ACVHD Lite export flickers really bad

[Noah Beney]

BTW, I’m using 9.0c, on a 64 bit Windows 7.

[John Rofrano]

What is your project properties set for? How are you exporting? Try matching the project to your footage using the Match Media button and see if that helps:

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com

[Noah Beney]

Hi John,

Thanks for the help. I just tried matching settings but no avail.
Perhaps my export settings are wrong. To export, I just go to File, Render As and I’ve tried Avi (compressed and uncompressed), wmv, Sony AVC, mpg, etc. Also tried custom settings where I matched frame rate, etc. Still get really bad flickering.

[John Rofrano]

What does the flicker look like? Could you post a sample on Vimeo or something? Render to Sony AVC 1280x720p mp4 file.

Is there any way for the camera to shoot 29.97? If so, try that mode and see if it fixes the problem. If it does, at least you have narrowed it down to a frame rate issue and not something else. Then you know what problem to solve.

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com

[Noah Beney]

Hi John,

Thanks again for the quick reply.
The only way to change frame rate on camera is to cahnge the shooting method from AVCHD Lite (.MTS) to Motion Jpeg (.MOV)

The output is then at 30fps and looks fine after export from vegas.
The problem is I shot my whole vacation in AVCHD. I tried exporting to your suggestion of Sony AVC 1280x720p mp4 file. Quality was so bad I had to up the bit rate to 20 million. Still had the flicker and youtube wouldn’t play it back.

I was able to upload an AVI version with the same flicker.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PXrAwkJU_M

Is it possible that Vegas insn’t compatible with the AVCHD Lite or that I need some sort of codec?

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[Bokman Chan]

My panasonic avchd lite video was flickering with vegas pro 9c. I downgraded to Vegas 9b and the flicker is gone (in both preview and after rendering).

[Tomi Blinnikka]

There’s a bug in Vegas 9.0c 64-bit. Use the 32-bit until Sony fixes the issue.

I’ve reported it, but it would probably be good to get as many people to report it so it gets higher priority as a fix.

//Tomi B.

[John Rofrano]

> Is it possible that Vegas insn’t compatible with the AVCHD Lite or that I need some sort of codec?

I had never even heard of AVCHD Lite until now but I did a little Googling and it sounds like nobody can edit this stuff. From what I have read, it’s not really 59fps, it’s 29fps encoded in a very strange way that makes applications think it is 59fps. I’m sure that Vegas has no idea how to handle this odd format.

One thing that you could try is to set your project properties to HDV 720-30p (1280×720, 29.970 fps). Then drop a clip onto the timeline, right-click on the event and select Properties. Then for the Undersample rate: set it to 0.500. This should playback only half of the frames and hopefully eliminate the flicker.

If that doesn’t work, I would contact Panasonic and ask what software they recommend that you use to edit this video. It seems most people are using some kind of encoder to convert these files into something that is editable.

Maybe you should seriously consider buying a video camera if you want to video tape your vacations in the future. I have never seen video from a still image camera that edited easily. They are all non-standard formats.

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com

[Noah Beney]

Thanks John,

Unfortunately, changing the undersample rate was no help.
If anyone else is interested, I found a free program called Handbrake that can convert the ACVHD Lite to mp4, which imports and exports from vegas pretty well.

I also read that Imovie had an update in July 2009 that added the functionality of editing ACVHD Lite so I’ll try that. Its just a bummer that I made my whole movie already.

Thanks again for the help.

[Douglas Spotted eagle]

I suspect you’ll find the same problem with the Handbrake export. If you want to send me a small chunk, I’ll put it into Handbrake…
AVCHD Lite is a serious PITA, some of the sports folks are using it on the little cams too, and it’s problematic for Premiere, Ulead Movie too.

Douglas Spotted Eagle
VASST

Certified Sony Vegas Trainer
Aerial Camera/Instructor