I need some suggestions for settings for output of my HMC150 footage. First some background. I have the following tools at my disposal. I do finally have the Neo booster software. It runs native files well on my system. I have Premiere pro CS4 with all the updates and I have Cineform Neo scene and the freebie mainconcept transcoder. My computer is only an older Windows Vista 32 bit mode, quad core system with 3 gb ram and a secondary drive for capture.

Here are my questions and issues. Firstly, when I use Neo booster, things edit well and fine until out put. I seem to only be able to render to the quick time format with any decent quality and only at 30 fps. I guess I should also state, I usually am shooting at 720p 60p and I set my projects up for settings as close to that as possible.

In premiere I am not able to able to natively work with the 150 files at all, in contrast to what I have read some of you guys are able to do. It just don’t work that way at all on my system. Neo scene files will import, but look like crap. So that leaves me to transcode first to DVCPRO HD files with the freebie Panasonic file transcoder. Files then work nicely on the PP CS4 time line. Until,,, I try to output. Anything I try to output from PPCS4 looks and plays like crap! Ive tried quicktime, AVI, H.264, Mpg2, blah blah. I have used the quick time player and Divix player and both give crappy results. Now here is the kicker! If I transcode with Neo scene and then edit in Sony Vegas 8 Pro. Things work great! The time line works well, the files render into beautiful AVI’s and any flavor of quicktime files too. But, I want to edit in PPCS4!! By god I spent all that money on it and I like the intergration with After Effects too. So, I want to use it if possible.

Does anyone have any idea of some better settings I might try to get better results from what I have to work with? I think I might be just not using the right settings in PPCS4 or something simple to fix. Your thoughts are greatly appreciated.

Ok, well not much of a response going on right now. So, how about this, can anyone detail a complete windows computer set up which you know will give a nice smooth Preimere Pro CS4 workflow with AVCHD files? I would be grateful. Thanks a bunch!

There's a few things going on in your post ... need some clarification.

You say that when you import your Neo Scene files into PPro "they look like crap". This is strange - while your machine isn't powerful enough for the native AVCHD, it should handle transcoded CFHD-codec files without problems. So in what way are they "crappy"? Are these Cineform avis - if so do they play OK in Windows Media player?

I understand that you are having output issues too - but fixing the problem with viewing/editing the files you are bringing into your timeline is the first step.

Hi Graham,
Thanks for your response. Yes the Cine form AVI's will play in windows media player, and actually I use a Dvx player, but I know they also work in WMP too. Like I said, they work great with no issues at all in Sony Vegas Pro 8c. Its only in PPCS4 that I have a problem with them playing choppy and stalling after a a few seconds of play. I had thought this was because PPCS4 was a more resource intensive program and my computer configuration may not be able to handle it. I was hoping someone could give me a list or config to buy which they know makes PPCS4 work smoothly and fun to edit with as it stands now, its not. Thanks again.

The thing is, your quad core with 3GB RAM should provide smooth editing of CFHD files, so something is out of whack somewhere with your CS4 installation. (I'm assuming your drives are 7200rpm?)

For native AVCHD editing in CS4, I would say your minimum would be an i7-920 with 6GB RAM - there are several recent threads on this, with some folks advocating more memory and a more powerful processor that what I've suggested.

Also, CS5 has just been released and sounds promising but has even higher hardware demands.