AVCHD audio compression no longer supported?

[stephens34987300]

I've been using Premiere Pro for the past 6 years with AVCHD footage, usually 60 fps, 28mbps, from Lumix cameras. Nothing spectacular. With PP2022, I am not longer able to import AVCHD video with audio. Also, I am not able to play back my 6 years of video with AVCHD without first attempting to get PP2022 to locate the original video files. If I point/locate PP2022 to the exact files (meticulously organized for years), I can get it to see the video, but not the audio that came in with the footage. These are typically 1-1.5 hour long music recitals. I've spent many hours clearing caches, and trashing preferences and checking for other audio bits, and searching for missing audio with video import videos. Adobe PP2022 simply does not seem to recognize complete AVCHD video with audio anymore, even in older already created projects with the exact same footage and methods. Yet, under the supported list of files, Adobe lists AVCHD. I've run out of attempted solutions - help, and thank you in advance.

[JeditPro]

If you are using Windows 7 this issue will occur. As of Premiere version CC2018, AVCHD files with Dolby AC3 audio can only be imported correctly in Windows 10. See this link bellow:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/premiere-pro-discussions/premiere-pro-cc-2018-avchd-no-audio/td-p/943...

[stephens34987300]

Hi, thanks for the reply, I had been on Windows 10 and Mac High Sierra, I had not experienced any of these problems in either OS.

[Ann Bens]

Is this audio pcm stereo or ac3 or 5.1.

@JeditPro OP is using 2022, does not run on W7

[JeditPro]

@Ann Bens You are right, 2022 only works on Windows 10.

Another possibility is that the import in the audio track was disabled by mistake, but it would be necessary to see a print of the OP timeline.

[Ann Bens]

I don't know why people have trouble with avchd with hardly any trouble. Does give me the frame substitute error on more than one occasion.

[stephens34987300]

The audio track is not disabled. My workflow has not changed for several years. One item has changed, I've moved to a 2017 imac with Big Sur. However, I was running the latest version of PP2022 on the PC as well as the 2017 imac.

[Ann Bens]

Dont think a mac supports ac3.

[stephens34987300]

That's curious, because my old 2011 imac, which I used up until one month ago, recognized these files. I'm surprised I don't see anything from Adobe. Adobe advertises AVCHD as a supported file format. But something happened. I'm still looking for a solution if anyone knows of one.

[stephens34987300]

It is AC-3, as far as I can tell.

[stephens34987300]

Is there an Adobe pro that could help me with this AVCHD issue? Thanks!

[RjL190365]

Here's the deal:

I have just checked, and MacOS has never natively supported AC3 at all to begin with. And since version 2017.1.4, Adobe no longer included an AC3 decoder or encoder due to Dolby Laboratories' increasingly restrictive licensing rules.

So, on MacOS newer versions of Premiere Pro now no longer support AC3 audio at all without the installation of a third-party audio plugin.

The expensive Dolby suite for MacOS has not been updated much since 2017, and is not guaranteed to work properly on an Apple-silicon Mac.

In other words, get over it. AVCHD is now considered obsolete by the video recording industry. Newer consumer camcorders record in regular H.264 (not AVCHD) format, with audio now encoded as AAC instead of AC3.