AVCHD on Mac, WAY better on Windows7 !

[lapino]

I'm not bashing Mac here (bought my first MBP a few weeks ago) but I find it very hard to get decent AVCHD editing and exporting on the Mac. I tried both iMovie, Final Cut Express and Adobe Premiere (trial) but my MBP just doesn't cut it. It's either way too slow and viewing AVCHD movies is just a plain horror.

Today, I tried Windows7 with Vegas (trial) and this is night and day difference. Windows7 plays AVCHD fluid without any additional codecs (!) and Vegas makes editing them a breeze without having to convert them to a (less good) format like FCE does.

I really hope there will be decent AVCHD solutions for my Mac one day, but for now, my video editing will be in Windows7 only. Too bad.

[Eidorian]

Anything on GPU acceleration on the Windows side?

[johny5]

This is strange, I was curious with your findings and had windows 7 installed as a VM on my mac pro so I downloaded vegas trial to have a look.
I recorded a 1 minute video in full 1920x1080 and (tried) to import in vegas. took me a few attempts to find the correct way to import the file from my usb memory stick reader (16gb MMC) as I tried from a hard disk file, then a memory file and finally using the media file way. I then had to randomly flick around the memory card to find the movie file (which was hidden in a few directories).
I havent seen vegas before at all so I wasn't sure how it was going to import the file and it looked like it didn't import it but merely created a link to the file on the memory card? Obviously when I was skimming across the 1 minute video it was choppy as hell and this was even in a small preview window.
My idea was to time the imports to see if vegas imported it quicker but to be honest I gave up.
I did expect vegas to see my memory card and import everything automatically even though it may be a professional piece of software I thought if could have helped in searching for the actual movie file to import?

After giving up I flicked back to Imovie 9 to give that a go, inserted the usb memory card and up came the import wizard automatically.
I clicked to import at full 1920x1080 resolution and this took 6 seconds (for the 1 minute recording). It then took another 2 seconds to create thumbnails for the clip.
Once imported I could skim too and fro the recording with no stutter or skipping at all.

My Mac Pro is a dual quad 2.8 with 10gb ram and the drives with the video on are 2 x 1TB software raid drives.

[arjen92]

and Vegas makes editing them a breeze without having to convert them to a (less good) format like FCE does.



Is less compressed equal to less good. AVCHD is a less good format, because it's so highly compressed it takes way more time to decode it during editing, which make real time playing back impossible.

(I wouldn't go for AVCHD at all, I would go for HDV, but that's a different thing)

Still nice that you figured a nice way to edit the material the fast way. AVCHD is so annoying.

And to johny5, you used VM ware, (virtual machine). You think it's weird it slower :confused:. It's a virtual machine, not even good enough for instant 3D (although the latest virtual machines show improvements).

[CmdrLaForge]

I am really wondering what your problems are on the Mac. I use FCP and I transcode on import to ProRes422. Works fine, edits fine, exports fine.

[lapino]

Final Cut Pro isn't exactly in the same price range as Vegas. And so far, I have found no way to output iMovie in 1920x1080. Anyone?

[djkirsten]

Final Cut Pro isn't exactly in the same price range as Vegas. And so far, I have found no way to output iMovie in 1920x1080. Anyone?

I'm pretty sure there is a custom export option somewhere (maybe under "share") that will let you output whatever you want. I've used imovie to make placeholder maps and I've exported them to DVCProHD qt files....but I remember the custom options looking like any pro-apps export options (full of high-end possibilities like animation).

[DoNoHarm]

I really hope there will be decent AVCHD solutions for my Mac one day, but for now, my video editing will be in Windows7 only. Too bad.

an ideal potential feature of snow leopard?

[wilsonlaidlaw]

I bought my wife a tiny Sony HDR-TG3 camcorder to take both videos and stills. Whereas it is a very neat bit of kit, sadly it is not particularly good at either function with the shutter/focus delay on still photos wholly unacceptable. The quality of the stills is pretty dismal as well.

I then discovered that her G5 iMac would not handle AVCHD files natively on iMovie 09 but I had to get an additional program called Voltaic. Well it may run but it takes about 8 to 12 hours to convert each hour of 1080p video - not a realistic option, so she has stolen my Macbook Air that was my travel companion. Sony provides no Mac software with the Camcorder either on the supplied CD or even downloadable from their website. Obviously you are expected to buy a Vaio to go with your Sony camcorder.

I agree that it is surprising that iMovie does not offer a 1080P export function. From supposedly an imaging driven company, this is a let down. I have adjusted my wife's TG3 to take 720P and as the TV we have at our UK house is only 720p, that is no downside and the upside is that you can record twice as long per card.

