Computer requirements to edit AVCHD

[David Wayne Groves]

Also Intel has just announced they will be slashing prices yet again on the current Duo and Quadcore lines in the 3rd quarter, meaning you could get a Quadcore Q6600 for under $200 very soon if you would want do build your own system...My Q6600 Quad handles the AVCHD format easily with no need for overclocking whatsoever, and with the price of RAM being so cheap I just upgraded to 8Gig in my Vista 64Bit rig, this will help even further....

Specs:
Camcorder Canon HG10
Vista Ultimate 64Bit
MSI P65N Sli MB
Quadcore Q6600 2.4
8Gig DDR2 XMS800
8800GTX 768Mb
400Gig SATA 3 HD
320Gig SATA 3 HD
2- Liteon Lightscribe 20X DVD+R/-R
Auzentech 7.1 Prelude Soundcard
600 Watt PS
Software- Vegas 8Pro, Pinnacle 11 Ultimate, Nero 8

[Osmany Tellez]

Originally Posted by Bill Mette

That is not correct. None of Apple's software products are capable of working with AVCHD nateively. You have to transcode to either AIC or preferably one of the two variants of ProRes 422.

If you weren't already aware, you can download all of FCP's documentation (other than the Help content) from Apple's web site. The document "Final Cut Pro 6 Working With High Definition and Broadcast Formats" would probably be of particular interest to you along with User Manual Appendix called "Video Formats Supported by Final Cut Pro."

http://www.apple.com/support/manuals/finalcutpro/

As for performance, you may want to take a quick look at my recent experience at an Apple store. I didn't play with the same machines you are considering but my experience may give you a bit of perspective of where the options may stand relative to each other.

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showpost....83&postcount=6

Thanks a lot Bill. I get it now...very clear.

Thanks

Osmany Tellez

[Mario Salazar]

Yeah, I tried the mac and now will return the mac. It destroyed my video in the conversion to .mov, though it worked fine when I installed windows and used the pixela software. However, if I am going to run windows I might as well just get a PC. Thinking about getting a dell quad core with a blue ray writer. I will report back.

[Bruce Foreman]

My 5-6 year old HP laptop got to where it couldn't keep up much anymore so I just got in a replacement Dell Inspiron 1525 with Intel Core2 Duo T7250 processor at 2.0GHz clock speed. 3GB of RAM and integrated graphics (no separate card).

I haven't tried it with 1920x1080 AVCHD yet but it does handle 1440x1080 just fine with Pinnacle Studio 11.1.2 plus.

While it would be nice to use the full quality of some of these cams, 1440x1080 looks at least as clear and sharp as HDV and I think that's what I'll work with for now as I can edit with either the desktop or on location with the laptop.

[Mario Salazar]

Originally Posted by Bill Mette

That is not correct. None of Apple's software products are capable of working with AVCHD nateively. You have to transcode to either AIC or preferably one of the two variants of ProRes 422.

If you weren't already aware, you can download all of FCP's documentation (other than the Help content) from Apple's web site. The document "Final Cut Pro 6 Working With High Definition and Broadcast Formats" would probably be of particular interest to you along with User Manual Appendix called "Video Formats Supported by Final Cut Pro."

http://www.apple.com/support/manuals/finalcutpro/

As for performance, you may want to take a quick look at my recent experience at an Apple store. I didn't play with the same machines you are considering but my experience may give you a bit of perspective of where the options may stand relative to each other.

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showpost....83&postcount=6

I am really disappointed in my mac experience. First the transcode into imovie created some nasty artifacts. Yes I have not used Final Cut Pro (FCP) but I am not getting led up the hill any further. I am going to return this machine and build a super windows based machine for $500 less and be able to work natively in an OS I am familiar with. I don't understand the love for mac.

On another note, does anyone have a suggestion for video cards? I can get 2 2400 pros w/ 256 memory working together for cheap, but would it be better to get a 2600 XT with 512 and a higher processor instead?

[Mario Salazar]

Also, for you pinnacle users, is there a way to import .mts clips already dlded to a hard drive rather than from the cam?

[Bruce Foreman]

I pull the SDHC card out of the camera, insert it into a reader, plug that into a USB port and copy the .mts files directly into a project folder under Pinnacle on my hard drive. (Canon HF100, for the HF10 if clips are on the internal memory you are supposed to be able to copy then internally over to an SDHC card).

To make things easier when editing I review and rename those from the 0000.mts format to something that means something to me. On a current Ft. Chadbourne project all cavalry clips are renamed to cav001.mts, cav002.mts and so on. Other subjects are treated the same way and then I group each subject into it's own sub folder.

Then all I have to do is tell Pinnacle where to look for the specific subject clips and they show up as thumbnails with the names that give me a further clue as to what they are.

I never have to download from the cam, I love the simplicity of that part of the workflow.

