Panasonic AVCHD support? A sort of Raylight?

timtak wrote on 6/26/2007, 12:45 AM
I am attracted by the HDC-SD1,SD3, SD5 range of cameras but apparently Vegas only supports AVCHD made by Sony cameras.

Are there plans for allowing Panasonic files to be edited in Sony Vegas?

Is there a Raylight-like product that will alow the Panny files to be imported? (Raylight enables the import and editing of Panasonic P2 files into/by Vegas).

IS AVCHD so heavy that it is best to convert it to something else, and is there a converter?

Tim

Comments

Guy Bruner wrote on 6/26/2007, 5:02 PM
It's looking more and more like Sony Creative Services will require Panasonic AVCHD users to pay for an upgrade to Vegas 8 to get editing. Their excuse was they didn't have Panasonic camcorders to test with. Didn't seem to phase Pinnacle, Ulead or Nero.

However, there are other solutions. Cineform Neo will transcode AVCHD into its lossless file format using their CFHD codec during capture if you have a media player like Cyberlink PowerDVD7 Deluxe (Neo needs the AVCHD DirectShow filters used by the media player). Editing CFHD is easier on most computers since it is not as highly compressed. You will have to render out to something other than H.264 from Vegas anyway since it doesn't support HD H.264. So, transcoding from AVCHD to CFHD, editing, then rendering out to HD M2TS is one work flow.

Elecard makes a converter suite that you can use to transcode AVCHD to some other format (like HDV) for editing. Vegas can handle the HDV ok once you convert it.

There are a couple of software engineers in Japan working on a freebie converter. Haven't seen much progress lately but perhaps something is forthcoming soon.

My suggestion. Buy Ulead Video Studio 11. It will likely cost you less than the upgrade to Vegas 8.
timtak wrote on 10/7/2008, 5:50 PM
I bought the upgrade to Vegas 8 as I like Vegas and am used to it.

Thank you for the conversion options, but the thought of having to convert everything before use doesn't sound like fun.

Only trouble is that Vegas 8, unlike Vegas 7, requires Windows XP, which I do not have in both of my computers (I am assuming I can install Vegas at home and at work).

The most unfortunate thing about Vegas is perhaps that the support forums do not allow one to subscribe to threads so I was alas unaware of your kind response.

Thanks again
Tim
rs170a wrote on 10/7/2008, 7:36 PM
Only trouble is that Vegas 8, unlike Vegas 7, requires Windows XP, which I do not have in both of my computers.

You're still running W2K??
I made the switch to XP several years ago and am very happy with it.
You won't regret making the move.

I am assuming I can install Vegas at home and at work.

Yes. Sony followed the Sonic Foundry tradition of allowing you to install any of their software on more than one machine as long as you only use one at a time.

The most unfortunate thing about Vegas is perhaps that the support forums do not allow one to subscribe to threads so I was alas unaware of your kind response.

Most of us check back for a few days after posting a question to see if anyone has responded. Some of the questions I've posted have gotten replies several days after the original posting so it pays to keep checking.

Mike
timtak wrote on 10/9/2008, 1:39 PM
Dear rs170a

> You're still running W2K??
> I made the switch to XP several years ago and am very happy with it.
> You won't regret making the move.

I use both but I fail to notice an advantage of XP. The problem with the move is that I have lots of software installed on my Win2k boxes (I have two in fact) and reinstalling it on a new OS would take time and I might not be able to find all the disks and serial numbers. And then there are ip addresses and task bar set ups and macros.

I have taken to cloning my hard disks (acronis migrate easy, now true image) so my computers last a long time. Prior to the about 2000 I almost looked forward to a disk crash so that I could buy a new faster computer but these my Win2k Pentium 1.5GHz boxes do what I need. rendering does take a long time but it is not so fast on my Dual 3GHz XP that I can do it while I am waiting.

> Yes. Sony followed the Sonic Foundry tradition of allowing you to install any of their software on more than one machine as long as you only use one at a time.

That is very generous. At the moment Sony Vegas 8 is the only software I have that requires XP. For the time being I will keep using Win2k, and Vegas 7, at work. Maybe when Vegas 9 comes out...


Tim

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tumbleweed2 wrote on 10/9/2008, 3:56 PM


There's a year lapse between the 1st 2 posts, & the rest...??...