Editing native AVCHD?

Jerry K wrote on 7/11/2009, 7:40 AM
I have read dozens of forums to see if anyone is editing native AVCHD with Sony Vegas 8c or 9 and have not found a positive review.

I'm not interested in render time, I'm interested in editing and having a smooth preview with 2 or 3 layers plus some filter and transitions.

I've been editing SD .avi file with Sony Vegas for years with no problem on my Intel E6600 with 2gb of ram

If I make an investment in a new computer with the newer Intel i7-920 2.66GHz processor will I be disappointed when editing native AVCHD or will I still need to proxy edit or transcode the files???


Comments

blink3times wrote on 7/11/2009, 7:57 AM
Point of fact.... there isn't much out there that can play avchd at full frame rate with effects. PP uses some hardware acceleration and it will even struggle. In Vegas you can edit native avchd, but you NEED to use dynamic ram (SHIFT-B) for palyback of effects/transitions..... something that most people don't quite understand

You highlight the area you wish to see at full frame rate then press SHIFT B. This will load that area into memory for full playback

I wouldn't go with anything less than a 64 bit platform and 8 gig ram.
ritsmer wrote on 7/11/2009, 1:09 PM
Pls note that "AVCHD" is not "AVCHD" :-)

Check i.e. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AVCHD

On my machine (double Quad Xeons + 8 GB + x64 Win7 + x64 Vegas 9.0) 3 simultaneus layers of Main profile 720p (i.e. SONY DSC-T500) previews at 29 Fps while ONE single layer of 720p High profile (i.e. the newest SONY DSC-T900) previews at 9-27 Fps and below.

I have absolutely no idea why the cameramakers do everything they can to make new cameras that make editing more and more impossible - specially when a XX GB memory stick costs next to nothing nowadays - but I think it is probably the same frenzy that brings them to make 14 or more Mega Pixel POCKET cameras instead of making pocket cameras that can be used in a normal situation - I mean without artificial light etc.

So when we can not edit what our cameras record then blame it on the camera maker - not the editing software.


But: Vegas has the clever "Render with no recompression" feature - so - if you can edit your delivery format (here I use 720p m2t and Vegas can preview 4-5 simultaneus layers of that at 29 Fps) then convert the raw material to the end format during a night - possibly with the necessary colour correction and/or deshake and/or denoise - and then edit th this converted media.
You get no further decompress/compress distortion because Vegas just copies the media untouched to the output file.