SVRT currently is not supported by Canon AVCHD cameras. PD will read the mts files, but rerendering will be required at this moment. Q9300 2.5 GHz
4 GB Ram
Nvidia 9800 GT

Thank you, Sir, for the timely response. I don't fully understand what you meant by 'rendering'. Does that mean I will be able to edit, produce and burn projects to Blu-ray discs?
Thankyou.... The best thing about PD is the people in the Forums !!!
Win-7 Ultimate, ASUS Rampage III Extreme, Intel Core i7-980X, 12-GBs DDR3, Intel X25-M 160GB SDD, Asus nVidia GeForce GTX580 (1), Dell U3011 Monitor, Canon HF100 and HF-S21

If you want to edit your files you will be fine. I use my HG20 with PD7 and edit and create blue ray quality files using MPEG2 BD profile. What I meant by rerendering is that PD will not be able to use SVRT (Smart video rendering technology) for our camera (It will be looked into at some point. If your target profile matches your input file specifications, SVRT allows for the production of your file without the time consuming reencoding of the video. Q9300 2.5 GHz
4 GB Ram
Nvidia 9800 GT

Quote: SVRT currently is not supported by Canon AVCHD cameras. PD will read the mts files, but rerendering will be required at this moment.

Add Panasonic to that and you have a fair size of the consumer market which isn't supported....pretty poor really. There is still considerable degradation with PD AVCHD rendering so this is a shame.

The raw m2ts files from my Canon HF-100 play so nice and clear on my PC (with Canon's ImageMixer software) and also when I play them from the camera direct to the HD-TV. But, when making a MPEG-4 AVC Blu-ray disc ...yeah, the 'rendering' PD-7 does just curcifies the files. (I do appreciate that the MPEG2 'rendering' is, at best, 'acceptable')

I'm eager to buy PD-8, but only after it's debugged and some of the PD-7 features such as 'Create DVD Folder' are put back into it and it supports my Canon HF-100.

Please Hurry....!!!! Thanks The best thing about PD is the people in the Forums !!!
Win-7 Ultimate, ASUS Rampage III Extreme, Intel Core i7-980X, 12-GBs DDR3, Intel X25-M 160GB SDD, Asus nVidia GeForce GTX580 (1), Dell U3011 Monitor, Canon HF100 and HF-S21

I don't have one of those nice 40+ inch LCD displays to test my camera on. I have mostly used my computer display and due to the smaller size the artifacts are less obvious. I have found that playing with the ffdshow settings I have been able to improve the image quality somewhat. Q9300 2.5 GHz
4 GB Ram
Nvidia 9800 GT

Just a comment about SVRT, it seems a bit of a waste to me. I run at least a minimum of the sharpening module on all of my videos and now that PD8 has the video enhancement module which does a great job, SVRT will not run on any of my videos because I have altered the original video.

EDIT===I just noticed that my camera a Sanyo HD1010 is also not supported for HD videos, it seems as though you have to have a Sony camera to get support for your HD videos.

Why won't the bl##dy camera manufacturers develop a standard format. I tell you any manufacturer who can bring out a Camera and editing program that work together will make a million dollars as there is so much pent up frustration working with HD video. It doesn't seem to make a difference if your editing program costs you $100 or $800 they all seem to have problems with HD video. My youtube channel====> http://www.youtube.com/user/relate2?feature=mhsn

Just a comment about SVRT, it seems a bit of a waste to me.

I think it's too big a can of worms to be worth worrying about. I used to consider that some form of 'smart rendering' was essential in a video editing app, but as you say, as soon as you use effects, titles, transitions, or any other feature, smart rendering won't work. It also won't work if you have a mixture of resolutions in the timeline (eg from the Panasonic GH1 which offers different flavours of AVCHD to meet the needs of different shots). As PC hardware has caught up with the demands of AVCHD processing, and the software likewise (eg PD8!) then smart rendering becomes less of a real-world issue.

