Many of you may already know this, but it may be of help to some others. One of the greatest advantages of AVCHD over HDV is the ability to shoot long events without being constrained to 63 minutes (or 80 minutes if you dare use those tapes), having about 3 or more hours depending on card and camera.
The problem is, if you just copy the files from the card using Windows Explorer, or sometimes even if you use the software that came with the camera, then the files will copy as is, without joining when a single take was longer than the maximum file size allowed by the camera, and as far as I've seen these cameras always format in FAT32 so the file size couldn't be larger than 4 GB anyway.
Some bundled programs such as Pixela Imagemixer in Canon cameras automatically join the files, while others will transfer the files without joining, such as the lame AVCCAM Viewer from Panasonic.
If you just drag a sequence of files that were supposed to be part of a long take, then Vegas will not join them well in the timeline, even if they are right next to each other. Sound will be muted for a split second and sometimes video will too.
So to avoid this, the best choice is to use Device Explorer (menu View > Device Explorer) to import the files, since it detects files that are separate but are supposed to be part of the same take. But if you already imported a big amount of files using Windows Explorer or the camera's software and the files are not joined, and you already erased the original card, the other solution is to use TSMuxer, a small free program, to do the joining.
You can get it from http://www.smlabs.net/tsmuxer_en.html. It is a standalone program without an installer, it comes in a zip file. Once you unzip it and run tsMuxerGUI.exe, you have to keep it on one side of the screen and on the other side the window with the files that you need to join. Drag the first file into the Input Files window in TSMuxer, and uncheck "Add picture timing info" and "Continually insert SPS/PPS" in General track options.
Then, drag the next files (this is very important or it will not work) into the "Join" button on the right of TSMuxer. As soon as you drag the mouse pointer over the button the word join in it will turn bold, and then you can release the mouse button. If you did this right, the files to be joined to the first one should show two plus signs before them.
Next you have to select M2TS muxing in the Output area, and browse to the folder where you want the target file, or you can leave it as it is if you want them in the same place. Since this is essentially a copy, if you select another physical hard drive it will obviously go much faster.
After the joined file is done, then you can import it into Vegas.
The problem is, if you just copy the files from the card using Windows Explorer, or sometimes even if you use the software that came with the camera, then the files will copy as is, without joining when a single take was longer than the maximum file size allowed by the camera, and as far as I've seen these cameras always format in FAT32 so the file size couldn't be larger than 4 GB anyway.
Some bundled programs such as Pixela Imagemixer in Canon cameras automatically join the files, while others will transfer the files without joining, such as the lame AVCCAM Viewer from Panasonic.
If you just drag a sequence of files that were supposed to be part of a long take, then Vegas will not join them well in the timeline, even if they are right next to each other. Sound will be muted for a split second and sometimes video will too.
So to avoid this, the best choice is to use Device Explorer (menu View > Device Explorer) to import the files, since it detects files that are separate but are supposed to be part of the same take. But if you already imported a big amount of files using Windows Explorer or the camera's software and the files are not joined, and you already erased the original card, the other solution is to use TSMuxer, a small free program, to do the joining.
You can get it from http://www.smlabs.net/tsmuxer_en.html. It is a standalone program without an installer, it comes in a zip file. Once you unzip it and run tsMuxerGUI.exe, you have to keep it on one side of the screen and on the other side the window with the files that you need to join. Drag the first file into the Input Files window in TSMuxer, and uncheck "Add picture timing info" and "Continually insert SPS/PPS" in General track options.
Then, drag the next files (this is very important or it will not work) into the "Join" button on the right of TSMuxer. As soon as you drag the mouse pointer over the button the word join in it will turn bold, and then you can release the mouse button. If you did this right, the files to be joined to the first one should show two plus signs before them.
Next you have to select M2TS muxing in the Output area, and browse to the folder where you want the target file, or you can leave it as it is if you want them in the same place. Since this is essentially a copy, if you select another physical hard drive it will obviously go much faster.
After the joined file is done, then you can import it into Vegas.