Video Software for Converting AVCHD to 1080p?

[SYS]

I use Canon HG10 camcorder with AVCHD file format and the Pinnacle Studio Ultimate 12 for editing and saving to MPEG files. It turns out, though (and confirmed by the PS staff), that there's no way of converting the AVCHD files to 1080p. The best the software can do is to 1080i.

Is there a software that can edit AVCHD and convert to 1080p? I'm using Vista 32 laptop.

[Zepher]

Why do you need it in 1080P?

[SYS]

Originally Posted by Zepher

Why do you need it in 1080P?

To play on my new Sony HDTV.

[Pat H]

Originally Posted by SYS

To play on my new Sony HDTV.

Was the AVCHD video originally shot in 1080p? If it's only 1080i than converting it to 1080p will do you no good. It will look the same on your TV, and all you might succeed in doing is taxing your system resources with a 1080p file.

If the file is native 1080p, what format of 1080p are you looking for? 1080p comes in all different flavors...MPEG2, MPEG4, VC-1, several formats of Quicktime, and uncompressed (which I would shy away from unless your computer is seriously over-powered). Either way, Quictime Pro might work, which you can purchase for about $30.

[SYS]

Originally Posted by Pat H

Was the AVCHD video originally shot in 1080p? If it's only 1080i than converting it to 1080p will do you no good. It will look the same on your TV, and all you might succeed in doing is taxing your system resources with a 1080p file.

If the file is native 1080p, what format of 1080p are you looking for? 1080p comes in all different flavors...MPEG2, MPEG4, VC-1, several formats of Quicktime, and uncompressed (which I would shy away from unless your computer is seriously over-powered). Either way, Quictime Pro might work, which you can purchase for about $30.

Thanks. I'll look into Quicktime Pro. My camcorder's manual simply states "Full HD 1080" with no mention anywhere of the "i" or "p." When I connected my camcorder directly to my HDTV, the quality of the videos look better than the ones that I made into mpeg2 in 1080i. I'll see if Quicktime Pro can convert AVCHD compression into 1080p in either mpeg2 or 4...

[Pat H]

Originally Posted by SYS

Thanks. I'll look into Quicktime Pro. My camcorder's manual simply states "Full HD 1080" with no mention anywhere of the "i" or "p." When I connected my camcorder directly to my HDTV, the quality of the videos look better than the ones that I made into mpeg2 in 1080i. I'll see if Quicktime Pro can convert AVCHD compression into 1080p in either mpeg2 or 4...

The quality when hooked to your HD is probably due to AVC's better compression rate. An AVC HD file at 1000 kbps for example will look better than MPEG 2 at the same compression.

[SYS]

Originally Posted by Pat H

The quality when hooked to your HD is probably due to AVC's better compression rate. An AVC HD file at 1000 kbps for example will look better than MPEG 2 at the same compression.

Thanks for another informative reply. I didn't know about this, and I very much appreciate your helpful responses.

[dryfire]

Sorry if anything is incoherent, it's 1 am and I'm tired.

Going from 1080i to 1080p is usually simple if it's telecined material. If it is truly interlaced it can be a bit of a headache. In truly interlaced material each field is different, in telecined material frames are split into even and odd fields and woven or interlaced.

The "i" in 1080i can mean two things:
-Soft telecine or "flagged": the video is actually progressive, but there are instructions in the stream for converting it to interlaced/telecined.
-Hard Telecine : The video is actually stored as an interlaced video. It may be telecined or captured as progressive. The only way to tell for sure is to look at it frame by frame.

I have no experience with pinnacle studio so I can't tell you if it can do it, but it is possible with avisynth and TIVTC. Looking at the cameras specs it says it supports 1080/60i or 1080/24p. If you have it set to 1080/24p and end up with an interlaced file somehow PS is doing something funny. If you post or pm me a short clip from the camera (~10 seconds to 1 minute) I could tell you what it is.

[SYS]

Originally Posted by dryfire

Sorry if anything is incoherent, it's 1 am and I'm tired.

Going from 1080i to 1080p is usually simple if it's telecined material. If it is truly interlaced it can be a bit of a headache. In truly interlaced material each field is different, in telecined material frames are split into even and odd fields and woven or interlaced.

The "i" in 1080i can mean two things:
-Soft telecine or "flagged": the video is actually progressive, but there are instructions in the stream for converting it to interlaced/telecined.
-Hard Telecine : The video is actually stored as an interlaced video. It may be telecined or captured as progressive. The only way to tell for sure is to look at it frame by frame.

I have no experience with pinnacle studio so I can't tell you if it can do it, but it is possible with avisynth and TIVTC. Looking at the cameras specs it says it supports 1080/60i or 1080/24p. If you have it set to 1080/24p and end up with an interlaced file somehow PS is doing something funny. If you post or pm me a short clip from the camera (~10 seconds to 1 minute) I could tell you what it is.

Thank you so much for this informative response and so late at night at that! It turns out that I've been shooting in the default setting of 1080/60i. I didn't see the option of shooting in 24p. I'll see how this program change works out.

[osv]

Originally Posted by SYS

To play on my new Sony HDTV.

no flat screen tv is capable of displaying interlaced footage in interlaced mode... it will always be converted to progressive by the tv before viewing... flat screen tvs are no different from flat screen computers in that respect, except with a computer the interlacing is done by software.

so you gain nothing by converting the footage from interlaced to progressive, and in fact, the picture quality could take a real hit, as was posted above.

i personally would stick with shooting in 60i mode, 24p is horrible, because of the stuttering you get with panning and crawl shots... the one advantage you get with 24p is much better low light capability, but i wouldn't want to be in the position of having to mix 24p and 60i when it comes time to create your dvd.

[SYS]

Originally Posted by osv

no flat screen tv is capable of displaying interlaced footage in interlaced mode... it will always be converted to progressive by the tv before viewing... flat screen tvs are no different from flat screen computers in that respect, except with a computer the interlacing is done by software.

so you gain nothing by converting the footage from interlaced to progressive, and in fact, the picture quality could take a real hit, as was posted above.

i personally would stick with shooting in 60i mode, 24p is horrible, because of the stuttering you get with panning and crawl shots... the one advantage you get with 24p is much better low light capability, but i wouldn't want to be in the position of having to mix 24p and 60i when it comes time to create your dvd.

Thanks for another informative response! I'm learning a lot on this topic.

[dryfire]

osv: That assumes it actually captures 60 separate fields a second.

Personally I prefer progressive material.

[osv]

i believe that avchd on the canon camcorders is definitely 60i, the big question with these cameras is whether or not the hardware is capable of shooting in a true progressive format... i think that avchd is similar to hdv, wrt progressive capabilities.

i can see wanting to shoot in 30p mode, even if it's not true progressive, at least the fields match up, and there is a lot less stuttering with movement in the frame.

the 5dmk2 can only do progressive, tho, right? it can't do interlaced?

[peter nap]

Pinnacle 14 will convert AVCHD to 1080P.

[yao847zi]

Well, I always use this video converter to help me convert AVCHD video files to 1080P with good quality. It can export various video format for further editting.
Good luck