If you could post the spec on your PC it would give more info for others to go on in trying to help you.

When I decided to move to AVCHD I ordered what I thought would be enough PC to handle it. I had been using Pinnacle Studio 11 and they stated for 1920x1080 it took a quad core running at 2.66Ghz min.

I didn't pay attention to the numbers and wound up with a Q6600 quad core 2.4Ghz, just a tad slower than what they specified as minimum. I have 4GB RAM and had an ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT graphics card with 256MB. With 1920x1080 17Mbps AVCHD I kept getting warnings about not enough graphics memory. Setting the cam to 1440x1080 12Mbps did result in being able to edit AVCHD but was somewhat slow.

PowerDirector with the same machine would not display video from the timeline in the edit window.

Changing out the graphics card to an Nvidia 8800GT with 512MB solved both problems. Pinnacle Studio 11.1.2 seems to handle the full HD AVCHD even tho the processor might be a tad slow and PowerDirector works. In my case I had a graphics card problem.

A machine with AMD Athlon 64x2 dual core 5000+ processor, 3GB of RAM and an integrated GeForce 6150LE graphics that I thought was pretty "meaty" a year ago is so agonizingly slow with 1440x1080 I gave up on it. My laptop with Intel Core 2 Duo T7250 2.0Ghz processor and 3GB RAM handles 1440x1080 AVCHD but a bit slow.

I'm wondering what it's going to take with the next bunch of cameras coming out.

My processor is - Intel Dual Core 8400 @ 3GHz.
My graphics card is Intel GEforce 9600GT 512MB (PCI Express).
I have 4GB RAM but use 32 Bit Vista.

I eventually am able to edit the clips but I have to be very patient oltherwise PD7 hangs. It is acceptible for one or two clips but it is not practical longerm.

I have been looking at VoltaicHD on trial and this seems to convert AVCHD with no apparent loss in quality. I think I may move to this to assist with the process.

I am a recent convert to PD

Did you uninstall the previous editing/burning software?

Check the response from Cyberlink Support team.
http://www.cyberlink.com/english/cs/support/qa.jsp?m=cb4fe47e2982f0a7eaf5687520dd217c&ID=CS000541486

Thanks for the very useful post. I do not have any other editing software but I had not thought of defrag - which is a good idea. I am not sure if I have other burning software, so will check that too.

I decided to try converting the AVCHD clips first and purchased the Elecard Converter Studio (AVCHD version), which was nearly as expensive as PD7!

However, I converted the AVCHD clips using a 720p profile and to ensure that my already edited footage was not affected, took the following steps:

1. Delete AVCHD files from disk
2. Load project
3. When the original file is not found, PD offers the option to Browse
4. Browse to newly converted file, this ensure that the same clips are used in the timeline

To check the improvement in performance, I saved the PD file, and reloaded, and it is so much quicker.

David,
From my point of view, your platform is quite powerful.

However, if the handling speed of MPEG2 SD is what you're satisfied, then, I recommend you import all files you need into PD and wait for "a while" until you see CPU utilization shown in task manager drops to single digit level. The time depends on how many clips and how long they are. This is so-called "file processing for Hi-Def video" in preference dialog. PD will generate proxy videos (in standard def) for later editing.

Of course, you can turn it off in preference dialog. Check if the performance after turning off is acceptable for you. Because background processing might be also a factor making you feel sluggish.

My platform is Intel E6600 2.4GHz with 2GB DRAM. PD7 works acceptably fine with AVCHD clips. "Acceptably" means I tried other software and they are much more sluggish than PD7. I'm thinking current Wintel platform still has long way to live with Hi-Def.

Good luck.

Thanks for the advice.

I am happy with MPEG2 SD speed and was not aware that PD used proxy files. I have the option for 'file processing for Hi-Def' already set, I have possibly not been patient enough

I will try again and see if there is an improvement.

Quick update.

I have tested David's AVCHD files produced by his Panasonic and they do indeed slow down PD7....to ....a....s.n..a...i...l....pace. All the information has been sent to CyberLink and they are currently working on a solution.

Thank you David for all the info and I know CyberLink were pleased to get hold of the .MTS clips you provided.

Solution....asap

Dafydd
[Moderator]

I think the latest update by Cyberlink may have improved the performance while loading projects that contain AVCHD pretty significantly. Can anybody else confirm that?

Any movement on this problem from Cyberlink?
Thanks

I just purchased my first AVCHD camcorder and was reading this thread to learn more about the concerns of editing AVCHD. (Perhaps I should have done that in reverse order!)

