AVCHD via AMA…Disappointed!

[Michael Phillips]

I would copy the AVCHD file to a faster drive and connection that what you describe. File access and AMA are one of the key factors in performance. Once you do, compare the performance. Keep in mind that AVCHD is a beast to decode so you want as much speed as you can get wherever you can get it.

Michael

Michael Phillips

[Shane Ross]

Avid MC6 cannot work with AVCHD footage natively…smoothly. Nor can it work with H.264 from DSLRs smoothly. Those are highly compressed formats that take a lot of processing power to deal with. Adobe Premiere can, if you have a lot of RAM and an NVIDIA card that enables CUDA to activate the Mercury Engine…Then Premiere can deal with AVCHD native.

AVCHD is very very complex.

Do this. Use AMA to access the footage and edit or organize the first day native…if you can take the slowness. THen, when you leave, transcode to DNxHD overnight…so when you get to work in the morning, it will all be done and ready to go as DNxHD and you can edit away happily.

[david braman] “Am I missing something, or is this as good as it gets with footage on an SD card coming across an USB reader?”

Wait…are you trying to edit DIRECTLY FROM THE CARD? Dude…nuh uh. NO way is that fast enough to handle direct editing. USB is slow…the cards aren’t fast enough for this. You are going to have to copy the footage from the card first. THEN AMA…and it will still be somewhat sluggish, but not nearly as bad as working directly from the card.

Shane
Little Frog Post
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def

[Ed Cilley]

I wouldn’t try to edit this off an SD card via USB. Transfer to a faster drive. I have found that when jumping around in long clips it is not a fast as an imported clip, but it should not be “intolerably slow.”

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Anything worth doing at all, is worth doing well.
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[David Powell]

I have a question on this topic. I was given an project with .MTS files which are AVCHD? I cannot link to ama volume or otherwise. I’m afraid it has to do with the camera person renaming the folders. I tried using FCP l&t to create quicktimes to bring into avid but neither FCP nor avid could read the files. Mpeg stream clip won’t read them either. Is there a driver to download for the specific cameras to work with these files via AMA?

[Shane Ross]

Oooooo…bad move on the camera operator’s part. Standard practice is to make NEW folders, and copy the full contents of the card into those folders. The ONLY folders that should be renamed are the new ones that are created. Without the full card structure, FCP nor Avid AMA will be able to access the media.

YOu can try ClipWrap2. It will encode AVCHD as DNxHD that Avid can import.

Shane
Little Frog Post
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def

[Andrew Mckee]

Or just a traditional Avid import could work on an orphaned MTS.

Andrew McKee
Editor/Colourist
Avid Certified Instructor – MC5.5
Apple Certified Trainer – FCP7
Pixelwizard.net

[Kenneth Maultsby]

I have to agree. I did short project using the same material one I transcoded to DNxHD and the other using AMA and I am using pretty fast computer and the transcode no problem AMA my system ran slow and almost freeze. I am also using Adobe Premiere no issues with AVCHD.