It ranks high on the list of my most frequently received questions. You buy a new HD video camera, you go to edit the footage, and it plays back very choppy with the video and audio out of synch. The camera you have is most likely shooting video in the AVCHD format. Here’s what you need to know about it and how to fix these issues.
Resources
AVCHD Upshift
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Hey Dave,
The problem you described fits my problem to a T.. the thing is, my video camera captures in MP4 format. Should I still code it to mpeg or something? I’m using a Samsung Xacti.
Thanks.
@Jay – Your camera is likely shooting H2.64, which is highly compressed as well. You can convert the video to MPEG2 (AVCHD Upshift won’t work though as your files aren’t AVCHD) or you can upgrade your computer hardware, which is really the issue in this case.
dave: I have the same problem, I have samsung HMX20c video camera, specs on it say its it stores in H.264 ,
MPEG-4 format. I have an old emac that has no power for hd editing and you recomended upgrading the computer softwear. No problem, I just need time to save for a new computer. While I wait though, is saving my videos onto a mac formated external hard drive a good place to keep my videos? Im afraid my computer is going to change the formate, frame rate, and maybe the resulotion of my videos???? Ive been told this is not true but I need cold hard facts, please… HELP!
Off topic, but is BitGravity a true video streaming service Dave (Looks like it), and what are their prices per Gb for storage and streaming? Is it comparable to S3 (The video delivery certainly looks better than S3).
Pete
@Pete – BitGravity was built from the ground up for delivering high quality video…they compete with other high performance CDN’s like Akamai, LimeLight, etc. They deal with high volume video sites that generally spend a minimum of $500 per month for bandwidth. You can contact them for specific pricing.
What are the settings you recommend for AVCHD UpShift Dave for general web video use?
How much is the video quality affected by the encoding?
Pete
@Pete – There is a slight color shift whenever encoding one format to the next…AVCHD Upshift seems to have the least color shift. Settings within it can literally vary from video to video…you have to test.
Did I miss the bit where you tell us AVCHD UpShift costs $80?
@Pete – There are AVCHD conversion programs that run from free to several hundred dollars. If you want a free option, Google “avchd converter”…just understand you run the risk of malware, adware, no support, products that don’t work, etc.
Not exactly sure how it works, but my imported media is already in .m2t format when I import it from my Canon HV20 camera. I use Sony Vegas Pro (thanks to your recommendation – Corel’s Ulead just wasn’t cutting it).
Rainer
@Rainer – Any camera, like the HV20, that records to tape already prepares the video in an editor friendly format. In fact, AVCHD Upshift is just converting AVCHD video into the same format already coming off your camera. If you still have editing/playback issues with .m2t video, it’s because your computer doesn’t have enough horsepower…you need to upgrade your hardware.
Hey Dave,
Great info as usual. I am using a Flip HD camera which saves files in the MP4 (H264) format and am having a similar problem (editing on Sony Vegas on a PC). Will this same program work for me and if so is MPEG still the best format for editing?
Thanks – I learn so much from these weekly tips – you rock!
Phil
@Phil Montero – MP4 and AVCHD video both use H.264, just in a different way. So it’s not uncommon to have playback issues with MP4 video. AVCHD Upshift won’t help, as it only works with AVCHD files. So you basically have 3 options, when using Sony Vegas:
1. Upgrade your computer hardware
2. Add your clips to the Vegas timeline and render the video into either an AVI file with with the “HDV 1080-60i Intermediate” template or an MPEG-2 file with the “HDV 1080-60i” template. Then import the newly rendered video into Vegas and edit that.
3. Selectively prerender your MP4 video. Select a region of the Vegas timeline (or the whole thing) and choose Tools > Selectively Prerender Video. Vegas will basically do the same as number 2 above, but it will break the video into multiple files and automatically add them to your timeline. #2 and #3 will take time though.
Thanks for the advice Dave – I really appreciate your guidance!
I have a Sony HX5 which records as mt2s files. Ihave tried nearly every video editing software including Sony Vegas, Pinnacle, U Lead, Power Director and varios others but all did not give me a smooth completed movie (some poor quality,some choppy movement). However I now use AVS Video Editor. It takes mt2s files direct for editing and I produce with best quality MPEG HD 720 or 1080.The results are fantastic with completely smooth playback.
I use a macbook pro and sony xv500 and have no problems with avchd videos
I think you just need a good computer if you are using this format
the quality is amazing
Ahh yes Vincent – one more reason I want to switch to a Mac! Another friend has an older Macbook Pro and has no problem opening my MP4 videos from my Flip to edit them in iMovie.
