Anybody have success editing H264 in Premiere Pro?

[John Vincent]

Re-installing anything on PCs isn't fun, esp something as huge as CS5, and it takes time. Just not worth the risk or extra time and money for transcoding when CS5 works out the box.

[Kris Koster]

Originally Posted by John Vincent

Re-installing anything on PCs isn't fun, esp something as huge as CS5, and it takes time. Just not worth the risk or extra time and money for transcoding when CS5 works out the box.

Pretty much everything works out of the box, it's the additional you do with it that enhances your experience.

Time spent transcoding to an edit-friendly codec can save you more time later when working with the footage, at least in my experience. Personally, a smooth editing experience is preferable to stop-start-stop-start. All it takes is leaving your footage to transcode whilst you sleep or play a game of footy with the kids.

The excuse that it takes up extra hard disk space is a little weak also. Memory, especially physical storage memory is dirt cheap these days. Also, the original footage can be deleted post-transcoding, if necessary.

I've only just made the switch myself recently. So I may be singing its praises now, but let's see how I feel after a few more projects!

[Danny Winn]

Originally Posted by Kris Koster

Danny,

I have both the XH A1 and 5D2 and edit in Premiere all the time. I have CS5 64-bit and the 5D's AVCHD H.264 can be edited smoothly (but not always RT) in its native form within this latest version of Premiere. However, it starts to get slow once fx/transitions and colour correction are added.

I've only recently discovered that converting using Cineform first prior to editing make it even faster. It doesn't take long to do either. Just transfer your clips over from the camera, start up HDlink to convert them and go have a coffee or take a nap. I'm so happy I gave Cineform a try.

I've found this to be especially effective when mixing XH A1 and 5D2 footage. Upscaling the 1440 to 1920 and converting from, 4.2.0 to 4.2.2 makes a tremendous difference when working with the VT.

Hey Kris,

I used Cineform last night and converted a file or two but they did not play any better in CS4 than the original 5D H.264, in fact after conversion the files were nearly 4 times larger than the original (225mb to 798mb). That's a huge file to play for just a 43 second clip.

Any Ideas?

Thanks.

[Vishal Jadhav]

Hi

I have been using the Cineform over past year for the 5D footage and also used it on the D7000 footage and they work fantastic in CS5 after conversion and my biggest file handled has been nearly 4 GB each
I love Cineform to work with the 5D and the CS5, it worked nicely with the CS4 earlier.

best regards
Vishal

[Danny Winn]

Hey thanks Vishal,

I was told that you don't need to convert your 5D files if you're using CS5. Do you still have problems with the 5D footage in CS5 if you don't convert?

Thanks.

[Brian Tori]

In my tests, CPU speed is the determining factor when dealing with AVCHD files. Running CS5 64bit, this is what I've been able to achieve:

Interface: USB 2.0
RAM: 4GB
Core2Duo 2.8 (90-100% CPU usage) stutters occasionally, ok for cuts only, once transition is applied stutters alot.
Core2Quad 2.66 (50-60% CPU usage) plays back smoothly even with transitions.

I would consider the Quad Core the minimum spec when editing native files. Anything above that will yield even better results.