How do you edit AVCHD?

What is AVCHD?

AVCHD is a highly compressed form of video stored in MPEG4 format. The sound can either be stereo or 5.1 surround sound depending on the camera. The picture is excellent given the amount of space it takes up but the heavy compression leads to problems when editing. The footage is recorded in the camera to memory cards or a hard drive or in some cases onto a DVD-style disc. Once recorded you need to transfer the footage form the memory card etc onto your computer for editing. This is generally done by simply plugging in a USB cable and copying the footage across.

There are two main formats of AVCHD - Panasonic and Sony. Both are the same basic format but are slightly different.

AVCHD can be recorded in various sizes and at various data rates -

The three main sizes would be 1280 x 720, 1440 x 1080 and 1920 x 1080. 1280 x 720 & 1440 x 1080 are exactly the same number of pixels as used in HDV cameras and you should get an equivalent picture. HDV cameras record in MPEG2, which is less advanced compression than MPEG4 as used by AVCHD, and so is easier edit.

1920 x 1080, or "full HD" means that you will be filming at the top quality of HD and theoretically better than HDV. Having said that other considerations mean that an AVCHD camera's picture may not be as good as HDV. AVCHD cameras are designed for the domestic user and so are normally cheaper than good quality HDV camera. A good quality HDV camera with a good lens and decent controls will probably produce a better picture than a domestic AVCHD camera . There are some professional AVCHD cameras available from Panasonic, however.

Another main difference between HDV and AVCHD is that HDV is recorded to tape, and AVCHD to memory cards - although you can choose to record to a disc based format with HDV by using a FireStore, and some new HDV cameras are arriving with card recorders attached.

1280 x 720 footage is always recorded as progressive - this means every picture is recorded as a whole frame.  1440 & 1920 footage can be recorded either progressive or interlace - with interlace footage each frame is split into two "fields" so that you can have more pictures per second, meaning smoother footage.   If filming at 25 fps progressive you can sometimes have problems with fast moving objects or pans - this is because the human eye really needs to see 50 pictures per second for smooth movement.   This is why some cameras will film in an interlace mode - because even thought you are filming 25 pictures per second as they are split into two "fields" you end up with 50 half pictures per second which means better movement.   Some cameras will film at 720P at 25 fps and 50 fps progressive, or at 1440/1920 25fps interlace, or 1440/1920 25fps progressive.  No AVCHD cameras currently available film at 1920 50fps progressive which would give the best quality, but is the hardest to make.

The frames rates etc at which cameras film vary a lot - whatever the setting though you have the same issues when it comes to editing.

Which programs support it directly?

Ideally you just want to copy the footage off your camera, put it in your editing program and use it (called using the "native" footage).  You can do this with many of the programs available today. Grass Valley EDIUS, Sony Vegasand Adobe Premiere Pro CS4  let you put AVCHD footage directly on the timeline. Initially Vegas would only deal with Sony AVCHD footage but it will now also load Panasonic. How well it plays back is dependant on how good your computer is, and does vary from one program to another.  If trying to edit native then we would recommend using the latest type of i7 system.

Why is it hard work for the computer to edit the native footage?

AVCHD is a great filming format, does an excellent picture in a very small space and is one of the formats you can use to make Blu-ray discs.  It is so flexible because the way the video is stored is pretty complicated.  Just like with a video DVD the footage is not stored as whole frames but instead as bits of frames.  To see one frame you need to look at several, which means the computer needs to be doing all this work just to try and play the footage back, let alone try to add effects.  

Why do cameras use this format if it is so hard to edit?

To be able to use relatively cheap cards, like HD SD cards used in Panasonic cameras the video cannot take up too much space or use too much data per second.  If it was less compressed and used up more data then the cards would not be fast enough to keep up.  Therefore you would have to need to buy much faster and more expensive cards.  This is one of the reasons that formats like XDCAM-EX, which are less compressed, film on to SxS cards - SxS cards are considerably faster than SD cards.  They are also a lot more expensive!  So AVCHD is a compromise - a way to get a really good picture on to media that is easily affordable.

