AVCHD re-encoding?

[Ganglion5]

I just bought a canon HF100. I was wondering if anyone knows if any of the programs out there that handles AVCHD (nero vision, Ulead VF, Pinnacle and sony vegas) can handle these raw avchd files without re-encoding. I know that nero is supposed to keep the raw file unchanged if you choose "smartencode". I tried importing and exporting a small clip using nero without creating any menus or editing. Maybe it's psychological, but I think there's a slight difference in quality between the nero exported file and the native raw file (being played on a PS3). The other clue that I think nero does do some minor reencoding (even w/ smartencode on) is that the exported file is actually smaller than the raw file. I've tried some trial version of some of the programs listed above, they all end up producing a file that's smaller than the raw file. Does this mean all these programs do some re-encoding (eventhough the file is avchd compliant)? I'm hoping someone can tell me what I'm doing wrong. I just want the output file to be as good as the raw file.

[musicman2311]

I just bought a canon HF100. I was wondering if anyone knows if any of the programs out there that handles AVCHD (nero vision, Ulead VF, Pinnacle and sony vegas) can handle these raw avchd files without re-encoding. I know that nero is supposed to keep the raw file unchanged if you choose "smartencode". I tried importing and exporting a small clip using nero without creating any menus or editing. Maybe it's psychological, but I think there's a slight difference in quality between the nero exported file and the native raw file (being played on a PS3). The other clue that I think nero does do some minor reencoding (even w/ smartencode on) is that the exported file is actually smaller than the raw file. I've tried some trial version of some of the programs listed above, they all end up producing a file that's smaller than the raw file. Does this mean all these programs do some re-encoding (eventhough the file is avchd compliant)? I'm hoping someone can tell me what I'm doing wrong. I just want the output file to be as good as the raw file.

hi, i am using nero 8 for my hd cam recordings. per my observation it only recodes when it 'thinks' there is some non-compliance.

you noted that original .mts files are converted to .m2ts (different size) right ?
of course all that only applies when chosing AVCHD as output (i.e. not blu ray disc)

[Ganglion5]

I thought m2ts and mts are just synonymous, just a matter of changing the extension. Also, I don't know if I have a striped down version of Vision. I can only export to avchd, and it doesn't have an option to export as bluray (I don't have a bluray burner, and I'm just trying to export as bluray-5 or bd-9. Am I missing a bluray plugin, or does nero have to recognize that there's a physical bluray drive on the computer before it allows you to export to a bluray disc.

[musicman2311]

I thought m2ts and mts are just synonymous, just a matter of changing the extension. Also, I don't know if I have a striped down version of Vision. I can only export to avchd, and it doesn't have an option to export as bluray (I don't have a bluray burner, and I'm just trying to export as bluray-5 or bd-9. Am I missing a bluray plugin, or does nero have to recognize that there's a physical bluray drive on the computer before it allows you to export to a bluray disc.

sorry, i have a blu ray plugin - maybe that is what it is.
as for export - the nice thing is that nero supports export to hdd folders in all cases, means you could taylor it to DVD5 or DVD9

[musicman2311]

by the way - no need for physical drive - i have confirmed that

[Ganglion5]

On Vision 5, right before it encodes the project, it displays a summary page of all the clips that is going into the project. For some reason, every clip that I imported from my canon hf100 (1920x1080 avchd clips), it says the video smartencoding percentage is 47% (instead of 100%). Do you know what this means? Is there 50% incompatibility, so it's re-encoding 1/2 of it? I didn't manipulate the clip at all. Shouldn't it be either 0 or 100%? why 47%?

[musicman2311]

Ganglion,
I can only guess - how long are the clips (seconds/minutes) ?

What could happen is that especially at borders the bitstream is not entirely clean based on how the camera makes the cut (for example incomplete dolby digital frames).
I have many clips from my cam which are only several seconds long, so then a high re-encode ratio is likely.
if your clip is say 10 min (1 piece) and everything else is ok, then re-code should be minimal.

I also assume that your cam does AC3 and not e.g MPEG or else for sound.
I further assume your desired output setting correspond to input - Nero might suggest 'stereo" instead of 5 channel sound, which is a re-code.

Let me know how it is going

[Ganglion5]

I guess my clip is pretty short (less than 1 min). I'll try with a longer clip. As far as you know, are nero, pinnacle, ulead and pixela the only programs that export h264 files? ( I know sony vegas can import avchd, but it can't export avchd in h264 format). Thanks for replying, BTW.

[musicman2311]

I guess my clip is pretty short (less than 1 min). I'll try with a longer clip. As far as you know, are nero, pinnacle, ulead and pixela the only programs that export h264 files? ( I know sony vegas can import avchd, but it can't export avchd in h264 format). Thanks for replying, BTW.

welcome, i can only state this - i play my discs after authoring on PS3.
I tried ulead before, which is more rich in menu and transition features than nero.
however, the files and/or discs didn't play well - also, hard disc saving feature is not available on ulead, you can only burn it