Panasonic also states in their literature that these characteristics give AVCHD an advantage in handling motion more cleanly than MPEG2 can. I can state that when shooting sports work, (720/60p) the HMC handles motion better than my HDV cam, so I'm a believer.
I think it's a great cam, and chose it first for its codec, second for its low light ability. No regrets.

Jon:

I was surprised myself at the amount of people on DVinfo (and the SCS Vegas forum) who are so against AVCHD they are blinded to the facts. Chris H. usually steps in with fact when misinformation goes too far.

I also think the reports of slow AVCHD editing are a little over exaggerated too. I have been editing projects natively in Vegas 8.0c since October 2008 on Q6600 and Q9650 based machines with no problems on 1080i and 720P30 projects. This is in comparison to the HDV off a XH-A1. The slowest process I have found is running a deshaker script on 1080i AVCHD material. That gives 6 to 8 FPS speed. You can also edit mixed native HDV and AVCHD projects (HMC-150 & XH-A1) off the Vagas timeline with no problem.

If handling 720P60 and some AVCHD performance enhancements are included in Vegas 8.0d, it will a great native AVCHD editing experience IMO.

So, I don't think transcoding to another format is needed now or especially in the future ( unless your hardware platform is lacking).

One huge plus I have seen on my video is the reduced shimmer/strobing when you do a pan. I don't shoot sports, but the strobing I used to get on some HDV pans was very distracting.

I think the AVCHD video is just a little smoother and easier on the eye to watch.

Yes Jeff, I agree with you 100% on that. It (AVCHD) does look smoother and definately does better on panning.

Hi Jon,

I'm glad the files worked with Neo. The footage was a mix. The reception with pink accent lighting was shot in 30p. The other footage has an audible identification.

Hi Eric,

That would be quite a useful device. I hope the manufacturers are listening.

Do you mean like this?



CineForm - Frequently Asked Questions

Hi Jeff,

Yes, exactly. I would love to test one of those with the HMC150. I wonder how long until it will come to market?

Mark,

Do you know the directory structure the downloaded files came from?

I have downloaded them and tried to import using the "Log and Transfer" in FCP 6.0.5, but it does not recognize the mts files.

I have read that I can download a few programs that will transcode for me, but I wanted to try it in FCP alone.

Thanks for your help

I had to actually rename the files with an .mts extension on my windows box. Maybe that has something to do with it.

Jon

Jon,

I gave that a shot on the Mac. . .still can't see the files.

I can see them, but they are grayed out. I cannot select them.

Hi Brian,

I'm not sure what you mean by "directory structure". As far as I know, FCP will need the files transcoded first.

Mark,

Yes, you are correct about Final Cut Pro needing to transcode the mts files first.

I downloaded the files, saved them to the harddrive in their own folder. When I got to transcode them in FCP through Log & Transfer, the files are grated out and I cannot select anything. The error message states something to the effect of "not the original directory structure".

It is my understanding with FCP, if you don't transcode directly out of the camera, you need to copy the files from the card in the exact file structure they were recoded in. I was just curious if you knew what that structure was before you put them up for us to download?

I am just trying to get a pulse on how long the transcoding process takes with FCP and how the files perform after transcoded with my Intel Mac.

Thanks for putting the files up for testing.

Hi Brian,

The clips were taken from different cards over the course of 3-4 shoots. I'm not sure how to upload the entire card structure, as it is complex. There is an AVCHDTN folder, and a BDMV folder. Within the BDMV folder is the CLIPINF folder, PLAYLIST folder and STREAM folder. The MTS files are within the STREAM folder.

Has anyone been able to transode the files I uploaded, on a mac?

We are in the middle of transferring our 4 websites to a new server. Once that is complete I can see about uploading the entire file structure, but I don't have it from the footage I posted. I can shoot one minute of footage, and upload that. Then you will know how long it takes to transode per minute.

on an 8 core mac pro 3.2 with 8GB of RAM, transcoding was roughly 30 seconds per minute of footage once the AVCHD was transferred to the RAID system.