Editing AVCHD-files in Premiere 8 is a pain

[cyberioten]

As many of you editing video projects based on AVCHD-format has realised it is a pain when using Premiere 8. I have a Quad Core computer with 4 gb of ram and 1 Tb of harddisk and still Premiere is running very very slow.

I have tried a lot of different and very good advices here from ElementsVillage and from Adobe Forum. But none of them has provide a solution. So my conclusion is that Premiere 8 (and 7) is way to slow when using the highly compressed AVCHD-format no matter what tweak you try.

My solution is:
- Convert all your AVCHD-files (*.mts og *.m2ts) to a more Premiere-suitable format like MPEG2 or MP4 and store your AVCHD-files in a secure place for future editing (when or if beter editing software emerge). I use 'Free HD Converter' from Koyote Soft (http://www.koyotesoft.com) to convert the files to MPEG2 and use these files in Premiere 8.

And YES the program is FREE just dont accept to install the Yahoo toolbar that comes with the program.


Currently I'm testing different settings in the conversion:
- Formats (Avi, flv, mp4, Mpg2, Wmv)
- Size
- Fps
- Video bitrate
- Audio bitrate

To see what works best - I'll keep you posted on that.

/cyber

[cyberioten]

As mentioned in my previous post I have testet different settings when converting AVCHD to a more Premiere-friendly format. And I'm now using the following settings (depending on the final quality needed):

Setting 1 (based on 1920x1080 AVCHD) final format 1280x720 or better:
- Format: MPEG2
- Size: 1920x1080 or 1280x720
- Fps: 25
- Video bitrate: 16384 kb

Setting 2 (based on 1440x720 AVCHD) final format 1280x720 or less:
- Format: MPEG2
- Size: 1280x720
- Fps: 25
- Video bitrate: 9000 kb

You could also use the Preset-setting 'Mpeg2 HD' in Free HD Converter.

When working with AVCHD-files converted to one of these formats Premiere 8 is running smooth and easy.

/cyber

[ATR]

/cyber

Thanks for the information.

You have already made a giant contribution related to the video card issue, presenting both the problem and its fix. Your initial post on this matter here and later at the Premiere Elements User to User Forum is a major valuable online resource.

In the various online forums, there are many negative reports about Premiere Elements 8 stability including it's failure with AVCHD editing. So, I would encourage you also to post your positive comments on AVCHD editing in Premiere Elements 8 over at the Premiere Elements User to User Forum at Adobe.

If you do not have the time, when a user does an online search, your present comments here should pop up.

What troubles me is that, when you go looking for online resources for these programs, what you find may not be representative of the true situation. My motto, read, but confirm. You read, studied your options, and gained success. Keep up the great work.

Thanks again.

ATR

[cyberioten]

/ATR

I'm glad that my fix of the Nvidia-problem is used (c:

This post is now dropped at the Adobe Forum (http://forums.adobe.com/thread/508042)

/cyber

[ATR]

/cyber

Thanks for taking the time to post at Adobe. Great writeup.

ATR

[Jonathan T]

Yes, I too find Premiere 8 is slow with mts files. Your conversion suggestion sounds good.

[ATR]

Jonathan T

Thanks for contributing your comments on cyber's work.

It would be very helpful to know more details of your work, namely, operating system and system resources and source, format (other than file extension), and duration of what you are putting on the Premiere Elements 8 Timeline.

These details should be very useful, especially for those who do have have Windows 7 which seems to be making a difference in Premiere Elements 8 performance.

ATR

[ATR]

cyber

I have downloaded the Koyote Soft program to look at some AVCHD conversion issues presented in a recent thread.

In your details, you mention "Video Bitrate = 16384 kb" for your 1920 x 1080 MPEG2. Typically I see kbps to represent kilobits per second and KBps to represent kilobytes per second.

In the Koyote Soft program, bitrate can be filled in next to units designed as KBps, so I am interpreting that to mean kilobytes per second. When I see 9000 KBps as a video bitrate for 1920 x 1080 MPEG2, I am understanding that as 9000 kilobytes per second (KBps)

I am assuming that your suggested "16384 kb" = 16384 kilobytes per second. Is that correct?

Another question... in your evaluations, have you observed any loss of audio, partial or complete, using the Koyote Soft conversion with any of its presets? You did not mention audio bitrates, so should I assume that you used the max or default preset values for that (units also KBps/kilobytes per second).

Thanks for the additional information, hope everything is going well there.

ATR

[ucscottb4u]

Originally Posted by cyberioten

As many of you editing video projects based on AVCHD-format has realised it is a pain when using Premiere 8. I have a Quad Core computer with 4 gb of ram and 1 Tb of harddisk and still Premiere is running very very slow.

I have tried a lot of different and very good advices here from ElementsVillage and from Adobe Forum. But none of them has provide a solution. So my conclusion is that Premiere 8 (and 7) is way to slow when using the highly compressed AVCHD-format no matter what tweak you try.

My solution is:
- Convert all your AVCHD-files (*.mts og *.m2ts) to a more Premiere-suitable format like MPEG2 or MP4 and store your AVCHD-files in a secure place for future editing (when or if beter editing software emerge). I use 'Free HD Converter' from Koyote Soft (http://www.koyotesoft.com) to convert the files to MPEG2 and use these files in Premiere 8.

And YES the program is FREE just dont accept to install the Yahoo toolbar that comes with the program.


Currently I'm testing different settings in the conversion:
- Formats (Avi, flv, mp4, Mpg2, Wmv)
- Size
- Fps
- Video bitrate
- Audio bitrate

To see what works best - I'll keep you posted on that.

/cyber

in doing this, what project settings would you use?

[ATR]

ucscottb4u

The ideal is to match the Premiere Elements project preset (new product dialog) as closely as possible with the properties of the source media. Think about this project preset as setting a template from which to work. The choice that you make does not inhibit your choice of export preset when you get to the Share section after editing your video.

You did not mention what version of Premiere Elements that you are using. So, I will offer this....if you are converting to MPEG2 1920 x 1080 30 frames per second, then look at the Premiere Elements AVCHD Full HD 1080i30 project preset. If you are converting to MPEG2 1280 x 720 30 frames per second, than look at the HDV HDV 720p30 project preset. (Check out the descriptions of each in the new project dialog to get a feel for the settings involved.)

There is no MPEG2 1440 x 1080 30 frames per second conversion in Koyote Soft.

If you leave the "Default Scale to Frame Size" checked under Edit Menu/Preferences/General, the program will do just that.

If any further questions, please let me know. Perhaps cyber will see this post and let us know what he went with in his particular situation. Explore and experiment to see what works for you.

ATR
(Please, a lot of details, especially the version of Premiere Elements that you are using.)