Render as AVCHD or MPEG2

shelby wrote on 8/19/2010, 2:51 AM

Hi,

My source video is Sony AVCHD (m2ts) 1440 x 1080 - which format should I render out once I have completed editing to blu-ray ?

I have tested the following for a 55 minute video:

1. Burn to Blu Ray - Sony AVCHD 1440x1080. Duration: 3 hours, File Size = 8gb

2. Burn to Blu Ray - MainConcept MPEG2 1440x1080. Duration: 1 hour, File Size = 12gb

I have analysed both blu-ray movies and to the naked eye, the quality looks exactly the same. Rendering my source footage from AVCHD to MainConcept MPEG2 takes 1/3 of the time compared to rendering out to AVCHD. Granted the file size is bigger - but I'm not bothered about that.

What would you guy's recommend I do. I would prefer having a quicker render time, however from a video quality point-of-view is there actually any difference ?

Comments

Eugenia wrote on 8/19/2010, 12:59 PM

Since mpeg2 is higher bitrate, overall it will even out the advantages of h.264. It also depends a lot how the AVCHD encoder is configured internally. So for *delivery codec* purposes, any of the two is fine, which ever you prefer.

aquaholik wrote on 8/19/2010, 2:15 PM

What is the bit rate of your original source file(.m2ts)? Is it higher than 16Mbps. If not, then I guess Sony AVC is fine especially if you need to fit 3 hours of HD on one blue ray disc. If space is not a problem then go with MainConcept MPEG2(.m2v) for the fastest rendering time. I really like how fast the .m2v render is and it preserves my original 24 Mbps .m2ts clips pretty well.

shelby wrote on 8/20/2010, 3:53 AM

Source file bit rate is 15mbps.

OK - thanks for your help guy's. I'm going to stick with MainConcept MPEG2, as it's far quicker to render, and i'm not bothered about how much more space it takes up on the blu-ray disc.

Thanks All.