And of course there's the small matter of "AVCHD" being a catch-all description of widely differing video files. There's a tendency for people to use the initials as if they always described exactly the same thing, but the reason why contributors here have very differing experiences with PD and AVCHD is because they're using a variety of different camcorders producing a variety of different specs of AVCHD - hence the need for a list of supported cameras, to get back to the topic.

There should be a rule here that the word "AVCHD" in respect of source footage should never be used without prefixing it with the source camera model (and where the camera produces different AVCHD types, specify that as well) - then we'd be better able to see the AVCHD wood for the AVCHD trees.

Peter, that is a good point. Q9300 2.5 GHz
4 GB Ram
Nvidia 9800 GT

Quote: Just a comment about SVRT, it seems a bit of a waste to me. I run at least a minimum of the sharpening module on all of my videos and now that PD8 has the video enhancement module which does a great job, SVRT will not run on any of my videos because I have altered the original video.

First, when you have a camera like Canon HF-10/HF100 or the newer models you don't need to use any of those filters/tools. What you want is to preserve the quality of the original video. IMO if you are altering the source more than 30% of the time you are not doing a good job editing, but that just my opinion.

Second, under the suposition that I do agree with you in altering 100% of video (I don't), what you want is the best possible quality. Unfortunately PowerDirector has the worst AVCHD rendering of any NLE (introducing blocking and compression artifacts), Please check this comparison posted by pjc:

http://www.4shared.com/file/87734087/c4c265da/Comparison.html

Third, PowerDirector has the same behaviour with AVCHD files from any camcorder, supported or not. The final AVCHD rendering quality is garbage for any of them.

Therefore, if you are planning to use PD to render to AVCHD, my recommendation is to look elsewhere.

Juan, What software do you prefer for good AVCHD rendering ? The best thing about PD is the people in the Forums !!!
Win-7 Ultimate, ASUS Rampage III Extreme, Intel Core i7-980X, 12-GBs DDR3, Intel X25-M 160GB SDD, Asus nVidia GeForce GTX580 (1), Dell U3011 Monitor, Canon HF100 and HF-S21

Please check this comparison posted by pjc:

That appears to show that an AVCHD render (presumably in some version of PowerDirector? If so, which?) of an AVCHD source file is different from an original. Well of course it is! Of more interest would be a comparison between the output of different editing apps, under level-playing-field conditions, using source files from different camcorders, so that one could judge which app suits which source files. Without such a comparison, we're reduced to stating opinions without the backup of examples.

It's also generally held that while one can pixel-peep at stills from renders, overall picture quality can only be judged with running video.

First, when you have a camera like Canon HF-10/HF100 or the newer models you don't need to use any of those filters/tools. What you want is to preserve the quality of the original video. IMO if you are altering the source more than 30% of the time you are not doing a good job editing, but that just my opinion.

That's simply ignoring the whole creative gamut available from, for instance, colour grading of the footage for desired effect on the viewer, which is a large part of a professional video editor's work. If you read a little on the pro video forums you will see almost no emphasis on smart rendering - it's meaningless in the context of other than basic point-and-shoot video.

Quote: I noted that my camera is not on the list of supported AVCHD video cameras. I have a Canon HF-100. Is it simply that the MTS files my camera produces aren't compatible with PD8?

The HF100 was not on the list of supported cameras for PD7 Ultra either. When I queried Customer Service they advised I was better off not purchasing PD. I downloaded the trial and there was no problem with the MTS files so I purchased PD7 Ultra.

I was able to edit HF100 MTS files just fine with it. I suspect the same of PD8.

Bif, Thank you for that info.
The only, and I repeat, my only point of contention with PD-7 or PD-8, is the finished product. (using AVCHD format, not MPEG2)

AVCHD (m2ts) files from camcorders that are not on the list of "Supported AVCHD camcorders" are degraded by PD's re-rendering process when you 'produce' or 'Create Disc' in 'AVCHD or MPEG4 AVC' formats. (not talking here about MPEG2)
(ie: the files used in the production process and/or buring processes are not the same as the original files.)

But, If you have a camcorder that is on the list of "Supported AVCHD camcorders" those files do not need to be re-rendered by PD, because PD has the 'rights', from Sony and Panasonic, to reproduce their AVCHD files without re-rendering, resulting in a finished product that is far superior than those from camcorders that are not on 'the list'.)

