Converting AVCHD File for Editing with Premiere

Emmalulu  wrote: I recently shot a bunch of footage on Cannon XA-10 cameras and have AVCHD files. I understand Premiere does not like this type of file?

That is not the case. If you have a fairly modern and fairly robust computer, you should be able to edit these files natively without conversion or problems.

The best practice way of doing so would be to copy the complete contents of your media card to an (fast) external drive, maintaining all files and all file structures. Once you have done that . . .

open Premiere and using the Media Browser, navigate to the top level of the folders you just copied and choose import. Premiere will go through the folders and import all the video files. When this is done, you may (likely will) see a dialog box saying some files could not be imported - with a list- just click OK. In the folders you copied from your camera media, the AVCHD standard creates a lot of sidecar files that may or may not be used by a particular edit system. Premiere is just letting you know it didn't import (use) every file in the directory.

Emmalulu  wrote I plan to "create Proxies" upon importing that I can edit with, so would like to maintain the Highest Quality from my AVCHD files for relinking once finished editing.

You may or may not need proxies for your source material, again based on the horsepower and speed of your computer. If you have EditReady, I assume you are Mac based? What computer and how is it configured?

You can post a screen shot of About this Mac for you Mac, like this (be sure to mask your serial number):

Emmalulu  wrote I've heard Pro Res is higher quality than H.264, but if my AVCHD file says H.264 when I open it in Quicktime does this mean it cannot be "upgraded" to Pro Res?

You can always convert your files to ProRes. In your case, since the AVCHD files are fairly compressed to begin with, converting them to ProRes will not degrade (or enhance) your footage in any way. ProRes is an easier format for a computer to work with, as all frames are stored individually in the file as opposed the H.264 where frames are grouped in groups of 8 and fit together like a jig saw puzzle. This is why H.264 files are usually about 1/10 the file size of ProRes files.

Emmalulu  wrote Is there a reason the camera recorded in H.264 and not a higher quality?

Canon was trying to give its users the best quality with the smallest file size for a reasonable price - at the time the camera was made.

MtD