converting avchd video... at DVinfo.net

Mark Leonard · March 30th, 2010, 04:34 PM

have some video taken on a sony avchd handycam. have pp cs3 and prospect 3.4.9 build 193. being that cs3 doesnt natively support avchd, i was going to use hdlink to convert the files to cineform avi's then do my editing. however, getting an errors when hitting start on the conversion. what am i doing wrong here? this is my first foray into avchd. TIA

David Newman · March 30th, 2010, 05:18 PM

AVCHD was not directly supported in v3.x products. However if you add the missing AVC decoder and demux components, you can make it work. Search back through this forum, I'm sure there were discussions on this about 18 months ago.

John Rich · March 30th, 2010, 05:41 PM

Since I have a Sony HDR-XR 520V and CS3 and the same Prospect HD version you have, I'll pass on a technique Bob Young taught me which seems to work.

This was from a 6/20/08 post by Bob. You need to install a Haali Splitter on your computer before you use HDLink. The problem is that this may interfere with the Sony software that allows you to download the files from the hard drive of the camera. Therefore, I needed two computers. If I wanted to download the files from the hard drive, using the Sony Soiftware, I did it to an external hard drive from first computer without Haali and then plugged the external drive into the second computer with Haali installed. Then I used HDLink on the second computer with the source file on the external HD and converted the files to Cineform .avi into a file on the second computer.
What I've done, also at Bob's suggestion was to record the video onto the memory chip (16gb) and then plugged the usb card reader into the Haali computer and then used the folder on the chip as the source and converted with HD link to a file onto that computer. It's a lot easier that way. Hope that's clear.

Good Luck,
John Rich

Mark Leonard · March 30th, 2010, 09:02 PM

thanks john, i may go that route. wouldnt have to worry bout the sony software as when i plugged the cam in via usb, it simply showed the hard drive on the cam as a folder and i was able to copy/paste the video files. anyway, i decided to install the latest prospect hd 4 as a test for 15 days to see if maybe its worth the upgrade just to be able to convert the files. so when i use the convert feature of hdlink on the prospect hd 4, is it auto de-interlacing upon conversion? im feeding it the avchd 60i files, but getting 29.97 avi's as the output. and the de-interlace check in prefs is unchecked though i dont know if those settings actually do anything in the convert section.

Robert Young · March 31st, 2010, 12:00 AM

Just an update on what John described re Sony AVCHD/CS3/PHD3
I'm now using CS4/PHD4 and the latest version of Sony "Picture Motion Browser" (I think it's v.5).
There are no longer any software conflicts. PMB can import the AVCHD clips along with all of the metadata, HDLink converts them to CFHD.avi, they look and sound perfect in CS4, no fuss, no muss- all on the same system.
Now just waiting for CS5/PHD5/MPE for flawless full rez realtime previews. :)

March 30th, 2010, 04:34 PM	#1
Mark Leonard Regular Crew Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Mobile, Alabama Posts: 166	converting avchd video... have some video taken on a sony avchd handycam. have pp cs3 and prospect 3.4.9 build 193. being that cs3 doesnt natively support avchd, i was going to use hdlink to convert the files to cineform avi's then do my editing. however, getting an errors when hitting start on the conversion. what am i doing wrong here? this is my first foray into avchd. TIA

March 30th, 2010, 05:18 PM	#2
David Newman CTO, CineForm Inc. Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Cardiff-by-the-Sea, California Posts: 8,095	AVCHD was not directly supported in v3.x products. However if you add the missing AVC decoder and demux components, you can make it work. Search back through this forum, I'm sure there were discussions on this about 18 months ago. __________________ David Newman -- web: www.gopro.com blog: cineform.blogspot.com -- twitter: twitter.com/David_Newman

March 31st, 2010, 12:00 AM	#5
Robert Young Trustee Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Coronado Island Posts: 1,472	Just an update on what John described re Sony AVCHD/CS3/PHD3 I'm now using CS4/PHD4 and the latest version of Sony "Picture Motion Browser" (I think it's v.5). There are no longer any software conflicts. PMB can import the AVCHD clips along with all of the metadata, HDLink converts them to CFHD.avi, they look and sound perfect in CS4, no fuss, no muss- all on the same system. Now just waiting for CS5/PHD5/MPE for flawless full rez realtime previews. :) __________________ Bob

March 30th, 2010, 05:41 PM	#3
John Rich Regular Crew Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Dayton, Ohio Posts: 80	Since I have a Sony HDR-XR 520V and CS3 and the same Prospect HD version you have, I'll pass on a technique Bob Young taught me which seems to work. This was from a 6/20/08 post by Bob. You need to install a Haali Splitter on your computer before you use HDLink. The problem is that this may interfere with the Sony software that allows you to download the files from the hard drive of the camera. Therefore, I needed two computers. If I wanted to download the files from the hard drive, using the Sony Soiftware, I did it to an external hard drive from first computer without Haali and then plugged the external drive into the second computer with Haali installed. Then I used HDLink on the second computer with the source file on the external HD and converted the files to Cineform .avi into a file on the second computer. What I've done, also at Bob's suggestion was to record the video onto the memory chip (16gb) and then plugged the usb card reader into the Haali computer and then used the folder on the chip as the source and converted with HD link to a file onto that computer. It's a lot easier that way. Hope that's clear. Good Luck, John Rich

March 30th, 2010, 09:02 PM	#4
Mark Leonard Regular Crew Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Mobile, Alabama Posts: 166	thanks john, i may go that route. wouldnt have to worry bout the sony software as when i plugged the cam in via usb, it simply showed the hard drive on the cam as a folder and i was able to copy/paste the video files. anyway, i decided to install the latest prospect hd 4 as a test for 15 days to see if maybe its worth the upgrade just to be able to convert the files. so when i use the convert feature of hdlink on the prospect hd 4, is it auto de-interlacing upon conversion? im feeding it the avchd 60i files, but getting 29.97 avi's as the output. and the de-interlace check in prefs is unchecked though i dont know if those settings actually do anything in the convert section.