Comments on: Update: Premiere Pro & AVC HD revisited – a list of solutions

By: Amadeo

Amadeo — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 00:10:22 +0000

I have been using voltaic (shredworx) and imovie 08 to convert footage to h.264 for editing in Adobe Premiere Pro now for over a year. Whilst I find these solutions do what they are supposed to do, I find that I am not totally satisfied with the practice of intermediate encoding to h.264 from the AVCHD file, as it results in a high level of image artifact and loss of the dolby surround sound. I am but a novice, completely new to video editing but one thing i am reasonable sure of is that my next camera is probably not going to be AVCHD.

By: Mike Fulton

Mike Fulton — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 00:10:53 +0000

To me, the biggest problem about this whole situation is that Adobe simply refuses to tell us if native AVCHD support for Premiere is coming or not, and if it is, when we can expect to see it.

It’s been, what, over two years now since camcorders with AVCHD came out? My guess is that Adobe decided awhile back to simply ignore AVCHD in the hopes that it wouldn’t catch on. And now that it’s still around and gaining in popularity, they’ve been caught with their pants down.

The idea of third party support would be fine if the plug-ins didn’t cost nearly as much as the main program. People with the budget to afford $500 for a plug-in probably aren’t using AVCHD-based cameras in the first place. How many users are going to spend $500 for a plug-in so they can edit footage from their $1000 camera? Especially when they expect (perhaps incorrectly) that Adobe will eventually get around to some form of native support?

I know Adobe has no control over how much MainConcept or anybody else charges for their products. I’m not even saying that the plug-ins should be cheaper. The problem is that Adobe seems to have decided that the third-party plug-ins have sufficiently addressed the issue and that nothing further needs to be done.

Wrong! Every day that Adobe fails to provide native support for AVCHD is a day that they lose customers. People with AVCHD equipment will be buying Sony Vegas, Pinnacle Studio, or Corel’s VideoStudio when they otherwise would have bought Premiere.

By: David

David — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 15:56:25 +0000

I bought the MainConcepts plugin and for the breif period I used it, it was very nice to be able to edit AVCHD. Of course I had to upgrade my CPU. And eventually the solution was unworkable in my situation as the plugin seemed to interfere with all other codecs and so suddenly I couldn’t edit in DV with the plug-in installed. But the picture was great and even the HDV footage looked better. But now I am using NERO to transcode the AVCHD to HDV and edit that. I just don’t get why PPro CS3 can handle XDCAM now, but not AVCHD.

By: Brian

Brian — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 13:48:31 +0000

Good to hear that there are some options. I’m looking into Main Concept, but am unfamiliar with it, or any of the other programs you’ve mentioned. I’ve got a Sony HDR-SR11. Know what the process is to go from camera to CS3?

[DR - Brian, I would assume that you would drag your media across to the computer and then edit away with Premiere Pro. Give the trial a try and good luck!]

By: Robin

Robin — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 07:29:36 +0000

Thank you very much for this answer! One more question though. From what I read AVCHD can be a very demanding codec for even up to date pc’s, is BMD’s MJPEG codec also long gop based and does it not suffer the same problem, meaning you need a very fast pc to handle it?

[DR - You're welcome. The MJPEG codec is not a long gop codec and so should be less demanding when it comes to editing. Of course, with video editing, the better your PC, the better the overall editing experience. Let me know how you make out...]

By: Robin

Robin — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 04:20:34 +0000

I’m planning to finally leave SD behind and since I got so used to my Pana dvx100b I was really exited to finally see that a replacement, the AG-HMC150, will come out.
Now I don’t have experience with the AVC HD format and I use Premiere CS3, I was thinking about adding an intensity pro card to my system but I don’t understand exactly what the card will do in combination with premiere pro.
If I understand right the card will allow you to capture without any compression but:
Is the capture process in realtime?

[DR - the intensity card can capture in realtime either in uncompressed or compressed.]

Can premiere work with those uncompressed files without having to convert it into another codec it can read, since Premiere can’t handle AVC HD files yet?

[DR - Yup. of course the storage requirements of uncompressed are a bit daunting. I'd recommend BMD's MJPEG codec for lighter requirements.]

I’m using a Q6600 processor right now, will this allow realtime editing with those uncompressed files?
All these HD formats really get me confused, I always have known dv and workflow has been so easy with Premiere. But since I must step into the HD arena as well I am quite worried to make a wrong decision when it comes to choosing a format if that will be causing more workflow problems.
I also read that the intensity cards are not supported on Dell workstations, well, lucky me to have a XPS420, so I guess the card would not be an option for me?

[DR - Check with BMD about compatibility and/or buy from a vendor who will accept returns in the event that you can't get it working. AVCHD + BMD is similar to a DV workflow. Once you capture it, you edit away. Hope this helps.]

By: Greg

Greg — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 08:16:35 +0000

Thanks very much for this update. However, I think a more accurate title for this post would be “Update: Premiere Pro & AVC HD revisited – a list of workarounds”

[DR - I disagree. While some might be considered workarounds, many are in fact solutions. Whether they are solutions for you, that is the ultimate question.

Thanks for the comment.]

By: Carl

Carl — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 18:15:28 +0000

Thanks for the update.
Still, When a read the title of this post, I thought the format support update for CS3 finally was here. I don’t think it’s right to require cs3 customers to buy/use third party sollutions just to edit a very common video format today.

I start to fear support won’t be given until CS4 (Or have I missed something? . In that case I don’t think I will stay in the adobe upgrade game anymore.

[DR - Hmm, good point Carl. I'll amend the title to say "update"]

By: Clint Johnson

Clint Johnson — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 17:29:16 +0000

What I”m hoping for is that there are Adobe coders waiting, hunched over a keyboard, for Red to release the SDK for their R3D file format.

I have a Red and I really don’t want to go out and buy a Mac with Final Cut just to be able to work with the footage I shoot.

[DR - Clint, we here you. The film workflow stuff is something that I do not work with on a day to day basis but I know that we have RED customers like you who want to work natively with RED files and that Premiere Pro does provide a good chance for that happening. I do not know when that will happen since, as you mentioned, RED is working on getting information out to a broader (ie not just Apple) customer base.

No doubt it will be something worth watching for the rest of 2008 and 2009.]

By: David Newman

David Newman — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 11:26:08 +0000

The list misses all the CineForm products which transcode AVCHD to AVI for the Windows platform, just as it has done for years with HDV, XDCAM, DVCPRO-HD, etc. For the beginner, either NEO HDV or Aspect HD (optimized from Premiere Pro.)

[DR – Thanks David. http://www.cineform.com