View Full Version : Editing AVCHD & HDV in the same project?


Sean Hill
July 31st, 2009, 04:12 PM
Are there any problems you all have ran into when editing both formats (HDV & AVCHD) in the same project. My reason for asking is I have a Canon XHA1 I use with Premiere CS3, but I'm planning on buying a small Canon HF200 next week to do B-Roll type footage and I'll be mixing to two formats within the same project on Vegas Pro 9.

So I want to know if anyone has had problems like (time code issues, difference in picture quality, transfer issues etc...)...?

Bruce Foreman
July 31st, 2009, 08:32 PM
You should be able to. I have put HDV and AVCHD on the same timeline in Pinnacle Studio 11 and 12 with no problems of any kind.

Michael Wisniewski
July 31st, 2009, 08:39 PM
I haven't had any issues mixing AVCHD and HDV in Vegas, works just right for basic cuts and f/x. But if you're doing anything more complicated than that, transcoding all of it to Cineform is a great way to get better overall performance.

Martyn Hull
August 1st, 2009, 03:39 AM
The only way i could mix avchd from a SR-12 i had and hdv fom my hdv cams was convert the avchd to mpeg 2 first of all ,pinnacle did not want to know for me it just crashed if i tried to burn avchd or bd discs from the mixed formats ,i never tried a dvd disc burn from the two formats though.

Mike Burgess
August 1st, 2009, 10:07 AM
You should be able to. I have put HDV and AVCHD on the same timeline in Pinnacle Studio 11 and 12 with no problems of any kind.

Same here with Pinnacle 12.

Mike

Gary Nattrass
August 1st, 2009, 10:51 AM
I am mixing P2 with AVCHD in final cut pro but it is all transcoded to pro res before edit, as said a similar thing could be done with HDV/AVCHD just make it all the same codec and it will be fine.

Sean Hill
August 1st, 2009, 04:56 PM
Thanks guys, I was kind of thinking it would be no problem also. But I haven't tried it yet of course so I wanted some responses from the pro's. Thanks again. :)

Brandon Paschal
August 3rd, 2009, 10:07 AM
Thanks guys, I was kind of thinking it would be no problem also. But I haven't tried it yet of course so I wanted some responses from the pro's. Thanks again. :)

I'm just curious as to whether or not you tried it. I have an XH-A1 and would like to go tapeless for my B-roll cannon cam, but wasn't sure if there was transcoding necessary to put both my HDV and my AVCHD video into the same timeline and wanted to edit real-time just as I do with my 2 A1s.

Any thoughts?

--Brandon

Bryan Sellars
August 6th, 2009, 06:11 PM
I use Corel PrX2 and have just done some tests using HDV downloaded via firewire from a Sony camera at 1440x1080 and mixed it with AVCHD downloaded via usb2 from a Canon HF10 1920x1080 using, outputting AVCHD at 1920 was rubbish but outputting HDV at 1440 was fine so it seems the AVCHD converts better to HDV.
Bryan

Steve Wolla
August 6th, 2009, 09:45 PM
I have done several projects using an HMC150 and Canon XHA1, edited in CS3. One drawback is that if I set up the project file for DVCProHD for my transcoded AVCHD files, the Canon HDV files will have to be rendered when put on the timeline so they will play back smoothly. That can take quite a long time.

The same is true if I set up mt project as an HDV file. THen the output from the HMC will need to be rendered, and again, that can take some time on my okder computer.

I would think that you would have the same issue with files from the Canon AVCHD. Since CS3 cannot do AVCHD natively your files will need to be transcoded, as well.

But yes, you can easly edit them together on the timeline. I do think that after a while you will likely grow weary of this process and either go with all-HDV or all-AVCHD. That in the end will simplify your life tremendously.

Robert Young
August 7th, 2009, 12:03 PM
But yes, you can easly edit them together on the timeline. I do think that after a while you will likely grow weary of this process and either go with all-HDV or all-AVCHD. That in the end will simplify your life tremendously.

Or, as others have mentioned, edit with a DI such as Cineform. ProRes, etc.
In my experience it is the most bulletproof way to maintain high quality imagery throughout the workflow and it makes the original acquisition format an absolute non issue.

Jim Babcock
August 14th, 2009, 09:31 AM
I'm just now finishing a project shot with two Canons: the Vixia HS100 and an earlier HDV. No real problems and the end result looks great after a little color tweaking. The only issue was that the Multicam feature in FCP doesn't support multiclips with different formats, at least with the last version of FCP. No problem; just an annoyance. Dunno if this is fixed in the new version.
I've since purchased another HSF100 so the issue's moot. Am shooting a Woodstock tribute this weekend with the two of them; one on a tripod, the other, free ranging on a monopod. I'm plugging a chip audio recorder into the sound board for a clean track, though board mixes are sometimes a little dodgy as they are mixed for the club not the CD.

Brandon Paschal
August 15th, 2009, 12:24 PM
I'm just now finishing a project shot with two Canons: the Vixia HS100 and an earlier HDV. No real problems and the end result looks great after a little color tweaking. The only issue was that the Multicam feature in FCP doesn't support multiclips with different formats, at least with the last version of FCP. No problem; just an annoyance. Dunno if this is fixed in the new version.
I've since purchased another HSF100 so the issue's moot. Am shooting a Woodstock tribute this weekend with the two of them; one on a tripod, the other, free ranging on a monopod. I'm plugging a chip audio recorder into the sound board for a clean track, though board mixes are sometimes a little dodgy as they are mixed for the club not the CD.

thanks for your post. With your HDV and HS100, did you have to transcode the HS100 footage prior to including them both in the timeline? Simply assessing the workflow (my assumption is yes)?

Thanks