Recording Modes & Project Settings

[borgie]

I have been testing my new Sony HDR-PJ760V camcorder. The top 2 recording modes (there are a total of 5) in which I am interested are:
Mode 1: 1920x1080/50p, AVCHD 28 Mbps (PS)
Mode 2: 1920x1080/50i, AVCHD 24 Mbps (FX)
Sony states that Mode1 has the highest quality but takes twice the storage.
I have tried both modes for comparison, setting Prel10 to "PAL->AVCHD->Full HD 1080i" for both cases.
I found the only difference is that all clips recorded in Mode 1, when dragged to the timeline, needs rendering.
Is this rendering by Prel10 reducing the quality of Mode1 to that of Mode2?
Am I using the wrong project settings for Mode 1?
Thanks.

[Dave McElderry]

I think you'll find that the problem is that Premiere Elements 10 doesn't edit AVCHD 50p natively. It does edit 50i natively, which uncomplicates things a lot. That's why the red line. You might be interested in this recent thread, which suggests that unless you're committed to progressive for some reason, you'll likely be extremely happy with your results using 50i. Here in the states I'm using 60i and very pleased.

viewtopic.php?f=93&t=10907&p=94202#p94202

[RJ Johnston]

If you use the AVCHD Lite 720P60 project preset, then your 1920x1080P60 video will not have a red line, I think because the most important matching criteria of the project preset has been met: pixel aspect ratio is square 1.0; frame rate is 59.94 progressive, video mode is AVCHD; display aspect ratio is 16:9. While the audio in the preset is set up for 5.1 Dolby, 2.0 Dolby works.

[borgie]

Thanks guys. I think I will opt for the 50i. As a matter of interest, anyone knows if Adobe Premiere Pro CS5.5 handles 50p natively?

[Bob]

Thanks guys. I think I will opt for the 50i.

That's a good idea. 1080p50 is relatively new and not much supports it at this time. 1080p50 AVCHD Progressive was only added to the AVCHD spec in 2011. Older players do not support it and not all newer players do either.

As a matter of interest, anyone knows if Adobe Premiere Pro CS5.5 handles 50p natively?

Premiere Pro CS5.5 does not have an AVCHD 1080p50 preset. Premiere Pro CS6 does. You are probably better off using CS6.

You may be able to create a custom preset for it in CS5.5. In Premiere Pro CS5.x and CS6, the format information is defined at the sequence level. You can create a new sequence and chose a preset, or, You can import the clip into Premiere Pro and then drag and drop to the new sequence icon to create a sequence that matches the clip properties. I don't know if that works for 1080p50 in CS5.x. It definitely would work in CS6.