Choosing proper Recording formats/containers JVC GY-HM600U

[Elaine Minionis]

Hi guys, I'm having a hard time deciding which recording format to use with my new JVC GY-HM600U (I'm more of a DSLR/Canon 5D shooter nowadays, but switching). As I see, this JVC offers basically 3 containers with different codecs for them, offering at the end 4 final options: QT (MPEG2 .mov), MP4 (MPEG2), AVCHD, QT (h.264 .mov, XHQ!!! Yai!). My priorities are: 1080, 24p&60p, for documentaries, corp videos and "pro" personal videos, all edited on PC, color grading and color filter application in post. Any suggestions? Pros & cons?
I've heard AVCHD is time consuming b/c you have to convert it to other formats in order to edit. Funny that AVCHD usually produces great image quality, but in this cam has the lowest bitrate of all. MP4 is discarded b/c it doesn't record full HD 60p. Also read mpeg2 is better for dvds. Basically I have 3 options left. I've been researching a lot, still confused. Codec h264 vs. mpeg2 for QT? AVCHD vs. QT? I'm used to shooting codec h264 and then I transcode to something better like Cineform (I can't transcode to Apple ProRes since I don't edit on Mac/FCP but on Premiere). That was basically my workflow with the DSLR. Would truly appreciate the help! I would love to have a clear idea of what to use. I wonder if there is this QT H264 50Mbps (XHQ), would I still need to transcode that h264? Thanks!! :) Sorry, so many questions!

Elaine

[William Hohauser]

You really have to investigate which of these recording options is best for your PC editing software. The QuickTime and mp4 codecs are in XDCam which has been a standard pro codec for quite a while. XDCam doesn't do 60p. Premier should accept HDCam as is without transcoding to another format, if that is the program you are using. AVCHD should work as well.