How well can you edit native footage in the various programs?

Assuming that you have an up-to-date computer, such as a 2.66Ghz i7 the footage will play reasonably well.

Sony Vegas

In Vegas you can play the footage at full quality quite happily.  Editing and trimming is smooth as well.  If you start add effects Vegas will not be able to play it back properly but instead will drop the quality so it will always show you something.  You can always render to see it properly.  On our i7 system we can manage a clip with a cross-dissolve before Vegas needs to render.  However, the footage is usable.  Preferably use the 64bit version of Vegas as this can use more processing power on a modern computer.

Adobe Premiere Pro CS4

Adobe Premiere can also play the footage back very well.  On our i7 system we can manage a cross dissolve with a layer of picture in picture as well, so slightly better than Vegas.  Like Vegas trimming is fine.  As with Vegas having lots of AVCHD clips in the project makes it take longer to load and will increase the amount of time it takes to export to different formats like Blu-ray and DVD.

Grass Valley EDIUS

Grass Valley make two version of EDIUS - NEO and the full version.  At the end of 2009 Grass Valley introduced the AVCHD Booster Pack - initially this was only available in EDIUS NEO and added to the full version of in April 2010.   Without the booster pack EDIUS cannot even play back AVCHD footage.  With the booster pack editing AVCHD is just like editing DV footage.  Even opening a project is pretty quick and encoding video is as fast as other formats.   With the Booster Pack our i7 system managed 6 picture flying around without rendering, making editing native footage really easy.  Even on a slightly older quad core computer native footage was still usable.

What do you do if you do not have the latest type of computer?

1. Buy one!  Of course we would say that since that is how we make our living but it is one option.
2. Change the footage into something that is easier to use.  The question is what format do you choose and how do you do it?

How do I get the footage into a program that does not support it?

Some programs do not support native AVCHD footage.  If this is the case then you will need to convert the footage to something these programs understand.  The way of converting is exactly the same as if you had to convert footage to make it more usable.  The format you choose depends on the program, as does the amount of time it will take to convert. Below I have listed out the various options, and we have included information on how to get the footage into Avid Liquid, a program that has been discontinued but which a lot of our customers are still using.

Convert to CineForm

CineForm is an American company who has been making their own codec for many years,  In the early days of HDV, when HDV was too hard for computers to edit, we used Cineform.  The same is possible now for AVCHD footage.  CineForm footage can be loaded into Adobe Premiere, Sony Vegas and even Grass Valley EDIUS - although not Avid Media Composer or Liquid.  There are various bundles of CineForm codec, some of which have either a faster conversion program or a plug-in for Adobe Premiere for better realtime editing. You can read more about CineForm here.

Convert to DVC Pro HD

If you have a Panasonic camera then there is a utility from Panasonic to convert AVCHD to DVC Pro HD. The latter is a much less compress format which is easier for the computer to edit. All programs these days support DVC Pro HD. There are various sizes of DVC Pro HD although none are 1920 x 1080. If using PAL footage then this program will convert it to 1440 x 1080 - fine if you are using that as your filming size, but not so good if filming at 1920 x 1080 as the picture is bound to be slightly inferior to the original. However the quality drop will not be huge and if you have a program that does not directly support AVCHD this may be your best option.

This utility only produces stereo sound and does not work with footage taken from a Sony AVCHD camera.  This type of footage would work in Avid Liquid, Avid Media Composer, Adobe Premiere Pro and Grass Valley EDIUS.   Because of the size issue it is not the best format to use for the last two programs as they have better alternatives.

Convert to MPEG

You could convert the footage to MPEG using an editing program. For a customer using Avid Liquid we did just this using a copy of Pinnacle's home user editing program, Studio. We copied the files onto the computer, loaded them to Studio to convert and then once done loaded them into Liquid. This is not the best way of editing this footage but the only practical one for the customer concerned since he had Sony AVCHD footage and a copy of Avid Liquid.

