How to Convert AVCHD to MPEG-2?

Forum|Forum|9 years ago
November 27, 2016
4 replies
3294 views

Apparently I can't edit AVCHD files in Premiere Pro CS6. Is there any freeware to convert HD AVCHD files to HD MPEG-2 files?

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Correct answer sneedbreedley

I've seen playback performance issues when AVCHD is not imported properly.

Copy the ENTIRE CONTENTS of SD card to new folder on your video drive (not just the "video" clips)
Import AVCHD clips using Media Browser in Premiere

See if that helps

Thanks

Jeff Pulera

Safe Harbor Computers

I copied the entire contents of the SD card into my computer. Then I imported the .mts. files the normal way, not using Media Browser and it WORKS! OK so what is on that SD card that makes Premiere Pro play the .mts files smoothly?

jasontcox

Inspiring

Also... why MPEG-2? If you're just trying to create a smoother playback/editing scenario, you might instead want to consider something like ProRes 422 LT (probably good enough for your AVCHD footage, but it'd depend on the camera) or DNxHD (maybe the 145 setting). MPEG-2 isn't used much as an intermediate codec for smoother editing.

S

sneedbreedleyAuthor

Inspiring

I have been editing HD MPEG-2 for years without issue.

S

SAFEHARBOR11

Participating Frequently

Jason, PC users are not able to export to ProRes, only play it

Thanks

Jeff

Bill Gehrke

Inspiring

I also have absolutely no problems editing CS6 on this laptop and even complicate it in addition I have two cameras with 1080 AVCHD and I add in a 4K 100 Mbits/s XACV-S format to the timeline and it plays smoothly.

After you provide complete specs on your setup I also have a Premiere Pro hardware test that you can run that can verify you hardware is setup properly.

S

sneedbreedleyAuthor

Inspiring

I have 2 computers and neither will play AVCHD files smoothly.

Computer 1: Windows 7, i5-4570 CPU with 8GB of RAM, Intel HD Graphics 4600 built-in video card.

Computer 2: Windows 10 Pro, i5-3450 CPU with 12GB of RAM, NVIDIA GeForce GT 620 video card.

R

RjL190365

Legend

AVCHD is much more CPU intensive than you had thought. You will need an i7 with four or more physical cores in order to handle AVCHD anywhere close to satisfactorily. Those two non-hyperthreadable i5 CPUs are not powerful enough to handle AVCHD material well.

In addition, you're downsizing 1080p to 720p on export. In this case, neither of your two systems has a GPU that's powerful enough to do this on rendering. In fact, both of the "GPU"s in your two systems are so weak that you might as well have done everything in MPE software-only mode. Plus, the Windows version of CS6 does not support OpenCL at all for GPU acceleration, so all renders on your i5-4570 system are entirely software-only.

Ann Bens

Community Expert

CS6 supports avchd.

Have you tried this:

Adobe Premiere Pro Help | Create clips for offline editing

S

sneedbreedleyAuthor

Inspiring

AVCHD clips stutter and freeze on the timeline. Handbrake takes forever to convert the clips to mpeg-2. For offline editing I have to replace each offline clip with its HD counterpart one a t a time and every project has 100s of clips.