Help needed with AVCHD files and PE7

[gkhover]

Hello. I was hoping someone can help me because I am very frustrated!:(

I have been reading a lot of posts here and on the Adobe site about the ability to use AVCHD files in Premiere Elements. But nothing seems to quite address my problem. Bear with me if you've heard this before...

I use a Canon Vixia HFS10 for my job. I use Premiere Elements 7.0 for editing. I have managed to download the video clips into Premiere, but every time I burn the movie into a DVD, the images are fuzzy and the quality unacceptable. It's almost like when you over sharpen something in Photoshop -- the images just aren't sharp.

I am not burning the DVDs for Blu-Rays or HD televisions. They will be run on standard definition DVD players and/or computers. I realize I can't have High Def images on a non-HD player, but there must be a way to get better images than what I'm getting now on the DVDs. I might as well use a kid's camera.

I think the last time I burned a DVD, I used a setting of DV-Standard to try something new. I also had the camcorder at a regular SP setting, not the HD settings.

Anyway, are there suggestions from anyone out there on how to better utilize this fancy camera to play on standard equipment? Should I shoot all the videos at HD and then burn it at the highest standards and hope it comes out better?

If anyone can help me, I would appreciate it. I have some big stuff I have to tape before the holidays!

Thanks,

Gail

[ATR]

Gail

Lots of possibilities and lots of questions and answers.

First, what are your computer resources
Installed and available RAM
Capacity of local hard drive and free space
Are you using an external hard drive (formatted NTFS, not FAT32) for your scratch files, project.prel files, storage video, but not the program files for Premiere Elements?
What is your computer operating system, is it defragmented and cleaned up frequently, is it 32 or 64 bit and are all the drivers updated.

Next what video format are you shooting with your Canon HFS10...AVCHD Full 1920 x 1080. I assume that you are recording to a memory card. Let us do some mini tests runs...

a. Size of the project.....do you still have the project .prel with the Timeline that gave you the unacceptable DVD-VIDEO quality? If so, open that project .prel, put a blank DVD disc in the DVD burner tray, and take the project to the Share/Disc/Disc burn dialog section. Look at the Quality Area in the burn dialog. What does it say for Space Required and Bitrate? It could be that you had too much on the Timeline for that DVD disc capacity and the program automatically lowered the bitrate to fit everything. But, when you lower the bitrate, the quality goes down. What is the total run time of the DVD-VIDEO that you produce and how long does it take to burn? What brand and type of DVD disc are you using and what is its speed rating and what speed are you using for burn to disc?

b. Fields....with your video on the Timeline, right click the video there, select Field options, and dot the Reverse Field Dominance in the Field options. Burn to disc and see if that makes a differences.

c. Source Media vs other....put a few jpeg photos on the Timeline and burn them to disc. Is the quality of the DVD-VIDEO unacceptable also.

d. What is the Premiere Elements 7 project preset (new project dialog) that you are setting before the workspace opens? What else is on this Timeline besides the video from the Canon?

Those are a few things for us to look at before we go on to other aspects of the problem.

To be continued....

ATR

[gkhover]

Thanks for the response. I will fill you in on some of the blanks when I return to the office. Thanks again! Gail

[ATR]

Gail,

I will be looking forward to your details.

We will figure this out together.

ATR