And Pinnacle just announced version 12. One of the improvements is supported authoring to real BluRay disk media. Registered Pinnacle users are offered a discounted upgrade.

[Ross McKinnon]

Originally Posted by Bruce Foreman

And Pinnacle just announced version 12. One of the improvements is supported authoring to real BluRay disk media. Registered Pinnacle users are offered a discounted upgrade.

Bruce where did you read this my friend, have been to pinnacle but cant see anything about 12 :(

Ross

[Bruce Foreman]

I didn't get the email some did. But when I fired up Studio yesterday to work on a project, a dialog box with the notice appeared.

I found this on one of the forums at pinnaclesys.com:

Studio 12 upgrade preorder info:

Guys

The only available information regarding Studio 12 is what is contained in the pre-order email that was sent to registered user that sign-up for our newsletter. More information will be available soon from our web site but I do not have a date.



If you are in the U.S. you can pre-order at:



http://www.pinnaclesys.com/studio12preorder



or contact our US Sales department at: (866) 446-0833


Thanks
Jon T
Pinnacle Tech Support

For anyone reading this who is not a registered Pinnacle Studio owner, the discounted upgrade will install ONLY if a previous version is detected or if you have a disk from a previous version to insert when prompted.

[Ken Ross]

Originally Posted by Mario Salazar

I am really disappointed in my mac experience. First the transcode into imovie created some nasty artifacts. Yes I have not used Final Cut Pro (FCP) but I am not getting led up the hill any further. I am going to return this machine and build a super windows based machine for $500 less and be able to work natively in an OS I am familiar with. I don't understand the love for mac.

I too don't understand the love for Mac when it comes to video. Yes, in the old days they were probably the way to go, but with the huge strides in the Windows environment and the multiple editing choices you have, I don't see why I'd want to be handcuffed to essentially one program.

The other thing is that anytime I've played with Macs (even the high power units), they seem slow compared to the results I get with Edius Pro in the Windows environment. But each to his own I guess.

[Sinisa Jovanovic]

Originally Posted by Bruce Foreman

My 5-6 year old HP laptop got to where it couldn't keep up much anymore so I just got in a replacement Dell Inspiron 1525 with Intel Core2 Duo T7250 processor at 2.0GHz clock speed. 3GB of RAM and integrated graphics (no separate card).

I haven't tried it with 1920x1080 AVCHD yet but it does handle 1440x1080 just fine with Pinnacle Studio 11.1.2 plus.

While it would be nice to use the full quality of some of these cams, 1440x1080 looks at least as clear and sharp as HDV and I think that's what I'll work with for now as I can edit with either the desktop or on location with the laptop.

I tried few days ago on vaio with Core2 Duo T7500 processor at 2.2GHz clock speed,with GeForce 8600M GS graphic card and 3GB of RAM to convert without any effects raw AVCHD file from HF10 1920x1080,about 2 mins long on same version of pinnacle to blu-ray mpeg file.
Pinnacle just stopped rendering after about 500 frames and only possibility was to close it.

Tried then on same laptrop same rendering on trial of Vegas 8 pro,it finished rendering in 5 mins without problem.

Seems pinnacle can done it on more powerful machines only,but vegas can on this laptop too,I'll buy full vegas version rather then new computer.

Pinnacle is ok for HDV,slow a bit too on my laptop,but ok for its price.

[Stas Bobkov]

Does Pinnacle recompress AVCHD or it'll be able to find and cut at I-frames only when I put my HF10 footage onto the timeline? Any ideas on how it works?
I just got my Canon HF10 and trying to figure out simpliest possible way to trim clips with no quality loss.

Thanks.

[David Sayed]

Originally Posted by Stas Bobkov

Does Pinnacle recompress AVCHD or it'll be able to find and cut at I-frames only when I put my HF10 footage onto the timeline? Any ideas on how it works?
I just got my Canon HF10 and trying to figure out simpliest possible way to trim clips with no quality loss.

Thanks.

I was wondering the same thing. If it doesn't transcode, then how can it edit to anything other than I-frames?

[Mario Salazar]

I am just wondering, does anyone use a crossfire or sli system, or is this overkill? I am considering motherboards with X38 and P35 chipsets and see no difference other than crossfire support (X38 has PCI 2.0 support). I am wondering if there are any gains to using two video cards rather than one in video editing. Right now I have settled on a Asus P5K3 Deluxe/WiFi-AP with a Q9300 2.5 g quad core (overclocked to 3.0), an ATI 3870 OC edition with 1 gig of memory, 2 gigs of DDR3 1333 mhz memory (OCZ), a raptor for my OS, a seagate 7200.10 for my program files, and 2 7200.10(in a sata raid) for my media files. Just want to know if maybe I should get a x38 board instead, but that seems more appropriate for gaming, not editing.

Let me know.
Regards,
Mario

[Mario Salazar]

anyone? I would appreciate help.