Burning AVCH Disks Please Help!!

[Larry Horwitz]

Tom,
Glad to hear that you like VS X2 Pro. It also amazes me just how much more capable it is compared to Adobe Premiere when handling AVCHD. The range of effects, transitions, filters, and other neat capabilities is especially impressive considering how little they charge for it. Nero and PowerDirector 7 from Cyberlink are also extremely capable, and make the bug guns like Sony Vegas, Premiere, and Final Cut look limited or bloated in many ways and vastly overpriced.

My HF100 does not have internal memory, so I merely read the SD card into my Dell at 30 Mbytes/sec and directly use the .mts clips with no driver issues. It is very fast, and much better than my HDV work with other camcoorders I have here. I absolutely love this little HF100 and the workflow which takes me from shooting a clip to watching an AVCHD disk on my BluRay player in less than 10 minutes. You do not need a special burner for AVCHD disks, and can make them with the same burner you presently use for SD. All you need is a player which supports AVCHD, which many if not most BluRay players provide. Then you can watch your content in full blown HD with the same quality as it comes from your camcorder directly at 1920 by 1080p.

I loved your comment about Quantel offering a building. Talk about a video editing accessory.....

Larry

[Mike Burgess]

Originally Posted by Larry Horwitz

Thanks Mike Gunter for finding this and helping Mike Burgess.

I see that Video Studio X2 Pro has a small icon which hides or shows the Options Control Panel, and I had mine set for "Hide". Mike Burgess may have had the same problem, since for both of us the various font options were hidden.

I therefore wanted to warn Mike Burgess to be sure the icon is properly selected to reveal the Optional Control Panel.

See attached.


Larry

Thanks to both Mike Gunter and Larry Horwitz for the info. When I purchase the program (I did like it during my trial period), I will have to check that out. I am sure there are many other things I will be able to find and use in the program. I will have to get the program somewhere on-line, since my local BB does not carry it (bummer).

Mike Burgess

[Tom O'Farrell]

Mike;
I am buying it directly from Corel.
I think the Pro version for $99.00 is worth the extra cost over the standard version.
VideoStudio X2 - Video Editing

[Mike Burgess]

Originally Posted by Tom O'Farrell

Mike;
I am buying it directly from Corel.
I think the Pro version for $99.00 is worth the extra cost over the standard version.
VideoStudio X2 - Video Editing

Thanks Tom, for the link. Keep in touch on how things work for you.
Mike

[Larry Horwitz]

You definitely need the Pro version to do HD work. I too bought all of my Corel and Ulead software directly from them on the web.

Larry

[Mike Burgess]

Originally Posted by Larry Horwitz

You definitely need the Pro version to do HD work. I too bought all of my Corel and Ulead software directly from them on the web.

Larry

Understand. Will do. Thanks again Larry, for all your responses and help.

Mike B.

[Larry Horwitz]

Glad to help, Mike!

[Peter Holzel]

Originally Posted by Tom O'Farrell

Mike;
I am buying it directly from Corel.
I think the Pro version for $99.00 is worth the extra cost over the standard version.
VideoStudio X2 - Video Editing

I notice that many are recommending VSX2. I have been using it and have noticed that when I smart render AVCHD from my HF100, I get stutters before and after most cuts. I have heard that this is a common occurence when a transition is inserted between two clips (see AVCHD editing threads on Videostudio forums), but I am experiencing it even on straight cuts. When I use the bundled HF100 Pixela software (which also smart renders), I am not getting this stutter probelm, so it seems to be a bug with VSX2. When I do not smart render, I do not get the stutters. Has anyone experienced this? Thanks.

[Larry Horwitz]

Peter,

For whatever it's worth, I have never seen this problem either in the new X2 or the older 11.5 version of Video Studio Pro.

I went to the Ulead support forum and found the long thread where some other users have reported the same problem. One of the posts describes the "solution" he came up with using Nero Vision as an intermediate.

I downloaded his "before" sample .mts file, and cannot see any stutter effect on my machine at all using 3 different players I have here for AVCHD.

It may be that some machines have hardware or software issues which show up in this way. Perhaps a marginal processor or video card. Perhaps a codec not playing properly.

I realize this answer does you no good in terms of solving YOUR problem, but I would also be glad to take a look at your file if you want to post it someplace.

My HF100 files all seem to edit without this problem, and I always use Smart Render, try to do cuts-only edits, and have made tons of AVCHD disks.

I would definitely ask Corel for their support in fixing this, and several other people are obviously experiencing the same issue.

Larry

[Steve Mullen]

Originally Posted by Larry Horwitz

t may be that some machines have hardware or software issues which show up in this way. Perhaps a marginal processor or video card. Perhaps a codec not playing properly.