This is the 2nd time I've run across information regarding the converting of AVCHD to another format to improve performance in PD7. The first product I read about is called AVCHD UpShift which says it converts the files to high quality MPEG 2 (.m2t).

I'm a bit skeptical so I've been trying to find some "personal experience" stories about this product without much success. I can't imagine that it's a good idea to un-compressi, edit, and then re-compress to make an AVCHD DVD. I've always been against ripping DVD's to make another DVD as quality has to be lost in the process. Perhaps because AVCHD is such a high quality format I won't notice any degradation using a product like AVCHD UpShift.

Anyone ever try this or a similar product?

Dan

It does depend on your make of camera as to whether PD7 will have a problem like mine.

However, back to your question.

I think that PD7 only uses a down coverted file (proxy files) to assist in the editing process, to make it quicker. PD& does convert the file, but this is only used when editing.

When the final video file is produced the original video is used.

Even with your MPEG2 format file, PD7 would convert it to a proxy file.

From what I've seen trying PD7 on three different computers, one being quad core and two being dual core, the resolution of the AVCHD clips has some bearing on how fast or sluggish things get.

I have Canon HF100's and the full 1920x1080 files seem to be handled without seeming sluggish on the quad core 2.4Ghz machine which also has a GeForce 8800GT 512MB graphics card.

A dual core AMD 64x2 5000+ (meeting minimum specs according to Cyberlink) was some sluggish and often gave stuttering playback from the timeline.

A laptop with Intel Core2 Duo dual core 2.0Ghz will edit 1440x1080 files albeit a tad slow.

Until I put the GeForce 8800GT in the quad core machine, using Pinnacle Studio 11 it would warn of not enough graphics memory to edit 1920x1080 using hardware acceleration and proceeded to shut that off. Attempting to continue editing was successful but extremely sluggish for a while. But I also had frequent crashes. Setting the camera for 1440x1080 helped a lot, I was able to edit a couple of projects without too much trouble. A bit slow but AVCHD tends to be slow to some degree in many editors.

You might try setting your camera for 1440x1080 and see if that improves things any. On the tests I ran, looking at rendered WMV files on computer with Samsung 21.6" monitor, and BD compliant output to regular DVD+R played on a Sony Blu-ray connected to 42" LCD 1080p TV resolution still looked great.

The situation is likely to get worse with the next generation of AVCHD camcorders coming. Mine is 17Mbps at 1920x1080, 12Mbps at 1440x1080. The Canon HF11 just released has 24Mbps and other manufacturers are looking at similarly increased bitrates.

Hi,

Just an update on David's AVCHD issue (re Panasonic SD9, AVCHD files), I should have a corrective file for him to test and report back by tomorrow.

Summary of the issue: PD7 slows down and fails to function correctly when AVCHD's (AVCHD files created by a Panasonic SD9) are edited in the time-line.

Dafydd

Quote: Hi,

Just an update on David's AVCHD issue (re Panasonic SD9, AVCHD files), I should have a corrective file for him to test and report back by tomorrow.

Summary of the issue: PD7 slows down and fails to function correctly when AVCHD's (AVCHD files created by a Panasonic SD9) are edited in the time-line.

Dafydd

I am in David's situation as well and am watching this space anxiously.

pjc, thank you for letting me know. I've sent you some "stuff" and please get back to me asap.

ALL:
Make sure you have upgraded to 2105 please.
http://forum.cyberlink.com/forum/posts/list/3908.page

Dafydd

Thanks Dafydd,

Upgrade installed with "fix" implemented. All working smoothly now. Thanks for the reasonable turn around time for the solution - great service. I realize that often there are glitches in software but if those glitches are sorted quickly then that is good product support.
Thanks again for your efforts.

pjc beat me to it.

I have installed the fix and it all works superbly. I tried mixing both clips from my Panasonic AVCHD camera with standard clips, and it all performs well.

Thanks to Dafydd and the team at Cyberlink - I have never known such fantastic service. Cyberlink (and Dafydd) are obviously a company that cares about the consumer.

I am new to this program and I am not sure how to proceed. I have created my video to burn on blu ray. I downloaded the video in AVCHD clips from my Sony camcorder harddrive. I used powerdirector 7 to create my video. When I try and burn the blu ray, the computer tells me the following: "The size of the imported files exceeds the amount of available hard disk space. Free disk space 4976 MB. Please modify the export dicrectory in the preference dialog.

I have absolutely no clue what step I need to do next. I have searched the forums and tried to see any other similar but I am completely at a loss as how to proceed to get it to burn my disk. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Collette