Vegas and the AVCHD
 

Ok. I'm asking another question.

There's a bunch of new cameras now coming out and many of the nice ones no longer use tape. The storage is either in the HDD or in CF/SD/MS or whatever. I believe they are in the AVCHD format. I am not aware if there are variations to this, but I want to know if Vegas can edit this or these files.

Will the camera allow on-the-fly conversions to mpeg2 or some other forms that will make it easy to edit? Or are we stuck with the native AVCHD w/c is harder for the cpu to digest?

Yes it does. Here's the product description from the Sony products page:

"The Vegas Pro collection combines Vegas Pro 8, DVD Architect Pro 4.5, and Dolby® Digital AC-3 encoding software to offer an integrated environment for all phases of professional video, audio, DVD, and broadcast production. These tools let you edit and process DV, AVCHD, HDV, SD/HD-SDI, and all XDCAM™ formats in real time, fine-tune audio with precision, and author surround sound, dual-layer DVDs."

Not sure about the second question but I've seen others posting that are not having problems.

Randy

Hmm there are different variants on the AVC HD format (much like the variations on the HDV format). I would try AVC HD files in the Vegas demo to see what kind of performance you are getting with the particular AVC HD implementation you're interested in.

(Sorry I'm not on top of how the AVC HD formats from different manufacturers are supported in Vegas. Perhaps somebody more knowledgeable can chime in here.)

2- If you are not happy with the performance of native AVC HD editing, then you should be able to convert to an intermediate format (probably Cineform). You can do this manually by rendering to new track, or automate it with scripting tools like Gearshift. Cineform probably has a product that transcodes/converts the footage as you "ingest". So there are three routes there.

Vegas supports all of the current crop of AVCHD camcorders. I have not tested/been able to acquire footage from the new Samsung, but I'm betting nickels it won't be a problem.

I asked about this over at the Cineform forum this morning. It is important with the new Canon cameras because, as with the 24p HDV footage, the pulldown removal from the HG10 (and presumably the new cameras) cannot be done in Vegas, as Canon has not inserted flags to alert the NLE as to the proper frames for removal. David Newman indicated they do not have a codec they provide with the programs, but listed a source for codec that has worked with the Cineform products. See this thread:

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthrea...225#post804225

There is one serious(?) drawback on Vegas' AVCHD-editing: Vegas (Pro 8a)cannot always regocnize thos AVCHD-files it has produced, i.e. if you make intermediate render for a composition you plan to use later, it may be so that Vegas cannot open the file. It just gives you the audio (and always as stereo, even though the render may be 5.1 surround).

Compositing with AVCHD might not be recommended though, since it will degrade the quality fast. Or am I wrong here?

Thats what Cineform is all about.... an intermediate that can withstand rigors of editing..

That's why I'm using it also. Even though I'm mostly editing HDV but I just bought a new mediaplayer, which has an excellent AVCHD-support: the end results are incredible when viewed on my FullHD TV.

But someone can store prepared AVCHD-clips as a stock footage for later use and therefore I thought to point out what I've experienced with the media.