Slow AVCHD Camera Preview

andyd wrote on 4/16/2010, 2:09 PM

Is there any way to speed up the wicked slow preview for AVCHD Files recorded on a Sony HDR-SR1 in Vegas? So slow I can't even edit them.

PC:
Gateway 831 GM - Upgraded
Power Supply - 500Watt RocketFish
P4 3.0 GHZ HT 630 Processor
ATI Radeon HD 5570 with Corect COmpute 11, OpenCL, and AVT acceleration support
MOTU 2408x3 on PCI -324 Card
(2) 250 Gig SATA
(1) External Seagate 1.5 Terabyte Drive
(1) BW-300 Blue Ray Burner

Comments

Rob Franks wrote on 4/16/2010, 2:15 PM

Get a faster cpu.

A P4 for avchd is not by any means a match made in heaven. I (personally) consider a Q6600 to be the minimum for reasonable avchd preview.

Aside from that, try setting your preview quality to its lowest setting. The other thing you can try is proxy editing or simply converting you avchd over to cineform avi for easier playback.

warriorking wrote on 4/16/2010, 2:23 PM

Time my friend to upgrade, Get a Quadcore or better yet go with a i5 or i7core setup....you will thank yourself later......

ritsmer wrote on 4/16/2010, 2:31 PM

Right.
I have 2 x quad Xeons, and previewing just 1 single track of 1080i 50 Fps loads 2 of the 8 cores fully.
2 tracks load 4 of the cores - etc.

LivingTheDream wrote on 4/16/2010, 2:52 PM

As was already mentioned, you will need to upgrade your pc to work with HD material. But even then processing the native AVCHD files can be a royal pain. The cpu really has to grind its way through them. Even with my system (Core i7 920) they can be a real pain with more than one layer of video plus some color correction, transitions, and fx thrown in. Better to convert the AVCHDs to Sony MXFs or something else. Some have commented here that AVCHD is not meant for editing, only for acquisition.

Also, you didn't mention which drive you have your video files on. I assume they're on your external drive. They should not be on your system drive as that will slow things down. And if they're on your external 1.5T drive you'll get slower performance from a USB 2.0 connection than from an e-Sata (my experience anyway).

Good luck
Steve