I've been experimenting a LOT with SVRT, although only with Canon HF100 clips, and there seem to be a ton of factors that come into play if SVRT is used or not. Even when the SVRT window in the application says it's going to use SVRT on a clip it doesn't all the time. For those questioning - "how do you know if SVRT is used", it's obvious with HD video if you watch the speed of the rending. You can also watch your CPU utilization. With SVRT working, you get seconds of video rendered per actual second, instead of frames per second.

Have you tried a simple test with the SD9 clips. Just drop a single clip on a new project and render. This test consistently renders the HF100 clip using SVRT.

Whenever I trim an HF100 clip, SVRT goes nuts, but generally just doesn't work. If I don't trim anything from the beginning of the clip, that section will use SVRT, but none of the following trimmed clips. Intel Core 2 Quad, 4 GB DDR2 RAM, Vista 64 bit, ATI Radeon HD 3850, Canon HF100

Thanks William,
Same process here as well but no SVRT at all with any SD9 but OK as you say with HF100.
I have read a bit more and I am pretty certain it is the reference frames in the SD9 clips which do not comply to PD standards.

This is a snapshot from a Panasonic SD9 clip:
http://www.4shared.com/file/68297578/3e24e248/Original.html

Here is a snapshot of a clip which has been rendered by PD which is unable to use SVRT on the SD9 clips.
http://www.4shared.com/file/68297588/b9bcfe87/AVCHD_1080i.html

Here is a snapshot of a competitor's rendering which will quick copy the clips if they haven't editing applied ie SVRT equivalent
http://www.4shared.com/file/68298322/ff6893f7/Ulead_AVCHD_1080i.html

Quite a difference to me and it is noticeable when played back over a media player.

I hope PD can see if they can get the SD9 to be recognised as a standard profile so SVRT can be utilised as PD7 really is my preferred software.

I have high hopes for this software still. Cyberlink has been providing solid updates that have dramatically improved stability and functionality since it's initial release. If they continue, we will have a wonderful product for HD editing. For now, it works and it's good, but it could be great! I realize that the AVCHD format is cutting edge and that there would be teething issues with it. I knew that going in when I bought my camera. For now, I'll be keeping all of my original files in the hopes that soon I'll be able to render out edited versions in the full HD quality that my camera provided.

If you can post a small clip from your SD9, I'd be happy to do a little fiddling with it. Intel Core 2 Quad, 4 GB DDR2 RAM, Vista 64 bit, ATI Radeon HD 3850, Canon HF100

Those are excellent stills showing what MPEG compression looks like. The blurry blocks are from a high amount of MPEG compression. Did you try creating a custom AVCHD profile? I noticed that the max bitrate value in the standard profile is 25.8 Kbps, this is less than the bitrate of our cameras. I can't seem to find any detailed information on what all the settings are for or do so I haven't played much with custom profiles. Intel Core 2 Quad, 4 GB DDR2 RAM, Vista 64 bit, ATI Radeon HD 3850, Canon HF100