Is this PC OK for AVCHD editing, with Vegas?

[Norris Combs]

The videoguys DIY8 build is around $1500, with my "upgrades", it should still be under $2000, which is my budget. the current PC is 3 years old, Q6600 cpu, Win XP,.... While converting the raw AVCHD footage, using Cineform, may work, I feel my system is getting long in the tooth. Might as well get a new one. I'll have to think about this a little bit. My problem is that Vegas shuts down when I import the AVCHD files. If Cineform can convert those files into something else that doesn't cause Vegas to die, then it'll be worth the $129 cost.

Thanks,

[Pete Cofrancesco]

Why don't you download their trial version and see if that fixes the problem. If it does then you can stay with your current system or do a budget build.

http://estore.cineform.com/downloads.aspx

I was able to build $600 i5 system that does great. For $800 you should be able to build a budget i7. You'll find you'll end up spending a disproportional amount of money to get a small performance gain above a basic system. In my opinion any system you build no matter how expensive will be slow after 5 years.

[Norris Combs]

I will d/l the trial Cineform and go from there.
Thanks,

[Norris Combs]

Update: Cineform Neoscene converted all the troublesome files to avi. The file size increased about 10 times. Vegas imported them fine, and I am happily editing again. No new PC needed!

[Pete Cofrancesco]

Good to hear that worked.

[Norris Combs]

Thanks Pete!!

[Norris Combs]

Update: In my previous update, I reported no problem. That project was only 9 minutes long, and at that time the Neoscene trial was still in effect (within 2 weeks of downloading).

My latest project is 15+ minutes long. Neoscene trial download has expired. However, I used Neoscene to convert those AVCHD files to .avi before the expiration date. I attempted to render to Sony AVC (same as the previous successful project). Vegas just shut down at about 20% into the render, I tried this 5 times, and the stoppage occurred at exactly the same point (20%). The part that WAS rendered played fine, the size of this file is 698 MB.

[1] Is it possible that the trial version of Neoscene has a timecode built-in, to disrupt all the files that were converted to .avi by Neoscene DURING the effective trial period, but were not used in a project & rendered until AFTER Neoscene expired? My thinking in asking this question is that Neoscene wants me to purchase the full version. No big deal, I was planning on doing it anyways.

[2] Since Vegas shut down without any warning message(s), is there a log file maintained by Vegas somewhere on my computer? Maybe I can post that log file, so you guys can help me.

Thanks,

[Bruce Foreman]

I, too, have a Q6600 based machine and had only two ways I could realistically edit AVCHD (and it wouldn't even touch Canon DSLR MOV's!). One was to drop the bitrate in the camera to 12Mbps, and the other was to replace the ATI card with an Nvidia and then I had to "go slow" and use 2nd track and transitions sparingly.

A Core i7 920 based machine did some better but still could not handle the Canon DSLR files without transcoding.

A few weeks ago I got an HP h8 with 2nd generation Core i7 2600, 8GB RAM, Nvidia 530 1GB (upgrade for $60 IIRC), and a few minor tweaks (including bigger power supply). Cost came in at just under $1250 and with discount coupons (and special sale) it came in at $964.

In today's editing environment there may be no substitute for a modern fast CPU. I use what is probably the most PC resource "HONGRY" NLE package (Avid Pinnacle Studio 15 - latest version) and I can drop both AVCHD and Canon DSLR MOV clips on the same timeline and editing seems to be going smooth as butter. With this computer, I can come in straight from a shoot, copy the "take" from media cards to a pair of external hard drives (for redundant storage), copy what I need from one of them to an internal and be editing within minutes.

You were on the right track with the Core i7 hex core machine but could get by with a lot less than 24GB RAM.

[Chris Harding]

Hi Bruce

Vegas doesn't depend on the video card at all up to version 10..version 11 will be different. I could actually struggle thru AVCHD at 17mbps on my little DuoCore 2.2 but preview was awful and it rendered with Vegas 9 about 8 X realtime!!!

With my i7 2600 and 8GB ram (much the same as you) and a simple video card I can preview 24 mbps video at full resolution and the render is super fast too (sometimes pretty close to just 1/3rd of realtime)

It's so nice to render a 20 minute wedding ceremony in 7 or 8 minutes instead of over 2 hours or more!!!

That's in Version 10E at present!!! Plenty fast enough for me!!!

Chris

[Lee Mullen]

This machine would be good IMO. MSI Global ? Notebook - GT780

[Larry Kropp]

When I try and play AVCHD codec on the adobe premiere pro 5.5 time line at full resolution it sticks and studders. It is better if I play back in 1/2 resolution. However HDV files and DV files play smoothly and perfectly fine at full resolution. I guess decompressing the highly compressed AVCHD codec will always be a painful process. I won't go into all the details but I have a souped up system. 64 bit, 12gb ram 10,000rpm hard drive and AVCHD is just not a good codec for me. I will stick with SD & HD files or P2HD etc., but no more AVCHD for me.

Larry Kropp
L&M Video