at the start of each new clip. Therefore I do all my AVCHD editing in VP8.0c, while waiting for 9.0c...

Christian

Interesting. Thanks Christian, I did not know that about the bug. Imagine my frustration when all my clips are only a few seconds long. Thanks!

Yeah, I was banging my head with this thing for a while. It's good to contact SCS support with issues that can be easily repeated. THey normally answer quite fast...
It would bealso a good idea to collect somewhere all the known issues for general sharing. To prevent many people from unnecessary head-banging...

Christian

They even have that the situation listed in support but it does not mention the bug. Lead you to beleive it's a hardware driven problem.

Achieving smooth playback in the Video Preview window

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