@Vincent – If you’re using iMovie, Final Cut Express or Final Cut Pro on a Mac, when you import AVCHD footage those software titles automatically convert the AVCHD files into a QuickTime format using the ProRes 422 codec…which is a format that is high-quality and editor friendly.
In other words, Windows based video editing apps take AVCHD video as-is and tools like AVCHD Upshift are needed to convert the video into a more useable format. On Mac’s, the video editing apps do this conversion automatically, so no third party tools like AVCHD Upshift are needed.
Hi Dave
I love this site and your video tips but unfortunately I can’t see this one! Getting a link for downloading the Flash player but I have the latest one. This is also a receent problem with YouTube (embedded videos play but not the originals) and Vimeo (which says I need the latest Flash version but the videos play anyway.)
There’s no embed code here so I can’t get to see the video that way.
Any suggestions would be gratefully received.
@Penelope – Either you don’t have Flash 10+ installed or your Flash installation is corrupt. To see what version you have vs. what the latest version is go here:
http://www.adobe.com/software/flash/about/
If an update doesn’t fix the issue, I would completely uninstall Flash on your computer and re-install it.
Thanks Dave
The uninstall/reinstall worked.
Hello Dave, Rather than todays video tip, I found myself more interested in your computers in the background!
I confess to some envy here… That last bit on computer power for hd video was helpful.
I may be off to Pc world this weekend.
thats why Macs are always the bomb when it comes to editing in my oppinion
Dave, you’re always on top of it. Thanks.
My question is what is the render time on the Mac for AVCHD to ProRe or other? Someone moaned it “takes hours & days.” What’s the scoop?
Dave, you’re always on top of it. Thanks.
My question is what is the render time on the Mac for AVCHD to ProRes or other? Someone moaned it “takes hours & days.” What’s the scoop?
@Jowillie – It depends on the speed of your Mac. In my experience it’s fairly quick…faster than transferring footage from a tape-based camera where it’s usually 1:1 (it takes 1 minute to transfer 1 minute of video). The people who have speed issues are likely using an older Mac that would struggle with any type of HD video.
if you get a new macbook pro and you have 1920×1080 footage on an avdhd and you run usb 2.0 from camera to computer you will see
a 1 hour video would probably take about 30-45 minutes to upload
its is a long process but the quality is phenominal
Unfortunately quality is a tough thing to figure out though as far as what you need the videos to be set at for everyone to see
by the time i upload my videos the quality is crap compared to the real deal, but when I make dvd’s and high quality videos its unmatched
i would rather have the longer uploads in AVC HD rather than flash drive because of the ability to not worry about disk space its gets very annoying
However I recommend buying everything through Dave’s links because he puts alot of time and effort into everything he does and I have alot of respect for him
for me i found out that my videos have to be crap quality if I want my group of people to be able to see them because they are mostly ladies who have about 1-2 old computers unfortunately
http://gogivetraining.com is my website if you want to see what I am talking about
my videos are hd quality before I edited them for upload so streaming is easy on the women…
But like I said when I make HD videos or give them the links to download the video’s the quality is outstanding!
by the way I use a AVC HD xv500 Sony….I think dave is right when he recomends the flash drive cannon cameras because you wont run into any problems period
Dave is the Man! thats all i gotta say there haha!
Hey Dave, Thanks for the tips. However I am using Adobe Premiere Elements 8. I can’t find any feature on there similar to the “draft” feature you mentioned on the sony editing program. I would convert my videos…but the problem is i have 100′s of short clips because most of the filming we do is with multiple digital cameras that take HD video. I usually takes bits and pieces of them and splice them together. (it never used to be a problem cause we had cameras that shot in mpeg format….these new cameras film in MOV’s) So it would literally take me HOURS to convert every single clip so I can edit it. Any thoughts or am I just out of luck? thanks for your time.
Dave,
Thanks bro, I was pulling my hair out on this one. Sony HD camera to Sony Vegas, sounds like a snap right?
I didn’t think lowering the playback in order to edit would work, but rendering in WMV. It looks fine.
Thanks again, I have a deadline to get out, and the client provided the footage. Another mistake there! Always caveat that client video comes with risks, delays, and they should be charged for it!
Take care, I’m sure I’ll look you up again. Thank you for helping us.
Eric
Crap. I knew I should’ve gotten a mac.
I find it quite ridiculous that my Sony HD handycam cannot playback video well in my sony Vegas HD movie studio.