Capture through HDMI or component

You could capture the footage the "old fashioned" way - record the video via either component orHDMI using a suitable capture card. HDMI is preferable as the signal is digital ,where as component video is analogue, although in practice we have seen very little difference between the two. When you capture the computer will convert it to something that the computer can use easily, which could be totally uncompressed,  Motion JPEG compression, if using a Black Magic card,Matrox MPEG I-frame if using a Matrox card, orCanopus HQ if using an EDIUS card. All would be good formats and work well.

If AVCHD is hard work should I stick with HDV?

HDV is easier to edit than AVCHD so you do not need such a powerful computer to edit the footage, although this does depend a lot on which program you choose to edit footage.  With any program you could always convert AVCHD footage as outlined and it would work fine anyway, it's just more hassle.  Also the programs do a much better job of editing native footage if you buy a better (and more expensive) computer. 

If you are going to buy a new computer and say to yourself "I am probably going to spend about £2,000-£3,000 on a new computer with software" you can then forget about the how to edit the stuff and concentrate on which type of camera will actually be better to use.

AVCHD cameras can film in 1920 x 1080 and film on cards or hard drives.  This means the technically they are better quality than HDV (which is 1440 x 1080) and they are more convenient than using tape.  Less moving parts also means a longer battery life and generally a lighter camera.  It also means you can film for longer periods (tape is limited to 1 hour).  Of course you can film HDV onto cards with some cameras, or add in device like a FireStore and film onto a hard drive instead, so you can get the convenience of not using tape with HDV, its just that most HDV cameras do not come with cards or hard drives and have to be added.  

In terms of quality it is not as clear cut as that because how good the camera is does depend on other things - for example I have a £300 Panasonic camera that films at 1920 x 1080 and an £800 HDV camera (filming at 1440 x  1080).  In good light the pictures from the Panasonic are better.  In bad light the HDV camera wins every time.  If I was to use one of the professional AVCHD cameras from Panasonic (see some info on them here: http://www.dvc.uk.com/acatalog/Panasonic_AVCHD_camcorders.html) then I would have better pictures in both good light and low light than my £800 HDV camera.

I should not buy an HDV camera because tape based stuff is dead isn't it?

This is not true.  Card based formats are the future, in the same way that still photography has moved away from film and on to cards, so will video.  However we are sure tape will be around for many years to come!  The advantage of buying an HDV camera is that it films HD footage in exactly the same way as you will have been filming standard definition so you don't have to work out different ways of doing things. 

If you go card based then you will have to use a slightly different work flow - however don't be put off, despite this rather long document on the pitfalls and problems of AVCHD it is really not that hard and with every new revision of software keeps getting better.  We are heading towards a situation where all you will do is film the video, copy it on your computer, edit it and output and you wont really care where it came from.   We are not there yet, but with the advent of faster computers and new software like EDIUS with its AVCHD booster pack, or Premiere Pro CS5 with its Mercury Playback Engine we are getting closer!

What potential problems are there?

None really - although if copying files off a hard drive or memory card will be as fast as the connection you have, with my own system I can copy 1 hour from a card in about 15 minutes. If capturing through HDMI or component then 1 hour footage would take 1 hour to capture.

All the different cards we use, from Black Magic (an Intensity with HDMI is just £135 +VAT),Grass Valley, who also have HDMI input using the HDSTORM, and Matrox, with their MX02 range.

Once captured in this way the footage is no longer AVCHD but something a lot more usable, and should look practically the same, if not indistinguishable, from the original.

So which is the best program to choose?

Based purely on which one has the best support for AVCHD then Grass Valley EDIUS would be our choice. However, that should not be your only consideration when deciding which program to use as there are many reasons why you should choose one program over another. Please read the various documents on our website for more information on why you would chose EDIUS, Media Composer, Vegas or Premiere as your preferred editing program.