There's several ways of creating a smart cut. The point is to keep the data buffer from overflowing on decode. I suspect poorly designed encode software and/or marginal decode software/hardware creates the stutter. The encode technique seems to be patented by Avid. I just wrote a story for Broadcast Engineering about Smart GOP Splicing.

[Mike Gunter]

Hi Peter,

Does the stutter occur in the final video or in the time line?

So far, VSX2 has been just perfect for AVCHD, in some ways, surprisingly so. It's quite an inexpensive application - mine was an upgrade, even better an upgrade on sale.

I use VSX2 for a multitude of common tasks - ripping DVDs, DV to DVD Wizards (for legal work), it recognizes some of the more oddball CODECs conversions that come our way, too. I highly recommend it. For the low cost, I find it a no-brainer.

My best to all.

Mike

[Jamie Lauzon]

Originally Posted by Larry Horwitz

Jamie,

Your settings sound wrong to me.

To begin with, a 50 min disk should NOT fit on a single layer disk, and should occupy roughly 6 Gbytes, thus requiring a dual layer disk. (I am assuming your video clips were recorded at the highest quslity 15 Mbit/sec speed of the SR1).

Second, your burning time should be much, much faster than 8 hours. A 'Smart Rendered' disk should maybe take very roughly 60-90 minutes on your laptop, and would be finished on my very fast desktop in maybe 25 minutes or so.


Be sure that you have Nero settings for your specific type of AVCHD. Since your camcorder was the first AVCHD camcorder to be introduced (around October of 2006) it uses 1440 by 1080 AVCHD, rather than the more common 1920 by 1080. Secondly, your camcorder uses Dolby 5 channel audio rather than the more commom stereo 2.0 Digital Dolby. Both of these are manual over-ride settings in Nero. I am guessing that your Nero is set for the defaults and is therefore re-rendering the entire 50 minute video from its original 1440 to 1920, and may also be re-rendering your audio as well.

Whwn you arrive at the final page of Nero called Burn Options, turn on the "Details" and it will show you whether it is going to do Smart Rendering or not. You should see both Audio and Video Smart Encoding Ratios of 100% or close to it (unless you have decided to add color correction or other effects to all of your clips).

If your ratios are lower, click the "More" button below, and this will reveal more choices. Select / push the "Video Options" button and you will then see 2 tabs. Select the tab called "AVCHD".

Under "Quality Settings" chose Custom and set the resolution to 1440 by 1080 (rather than the default 1920 by 1080). Set the default audio to Dolby 5.1 rather than Dolby 2.0.
Set the bit rate to 15,000 kbits/sec. Then hit OK


You should now see 100% (or close to 100%) Smart Encoding ratios for both video and audio, and your burn time should drop drastically.

If it were me, I would first try doing burns with a small file just to get all of these settings correct, and then set them as the default settings, rather than try to do the full length 50 minute disk each time. I would only do the 50 minute disk after I got all the other settings working properly to avoid a lot of wasted time re-rendering. Also note that you will need to use a dual layer disk to hold 15 Mbit/sec AVCHD for a 50 minute program. You don't want to waste a lot of these as they are still a dollar apiece or more.

Let us know how this all works out.

Larry

Hi Larry


Sorry I've been away from this for a while. But I made the changes you suggested and my ratios are still 0%. Any suggestions?

[Larry Horwitz]

Jamie,

Please create a very short (maybe 10 second) clip and either email it to me or post it on a website where I can download it.

Since you camcorder is the oldest / very first AVCHD model, and uses 1440 by 1080 rather than 1920 by 1080 resolution for HD, I want to see what if any options I can find to avoid having the re-rendering penalties.

Thanks,

Larry

[Larry Horwitz]

Jamie,

I privately emailed you my email address using this forum's mail system if you should choose to use this method to send me a short clip.

Larry

[Peter Holzel]

Originally Posted by Mike Gunter

Hi Peter,

Does the stutter occur in the final video or in the time line?

So far, VSX2 has been just perfect for AVCHD, in some ways, surprisingly so. It's quite an inexpensive application - mine was an upgrade, even better an upgrade on sale.

I use VSX2 for a multitude of common tasks - ripping DVDs, DV to DVD Wizards (for legal work), it recognizes some of the more oddball CODECs conversions that come our way, too. I highly recommend it. For the low cost, I find it a no-brainer.

My best to all.

Mike

Hi, Mike. The sutter occurs in the final rendered video. Oddly, I don't seem to get this stutter with VS11+ or with Pixela bundeled software. I wonder if this problem only occurs with Canon HF100 produced video.

Larry, thank you for offering to take a look at my video. I will post an example soon.