Can we lower the bit rate and change to draft mode while editing, then change it back when we render to keep the quality? Or will that just make the video render choppily?
@Hannah – Just change the preview to draft when editing…it won’t affect the video when you render it.
Dave,
Hopefully you can help me! I’m ready to bust everything computer/video related in my house!
Here’s the problem:
I have a Samsung S10 Full HD camcorder. I shot the videos and went to my computer to edit them…Lagging, choppy, and out of sync. I made sure it wasn’t in AVCHD format. My files are in .MP4. I can upload the video to YouTube and it plays fine, perfect. Thing is, I need to edit.
My computer has the following:
Processor: Intel Celeron Dual Core E1400
RAM: 4gb
Graphics Card: ATI Radeon HD 3600 Series 1gb
So can you tell me what may be the problem. This is the only thing that is keeping me from launching my new website.
Any help is greatly appreciated,
Casey Collins
@Casey Collins – Your camera likely shoots video in the H.264 format and your computer/video editing software can’t decode it while playing it back in real-time. If you’re watching it on YouTube it’s been converted to a web-ready format, so it’s like comparing apples and oranges. You don’t say what video editing software you’re using, but in Sony Vegas you can change the preview window quality to Draft.
Dave
“Dave,
Hopefully you can help me! I’m ready to bust everything computer/video related in my house!
Here’s the problem:
I have a Samsung S10 Full HD camcorder. I shot the videos and went to my computer to edit them…Lagging, choppy, and out of sync. I made sure it wasn’t in AVCHD format. My files are in .MP4. I can upload the video to YouTube and it plays fine, perfect. Thing is, I need to edit.”
Someone has posted this statement and i am the exact same boat. I have the same camcorder the samsung q10 and use sony vegas hd 10 platnium to edit. The video is so choppy and cant see video and even audio chops up. I tried what you suggested and switched to draft but its still choppy. I have a asus g50v series laptop so its not lack of a powerful laptop. My flip camera records the same file and i have no problems with it when i edit. I have exhausted my options and am ready to pull out my hair. PLease help
ok so i have a flip ultra hd and all my video’s lag when i get them to camtasia studio7.1.0, the video files on these are mp4. i was wondering if you knew how to fix that problem
I have a Sony HDR PJ10 which gives out m2ts files. I use Corel VideoStudio ProX4 and it is so choppy I cannot do any editing!
My system is:
CPU Q9650 3Ghz
GPU Sapphire HD 3870 X2 512mb (I only have one card)
4gb Ram
MoBo Asus P5K-E (latest bios)
Any suggestions? Thanks!
Hi Dave,
I just bought the Flip HD camera and find the video is not choppy on my desktop, but it is on my laptop. I’ve learned through the stream of responses to your video that my camera shoots in an MP4 format, and I realize the AVCHD software won’t help me. Is there a format I should convert to that would ensure smooth playback in emails or on DVD for sharing with family and friends that won’t result in choppy playback while retaining the HD quality? I really appreciate your advice.
Robert
Hi, ive been using a nikon d3100 to shoot my HD videos but when I upload them onto my IMac it becomes choppy and out of sync how can I stop this? I want to upload the videos to my YouTube account and edit them with iMovie do I need to convert the file type or something? I would really appreciate it if you could help as then I can upload my videos asap!
Thank you! Xxx
I have a canon t3i. I like to shoot HD at 720p 60fps and sometimes 1080p 24fps. When i play it back on the LCD screen on my dslr it plays normally. So when i uploaded the videos to my computer and look at them w/quicktime it plays choppy. And the even WEIRDER thing is i was recording footage the other day and I uploaded to my computer and when I played back the footage, it was playing in slow motion?? not only that but Ive recorded in HD before and it wasnt in slow motion. I use a format program called format factory and I tried formatting the video file (which was .mov) cause I thought if i formatted it, then it would be fixed. I’ve formatted the files to mpeg, mp4, avi, and wmv, but still it looks choppy and slow motion. Whats going on?
p.s I use an acer aspire one Windows XP 10′ laptop and was trying to use Windows Movie Maker but. Someone please help because I want to make videos for memories and I wont be able to if I dont find out whats wrong.
hey dave. I’m a beginner with a camcorder. i bought a samsung q10. it records in H.264 (MPEG4/AVC) format. i own a mac book pro with 2 ghz intel core I7, 510 mb for graphics, 8gb of memory. thats what it says on about this mac. shouldn’t that be capable to it? it does the shaky effect. i understand somewhat, what your video is about but I’m new to all this. any help please?
and yes its full hd the camcorder