If I am correct on this, I guess, if this is so important to me, I will have to go fishing for other software that supports my camcorder. The best thing about PD is the people in the Forums !!!
Win-7 Ultimate, ASUS Rampage III Extreme, Intel Core i7-980X, 12-GBs DDR3, Intel X25-M 160GB SDD, Asus nVidia GeForce GTX580 (1), Dell U3011 Monitor, Canon HF100 and HF-S21

That's simply ignoring the whole creative gamut available from, for instance, colour grading of the footage for desired effect on the viewer, which is a large part of a professional video editor's work. If you read a little on the pro video forums you will see almost no emphasis on smart rendering - it's meaningless in the context of other than basic point-and-shoot video.

I clearly stated that it's just my opinion (we are NOT professional video editors). I was expecting an answer like this, that's why I gave you the second point:

"Second, under the suposition that I do agree with you in altering 100% of video (I don't), what you want is the best possible quality. Unfortunately PowerDirector has the worst AVCHD rendering of any NLE (introducing blocking and compression artifacts)"

It is a FACT that PD introduce blocking and compression artifacts when rendering AVCHD, it's been extensively discused in this forum and recognized by Cyberlink. Please use the search button. The only way for you to be sure about the comparative quality with others NLE, its using them. Most of them have free trials. I don't think that we are allowed to name them here. In my opinion PD is by far the worst rendering AVCHD.

It's also generally held that while one can pixel-peep at stills from renders, overall picture quality can only be judged with running video

You are right, but this picture give you an idea about the issue. the comparison was done using PowerDirector 7 Ultra. In the first post pjc stated that there's no improvement with PD 8. Again, you should try this by yourself. This is a Cyberlink forum and a comparison with others programs would be difficult to post, especially when you want videos and not pictures and the results will be against the interest of it's own program.

Please don't get me wrong, PD is a wonderful program if you are NOT rendering AVCHD.

Quote: Robert, Thank you for that info.
The only, and I repeat, my only point of contention with PD-7 or PD-8, is the finished product. (using AVCHD format, not MPEG2)

AVCHD (m2ts) files from camcorders that are not on the list of "Supported AVCHD camcorders" are degraded by PD's re-rendering process when you 'produce' or 'Create Disc' in 'AVCHD or MPEG4 AVC' formats. (not talking here about MPEG2)
(ie: the files used in the production process and/or buring processes are not the same as the original files.)

But, If you have a camcorder that is on the list of "Supported AVCHD camcorders" those files do not need to be re-rendered by PD, because PD has the 'rights', from Sony and Panasonic, to reproduce their AVCHD files without re-rendering, resulting in a finished product that is far superior than those from camcorders that are not on 'the list'.)

If I am correct on this, I guess, if this is so important to me, I will have to go fishing for other software that supports my camcorder.

Unfortunately, it's seems that SVRT does not work with any AVCHD and the problem is with the PD "rendering engine". Somebody with a "supported camcorder" can give you a real answer.

sorry but i don't agree with the view that SVRT is becoming obsolete.
Why the #$%% should i re-render (in worse quality) 98% of a 3h movie, when i actually need only 2% re-rendered (transitions, text scroll, etc...) ??? We're talking about same resolution/bitrate clips here!!!!!

Don't worry about my spare CPU cycles, i have better use for them if needed.

Quote: I don't have one of those nice 40+ inch LCD displays to test

Just upgraded to PD 8. Bought canon HF Legria S100 next day. This cam records to SD card only.
Transferred video to computer using canon software. Excellent quality when previewing file with same.

But OH! when dragging the file into PD and checking the preview the quality is appalling. Did not even try to produce(will the quality improve during production?) I am shooting at 24MBS 1920x1080.
PD 8 will not even recognize my cam so I have to use the Canon Software.

Do you guys have any advice or must I buy a different camera ?Or Software? I actually thought I could drag video direct from the sd card onto the computer using a card reader. Not so it appears.
Any help will be much appreciated

This answered my question