Editing AVCHD in CS5.5

[Dave McElderry]

Adobe says that Premiere Pro CS5.5 has native support for AVCHD. Does this mean that I could edit AVCHD reasonably well with the system in my signature? From what's already been discussed on this in other threads, my understanding is that Premier Elements will not. Is anyone here already doing this with Premiere Pro?

[John 'twosheds' McDonald]

I didn't go for the 5.5 versions of Adobe, preferring to wait for a version 6 release. Here's a screenshot from PPro CS5 that might help:-

CS5 AVCHD Settings.jpg

I still use miniDV so can't comment much other than to say your system would appear to be OK for AVCHD work, Dave.

[Paul LS]

I edit a lot of AVCHD in PPro CS5, it handles it natively. Your system will be fine for editing AVCHD... however it would be a lot better if you had a supported Nvidia graphics card to enable the GPU accelertaed support. I can play back six tracks of picture-in-picture AVCHD without stuttering when using the GPU acceleration and my processor is not as powerful as yours.

[Peru]

... however it would be a lot better if you had a supported Nvidia graphics card to enable the GPU accelerated support.

I agree.
Install a supported Nvidia card and it will be well worth it.

Also, if you purchase CS5.5 now, you will receive a free upgrade to CS6:
http://helpx.adobe.com/x-productkb/poli ... ement.html

[Chuck Engels]

Premiere Elements 10 has native support for AVCHD as well.
In native meaning that there is no red line above most of the AVCHD formats in a AVCHD project.
I use Premiere Pro for all editing of HDV and SD video but use Premiere Elements 10 for all AVCHD and DSLR H.264 editing. Works great

[Dave McElderry]

Premiere Elements 10 has native support for AVCHD as well.
In native meaning that there is no red line above most of the AVCHD formats in a AVCHD project.
I use Premiere Pro for all editing of HDV and SD video but use Premiere Elements 10 for all AVCHD and DSLR H.264 editing. Works great

Wow! I guess I got lost somewhere along the way. In my recent thread on AVCHD camcorders Sidd Finch wrote:

AVCHD is a decent format it is just a bear to edit with. Because of the compression of AVCHD it requires a pretty robust computer as the drag on the CPU is the show stopper.

Then he also wrote:

I am a fan of the HDV but when I am not using my main camera (mini DV) I like the H.264 MPEG4 format. It is easy to edit on and outputs well

Isn't H.264 MPEG4 the same as AVCHD? Canon's AVCHD camcorder specs say this:

Recording System
Movies: AVCHD______Video compression: MPEG-4 AVC/H.264

(I put the underscore line in there to show that there's a space there. The forum software edits it out.)

Confusing to me. I'd be indebted to anyone who can clear this up.

Bottom line, though: If I buy an AVCHD camcorder am I going to be able to edit in Premiere Elements 10 with the system specs in my signature without pulling my hair out? (what little I have left at this point )

[Dave McElderry]

BTW, thanks John, Paul, and Peru for your comments. I'm just trying to figure out right now if I need to go the Pro route or if I can stick with Elements.

[Chuck Engels]

H.264 MPEG4 format and used to create Quicktime files, not necessarily AVCHD format.
Like most codecs and containers you can find many different flavors of the same.

[Paul LS]

As Chuck says PE10 handles AVCHD natively however it does not have the GPU accelerated support. That said, your 2.93G i7 will handle AVCHD in Premiere Elements just fine.

[Dave McElderry]

Thanks everyone. I appreciate your patience. Knowing this, I can start with Premiere Elements and fall back on Premiere Pro if necessary. It's good to have some idea of what I'm getting into up front. I'll stop bothering you now.

[Chuck Engels]

Never a bother Dave