Tuesday, April 10, 2007

AVCHD support

Switching gears from proving 4K and 2K are effectively the same, to something totally consumer -- AVCHD. This entry level HD acquisition format as been troubling editors/hobbiest for a while now. You may have thought M2T (HDV) was hard to edit, but try working with AVCHD, the MPEG4 long GOP hardly even plays on most PCs. We know AVCHD to CineForm file conversion was going to the best way to edit this stuff, it just a matter of finding a suitable decoder. After 4+ months of searching and trying to license components from companies that will not return any calls, I just found a new decoder/player that works great with HDLink (included in all our PC tools.)

Now this player / AVC decoder is a little pricy at $50, but to make a $1000+ camera editable, it is an excellent deal. Here is the link : Player + AVC Plugin. (You need both the player and AVC PlugIn.) If even works with the demo version (which adds a small logo) and with our trial version (which doesn't add any logos.)

Once installed you can use the current HDLink to create CineForm AVIs with small trick -- rename the AVCHD files from *.m2ts to *.avchd (or something random.) HDLink mistakes the M2TS for a regular M2T file otherwise, we will fix this in the next release. In the meantime you can edit your AVCHD footage in real-time without issue now.

Update 07/07/07:All our products now support *.m2ts files, however you still need a valid AVDHD decoder to do the file conversions. You can test if you have the right decoders install by trying to play the *.m2ts files in window media player (when that works the CineForm conversion will work.)

Please also see CineForm's tech. note.

24 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hello,

To edit AVCHD files get from my Sony HDR-SR1 camcorder, I tried the solution you are proposing. By installing : AspectHD trial version + trial versions of Elecard player & AVC encoder under my Vista PC.

When trying to convert m2ts files to avi : I was able select and start the conversion, but the target file (.avi) never shows up in my file system after the conversion ends. Any idea ?

Thank you,

Oliv-

David said...

Follow this thread as there are thing to try : http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=91201 However it is likely to be Vista which we haven't yet certified for our tools.

Anonymous said...

I tried out what you suggested. If I try and convert more than one file, the first file works great, the next only has sound (small size too) and there is no progress bar. The remaining are randomly OK, or just sound.

Any ideas?

David said...

Sounds like a question for tech support. I haven't experienced that.

Anonymous said...

Do you happen to know if the new Neo HDV will also work with AVCHD files? I had very good luck with the trial version of Connect HD.

David said...

Michael,

NEO HDV is an upgrade to Connect HD, so AVCHD files will work if you have the needed decoders installed.

Anonymous said...

OK, really dumb question. I have a Panasonic HDC-SD1, which produces 1440x1080i AVCHD files. The demo of NeoHDV works great for transforming to Cineform intermediate format.

Now, I'm considering upgrading to either a Panasonic HDC-SD3 or Sony CX7. If they produce AVCHD files at 1920x1080i (SD3 for sure, not clear yet on the CX7), do I need to spend the extra $350 and get NeoHD instead or will NeoHDV be sufficient?

David said...

Michael,

NEO HDV will work find with AVCHD 1920x1080 sources. While HEO HDV will scale them to 1440x1080, none of these cameras can actually resolve a 1920 image, so no detail is lost. NEO HD does encode the full 1920x1080, you only really benefit with higher-end cameras.

Anonymous said...

Excellent, bought my copy last week, thanks for the advice!

Anonymous said...

Do you know if Adobe Premier Pro CS3 will be incorporating editing capabilities for AVCHD files?

Anonymous said...

This sounds like just the thing to be able to edit AVCHD footage in Premiere Pro (via Aspect HD). Up until now I've been using Ulead Video Studio 11 w/AVCHD support, but UVS 11 obviously lacks the power and editing capabilities of Premiere Pro. It's truly crazy... Although Premiere CS3 has just been released, no one yet seems to know if it supports AVCHD, apparently not even the people from Adobe. In some forums they say is absolutely does, in yet other forums they say it definitely does not, which really starts to burn a guy after days of searching on the subject (I would only upgrade to CS3 if it supported AVCHD). However, it looks like this may be the solution, and even if CS3 does support AVCHD, Aspect HD is still the way to go.

Anonymous said...

How do you get HDLink to recognize a file that has been renamed to something else (i.e. *.avchd). When renamed, the AVCHD files do not show up in the file selection window.

David said...

By changing the file selection wildcard to "*.*" (it is the pulldown.) However, the new versions of CineForm's tools don't need the renaming *.m2ts for support -- the second file type wildcard handles AVCHD.

Anonymous said...

I downloaded the trial version of Prospect HD. Using HDLink, When I select one of my .m2ts files and hit start, I continuously receive a 'Format Not Supported' error.

Anonymous said...

Elecard didn't seem to work for me as a decoder, as I was getting a 'Format not supported' error, and also my .m2ts files would not play in WMP. Many people said that PowerDVD 7 worked well with AVCHD files so I purchased that additionally. My .m2ts files will now play in PowerDVD and also in WMP (which is supposed to be the Litmus Test for HDLink). Now when I attempt to convert my .m2ts files with HDLink, I no longer get a 'Format not supported error,' but rather an error of 'Got EC_ERRORABORT notification - 0x80040228.' HDLink is trying to convert the file. It starts to, but only creates a small .AVI file very quickly (around 200-300KB) which is just a bit of garbled noise with no picture. I would really like Aspect HD to work for me. Is there any way I could get more direct technical assistance? Thanks.

David said...

For AVCHD help, post on DVInfo.net under the CineForm forum, or file a trouble ticket with cineform.com/support

Anonymous said...

Hi David, I had signed up at DVInfo.net yesterday per your suggestion. It seems as of yet I still cannot make any posts. Is there a certain waiting period before one can post? Thanks - Rob

ChrisB said...

I have a Sony HDR-SR1 and I have the trail version of Aspect HD. I already have my m2ts files on a hard drive and I want to convert them to something workable with Premiere Pro. I haven't been able to use HD Link. It says it is converting but doesn't produce a second file or change the original file. I have tried to rename the file to m2t but that doesn't work either.

Thanks,

Chris

David said...

ChrisB,

You should file a trouble ticket cineform.com/support or email support@cineform.com. You likely don't have the correct AVCHD decoder installed.

Mary said...

I hope someone can help me. I bought a Sony HDR-SR5. I want to keep using Premier Pro 2. What is the best course to follow to convert the m2ts files so I can use Premier for editing?
Thank you,
Mary

transfer mts to mov said...

Excellent, bought my copy last week, thanks for the advice!

Unknown said...
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cheney said...

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