help with AVCHD

[Brandon Fraley]

hey guys. I shot a bit yesterday with a Canon HG10, but I don't know how to get the footage off the drive. I plugged in the camera to my computer, the drive appeared and I copied over the contents, but there are no video files. There are a bunch of tiny files I can't identify, along with a group of .MTS files which are large and I assume are the videos.

Any idea how to get these into final cut?

THANKS!

 

[Andy Jarosz]

You can import these right into AE and premiere CS4. I assume FCP can do it or has a plugin. AVID, well, have fun rendering everything out from another program.

 

[Stefan Christou]

You need the most recent version of Final Cut 6, or the new Final Cut 7. In an open project initiate log and transfer (not log and capture), if memory serves correct it's in the file menu.

You will then want to select the folder AVCHD, (workflow note: you will always need to leave the folder named AVCHD, just like an XDCAM EX or P2 virtual drive, you need to keep the folder structure intact, so it's best to store the AVCHD folder in another folder, named after whatever the reel should be called, cos you can't have more than one folder called AVCHD in a single parent folder [dah!]) the video files will then load in a magazine on the left for you to review, log and transfer into prores.

 

[Brandon Fraley]

log and transfer is working. thanks

couple things. one is that this is really shitty looking HD and I'm going to be cutting it 1k proxies. Is there a way to transfer them in at 1K? like RED Rushes?

Also, in the L&T preferences, the only codec options are Prores and Apple Intermediate Codec? I don't know what Apple intermediate codec is, but isn't going Prores really wasteful for a 15mb/s codec? the file sizes are huge in comparison. Are there no other options?

 

[Brandon Fraley]

ALSO! I've tried log and transfering the clips twice now, and it seems that any clip longer than 4min 29sec doesn't transfer. I get red exclamation point icons.

Any insight?

 

[Vince Doran]

I've had to input mine into Imovie and then export to FC as XML files lot of stuffing around but it works

 

[Stefan Christou]

I've not had that problem with clips crashing myself, but I'd guess it's to do with memory. Like you alluded to AVCHD is unpacked by final cut into prores at about ten times it's original size, that's because AVCHD is a very complexly compressed inter-frame codec, that makes it too processor heavy to scrub through or edit properly in it's native format – just like HDV back in the day.

I'd try setting in and out points at less than 04:29 and cutting up your clips a bit if necessary.

I always follow workflows based on preserving quality all the way through so your conform can be the best quality it can. Working with AVCHD in FCP is not an offline-online workflow, so you'll be conforming from your timeline and whatever you've transcoded the files too, which is either Prores or Apple Intermediate Codec.

AIC is a non-temporally-compressed (not inter-frame) codec designed as an intermediate to HDV.

Prores is similar but a more recent codec (read better) and is also bigger, but it's good to be aware that when shooting in AVCHD you will need to edit almost as-if you've shot RGB, with all the same storage requirements. :devil:

 

[mailber350]

Final Cut Pro does not have native editing support for AVCHD footage. You can use the Log and Transfer window to transcode AVCHD footage to an Apple ProRes codec or the Apple Intermediate Codec during transfer. But the ProRes or AIC video files become even big, even 10 times than the original one. Final Cut Pro does not have native editing support for AVCHD footage. You can use the Log and Transfer window to transcode AVCHD footage to an Apple ProRes codec or the Apple Intermediate Codec during transfer. But the ProRes or AIC video files become even big, even 10 times than the original one.

So it is a nice choice to transcode AVCHD video to other playable or editable video formats. The program I am using is Aunsoft MTS Converter for Mac which natively support AVCHD conversion and editing.