VMS Platinum V8 - working with AVCHD

queencookie wrote on 9/24/2011, 8:16 AM

I have just bought a Panasonic HDC-SD90 camcorder. I have just recorded with it for the first time and I was very impressed with the quality but when I try to open the m2ts files in VMS it crashes every time.

I can convert the files to mpeg2 with the software that came with the camcorder and they open fine but with a significant loss of quality.

I can edit the footage using the panasonic software or windows movie maker but I would much prefer to use VMS.

Any advice most welcome.

Comments

Steve Grisetti wrote on 9/24/2011, 9:04 AM

If you're working with AVCHD, I strongly encourage you to get Movie Studio HD 11. It's a much improved product with a much more stable and efficient AVCHD engine! Give it a try (or download the trial) and I think you'll immediately see that it's worth the small investment. (And, of course, make sure your Vegas project properties are set up for AVCHD!)

However, as I explain my books, you should also note that AVCHD is also one of the most demanding formats to work with. Most people editing it successfully are using quad core or i7 processors -- although you may be able to do some basic work with a fast dual-core machine.

You don't say how fast your computer is, how much RAM you have or even how much free, clean, defragmented space is on your hard drive. But don't by any means go with the minimal specs if you're going to be working with AVCHD! You'll need a very fast, clean, well-tuned machine in order to get the stability and performance the format requires.

queencookie wrote on 9/24/2011, 5:55 PM

My PC

Intel Core2 Quad CPU Q8200 2.33GHz
Ram: 4.00 GB

270GB free space on my hard drive

I can edit the AVCHD with the camcorder software but it doesn't have the functionality I'm used to with VMS.

The help documentation gives instructions for opening AVCHD footage but it crashes every time I try to open it.

musicvid10 wrote on 9/24/2011, 6:28 PM

Steve was giving you good advice. Platinum 8 was the first version to introduce AVCHD support and a lot of improvements have been made since then.

Oh, and set your project properties correctly to match your media settings.
;?)

queencookie wrote on 9/25/2011, 4:54 AM

I've changed the project settings but VMS still stops responding when I try to insert the media into the project.

Maybe my PC isn't up to the job!

I'm just trialling a file converter to see if that helps but if not will have to consider upgrading my VMS.

Steve Grisetti wrote on 9/25/2011, 8:09 AM

Hardware-wise, you've certainly got plenty of power to work with AVCHD, assuming your system is properly set up and tuned.

Give version 11 a try. As we've said, it's got a much more efficient AVCHD engine. (And make sure you've also got the latest version of Quicktime from Apple.com, per the program's requirements.)

queencookie wrote on 9/29/2011, 12:57 PM

Thanks everyone for the advice, have trialled version 11 and have decided to buy it, definitely worth the investment!