Hi,
I have a Panasonic SD9 camcorder and just bought a brand new high-spec Dell to edit movies on. However I just can't get this to edit easily - it's really slow with jumpy frames when I am watching back short clips.

Pleeeaasse can you help?

1. Do I need a better computer (which would be annoying as this one achieves the minimum suggestion from Pinnacle and is brand new)
2. Should I give up on AVCHD, convert each clip to another HD format and edit in that? if so, what?
3. Are there any other ways I can get this to work on my computer? I have tried both Ulead VS11 and Pinnacle 11

What would you do in my situation? My aim is quick and easy editing without too much loss of quality. I'll only ever do editing once. It seems a shame to pay for an HD camcorder and then save videos in standard def, but better that than it taking a day to edit 5minutes of video.

Thanks for your help
C

Sorry that's the way it is with that format, heavy on the processor as it is a highly compressed file, used to have the same with MPEG2 but that's a bit better know.

Going for the minimum was probably not the best to do for editing the faster is better expecailly if rendering.

See if you can convert the file to an AVI and use it that way, might make it a bit better

Hi and thanks for the swift reply.

I did go above the minimum system (I have a quad core at 2.4GHz and I think the minimum was single core at 2.4GHz, so that ought to be up-to 4xfaster - if I understand right).

Does anyone have this working on their system? is yours significantly better than mine? or are you doing something clever that I am missing?

And thank you for the AVI suggestion. Is that a better bet than converting to HDV? I don't understand the pros/cons
Thanks
C

Not really a camera to make movies with - more of a flash toy.

My advice is get rid of the camera and get a decent s/h dv camera - bargains are to be had as all the mooks in the world 'upgrade' to sub £1000 hdv cameras.

The 3 chip panasomic DV cameras are brilliant pieices of kit.

__________________
I have two prejudices - I am anti HDV for consumer camcorders, and I eat mooks who claim to be pro wedding vidders and ask dumb questions.

www.zaskarfilms.com You tube channel 'zaskarfilms'
JVC DV5001e (big cam), Sony PC6E (tiny cam), Vinten pro5, PAG light, SM58, Sony ECM50, Sony C-76, 0.5x convertors for sony, Rode video mic, Vegas 7.

Thanks for your view. But I now own the "toy" and was hoping for some help from someone else who has an HDV camera and has found a way to edit.

Anyone?

C

Hey man, i too just got an SD9 a few days ago, really impressed with it. Battery length is good and 40mins 25p good quality 1080 vid on 4GB card aint a toy imo, and its small and light...

Anyways, i had the same prob with choppy playback on my laptop (MSI G700 extreme), which isnt a bad speed laptop, but nothing like a desktop. I just uninstalled my codecs that i normally use for everything (K-lite full) and installed cyber link powerdvd8, then playback was smooth. Not sure what the Pinnacle codec is like, would hope its good though! As for editing, i haven't yet tried, got a load of clips built up after a day out today, so looking into it - will let ya know how it goes.

AVCHD definitely feels like its in its infancy, but gonna get better. I know PS3 is meant to play back AVCHD nicely, which is my next purchase, been meaning to get one for the blu-ray anyways...

Hi man, I had the same problem with editing AVCHD but found the solution in this combo: Premiere Pro CS3 + MainConcept MPEG Pro HD plugin.

It works like a charm, I've got a similar PC as you have.

If its any help I will tell you the set up i have been using that works very very well with no problems. I have an Imac 2.8ghz Intel Core 2 Duo with 4gb of ram. I use a Sony hdr-tg1 for the hd video and have been able to import and edit with no problems. I use Final Cut Express 4 and Imovie 08. That set up has worked great for me from day one without a hitch.

Sorry just saw that this was under windows movie maker. lol oops

This forum seems a few months old now, and hopefully youve found a solution. If not, Ive been editing avchd for awhile now.

You could use Premier Pro cs3 + Mainconcept. However I find this very very slow to edit. Not to mention very expensive.

You could also get a mac and edit with Final cut. But, now that you just bought a Dell I doubt you would want to do that.

The easiest, cheapest solution is Vegas Video Pro. Ive been using it for almost a year now without any problems. I have to admit, I like premiers interface better, however Vegas seems to run ALOT faster. Vegas accepts more formats and codecs without needing 3rd party software, than any other windows based nonlinear suites Ive used. AND ITS FAST!