HDV has always seemed like interim format; eventually we'd see a full-HD consumer/prosumer format. AVCHD could be such a format but for its data rate.
I went to NAB wondering if anyone would announce a higher bitrate AVCHD camera. Panasonic did, showing a non-functioning 24Mbps unit based on the HVX-200 and priced at around $4500. If this meets expected performance milestones, this will likely become an industry standard camera. And if trends hold true, Sony will likely announce a competitor next year, with Canon following sometime after that.
The issue is how to efficiently edit this footage. I've experimented with AVCHD on my quad core workstation, and though it worked, it was quite slow compared to HDV (even with HDV I can't even get better than Preview 1/2 when using CC or Draft when using Magic Bullet).
In the short term, I understand that we can expect help in the form of a tool from VASST. I suppose that capturing via an Intensity card would work, too. I also wouldn't be surprised if Cineform were looking at this as well. In the long term, however, I'm not sure that file conversion will be the best answer. I suspect that for many projects a native AVCHD workflow will be the preferred way to work, the way that native HDV is now.
Speaking with the folks at Cineform, I learned that their Prospect HD plugin for Premiere actually replaces Premiere's playback and rendering engine, and that's how they get realtime performance.
Another 3rd party developer announced a Premiere plugin that will provide real time AVCHD/H.264 performance using a Quadro card's GPU (scrubbing a multi-layer timeline, CC, scaling, colorspace conversion, etc.).
My hope is that Vegas engineers will utilize the GPU to improve both HDV and AVCHD performance and/or open up their architecture to further accommodate 3rd party developers who will.
I went to NAB wondering if anyone would announce a higher bitrate AVCHD camera. Panasonic did, showing a non-functioning 24Mbps unit based on the HVX-200 and priced at around $4500. If this meets expected performance milestones, this will likely become an industry standard camera. And if trends hold true, Sony will likely announce a competitor next year, with Canon following sometime after that.
The issue is how to efficiently edit this footage. I've experimented with AVCHD on my quad core workstation, and though it worked, it was quite slow compared to HDV (even with HDV I can't even get better than Preview 1/2 when using CC or Draft when using Magic Bullet).
In the short term, I understand that we can expect help in the form of a tool from VASST. I suppose that capturing via an Intensity card would work, too. I also wouldn't be surprised if Cineform were looking at this as well. In the long term, however, I'm not sure that file conversion will be the best answer. I suspect that for many projects a native AVCHD workflow will be the preferred way to work, the way that native HDV is now.
Speaking with the folks at Cineform, I learned that their Prospect HD plugin for Premiere actually replaces Premiere's playback and rendering engine, and that's how they get realtime performance.
Another 3rd party developer announced a Premiere plugin that will provide real time AVCHD/H.264 performance using a Quadro card's GPU (scrubbing a multi-layer timeline, CC, scaling, colorspace conversion, etc.).
My hope is that Vegas engineers will utilize the GPU to improve both HDV and AVCHD performance and/or open up their architecture to further accommodate 3rd party developers who will.