Converting AVCHD and m2t to SD

goodtimej wrote on 8/1/2010, 8:41 AM

Hey all. I have a ton of footage in AVCHD and m2t and I would like to convert it all down to SD because my final delivery format for this project is in SD and its a large project so I want to have the easiest to work with formats as possible. What is the easiest yet still highest quality way to just convert all these files?

Do you see a downside to this? I am really just looking for a speed bump here.

Thanks!

Comments

JohnnyRoy wrote on 8/1/2010, 10:41 AM

VASST GearShift will allow you to batch convert all of your files to DV Widescreen. There is really no downside other than the fact that DV uses a 4:1:1 chroma sampling and AVC/MPEG2 use 4:2:0. This means your final MPEG2 file will only be 4:1:0 which is less color information than the 4:2:0 you would have gotten from going from AVCHD to MPEG DVD. However... GearShift can help with this too. It will happily let you edit in DV Widescreen and then swap the HD files back in for the final rendering giving you the best of both worlds.

There is a 15-day free trial that is fully functional and in the interest of "full disclosure" I work at VASST and I wrote GearShift. ;-)

~jr

amendegw wrote on 8/1/2010, 10:55 AM

farss' tip to create an HD project, then nest the project in a SD project has worked well for me.

For details see: http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/forums/ShowMessage.asp?Forum=4&MessageID=714975

...Jerry

Edit: I just re-read the original post, and I don't think my answer applies to the question. It is related, however, so I won't delete my post.

Byron K wrote on 8/1/2010, 11:49 AM

There's also Proxy Stream script.

goodtimej wrote on 8/3/2010, 8:14 AM

When I convert with GearShift, I end up with some pretty interlaced looking footage especially during motion. Any suggestion to help combat this?

I am working on an SD 4:3 timeline

Marco. wrote on 8/3/2010, 9:58 AM

In your project properties check the selected deinterlace method and be sure to NOT have "None" selected.

Marco

John_Cline wrote on 8/3/2010, 10:22 AM

Set the Deinterlace method under Project Properties to "interpolate." This is the preferred method when motion is involved.

goodtimej wrote on 8/3/2010, 10:46 AM

But the footage isnt progressive, it is interlaced. When I change the setting to any deinterlace setting, I still get junk out.
The footage is is 1440x1080x12 - 29.9 FPS upper field first. Am i missing something here?

Can someone please throw me a huge bone here and just tell me exactly what my project properties should be set to when converting this avchd footage into SD Widescreen with gearshift so it comes out looking right? You would sure make my day FOR REAL. I just feel lost and stupid.

Also, don't know if this matters, but I will be editing on a standard NTSC DV timeline and delivering on both a 4:3 DVD and .mp4.

John_Cline wrote on 8/3/2010, 11:21 AM

How are you viewing the footage? When viewed on a computer monitor, which are all progressive devices, interlaced footage will show the interlacing lines. They will not be visible when you render to DVD and play it back on a television.

If your MP4 is going to be viewed on a computer monitor, then you will render it as progressive and then the "Deinterlace method" will come into play.

goodtimej wrote on 8/3/2010, 11:43 AM

I am watching it on a computer monitor, so that does make sense. Im going to render out a small chunk and see how it looks on the tube. If you could humor me, why even de-interlace at this point if it is outputting interlaced footage?

Also is there any way to make the Vegas preview window "act" like a TV and not show these lines?

John_Cline wrote on 8/3/2010, 12:57 PM

The "deinterlace method" serves two functions. 1) It deinterlaces interlaced material to progressive when rendering. 2) It tells Vegas how to deal with interlaced material when resizing, cropping or moving. It splits the frames into individual fields, processes them and then reinterlaces the fields back into frames.

If you leave the deinterlace method set to "None", it doesn't split the fields and when it resizes, crops or moves interlaced footage, it can get REALLY ugly. This setting has no effect on progressive material. I just set mine to "Interpolate" and left it that way permanently.

If you set the preview window to "Preview (Auto)" it won't show the lines.

goodtimej wrote on 8/3/2010, 3:32 PM

Thanks for the advice! I really appreciate it...