Wilson

[Fast Shadow]

Why not just transcode to AIC rather than work with AVCHD directly? Less good? Really? I've put direct HDMI output from my camera up next to the same clip converted to ProRes or AIC and I see no difference at 1920x1080.

[rhett7660]

I'm not bashing Mac here (bought my first MBP a few weeks ago) but I find it very hard to get decent AVCHD editing and exporting on the Mac. I tried both iMovie, Final Cut Express and Adobe Premiere (trial) but my MBP just doesn't cut it. It's either way too slow and viewing AVCHD movies is just a plain horror.

Today, I tried Windows7 with Vegas (trial) and this is night and day difference. Windows7 plays AVCHD fluid without any additional codecs (!) and Vegas makes editing them a breeze without having to convert them to a (less good) format like FCE does.

I really hope there will be decent AVCHD solutions for my Mac one day, but for now, my video editing will be in Windows7 only. Too bad.

I am curious as to what your windows system was compared to the mbp? What are the specs of each?

[Macpropro80]

I'm not bashing Mac here (bought my first MBP a few weeks ago) but I find it very hard to get decent AVCHD editing and exporting on the Mac. I tried both iMovie, Final Cut Express and Adobe Premiere (trial) but my MBP just doesn't cut it. It's either way too slow and viewing AVCHD movies is just a plain horror.

Today, I tried Windows7 with Vegas (trial) and this is night and day difference. Windows7 plays AVCHD fluid without any additional codecs (!) and Vegas makes editing them a breeze without having to convert them to a (less good) format like FCE does.

I really hope there will be decent AVCHD solutions for my Mac one day, but for now, my video editing will be in Windows7 only. Too bad.

Dear Mr. Windows Fanboy,

My last 2 cameras were Both AVCHD cameras. Not Only Does Imovie work perfectly with AVCHD so does final cut. Your lying, plain and simple.

Macpropro80
Professional Editor/ Cameraman

[TheStrudel]

Have you tried messing around with the custom settings in iMovie to specify your output size? I never use it, but I recall that recent versions let you export more or less however you want if you know what you're doing. Second, AVCHD is going to perform poorly compared to less-compressed formats, because it requires a lot of CPU to decode on the fly. This will be a bigger problem if, say, you're editing off of a USB hard drive and it can't shunt that much data at a time for decoding. But yes, I would say HDV is better. Still not great, though. The others have a good point when they say to use ProRes or AIC. AVCHD is designed to put a ton of mediocre quality video on a small card, not for easier or faster editing.

[bobbleheadbob]

I am really wondering what your problems are on the Mac. I use FCP and I transcode on import to ProRes422. Works fine, edits fine, exports fine.

I do the same thing and it works fine for me, too. I've always thought that one of the greatest advantages the Mac had over Windows was in the video editing area. I've yet to hear or see anything to change my mind.

[rhett7660]

The OP seems to have left the topic......... Hmmm.

[lapino]

No he has not, and I find the reply from Macpropro really retarded. If he would take the time to search some posts I made, he would find that quite recently bought my first Macbook, after only two days upgraded to the Macbook Pro and I've done nothing but praise the MBP for being such an amazing device and OSX is just great to work with.

But I also have a very fast Windows pc and after reading that win7 supports AVCHD natively, I had to try it out with the demo of Vegas and I was amazed how fluidly this combination plays/edits AVCHD without even converting it to another format.

I know the Mac just has a "problem" not having GPU accelerated AVCHD supports, which is the reason why Win7 plays them so nice (because it has gpu acceleration for AVCHD). I can only hope this will one day be available on the Mac, because I rather do my editing on my laptop. Sure, after converting the AVCHD files to AIC it plays quite fluid, but this is a step that shouldn't be necessary. And just playing AVCHD on my MCP is very very slow and choppy. That's just the way it is.

Guess Mac-fanboys are just a touch sensitive when it comes to objectively comparing performance for certain tasks. And I really do not like being offended like this.

[Fast Shadow]

All I hear is the sound of a carpenter blaming his tools.

[xStep]

But I also have a very fast Windows pc and after reading that win7 supports AVCHD natively, I had to try it out with the demo of Vegas and I was amazed how fluidly this combination plays/edits AVCHD without even converting it to another format.

Although Win7 may support AVCHD natively, the reason the editor isn't having a problem is because it natively supports AVCHD. Or so I've read. FCE and iMovie do not, so it converts it to AIC first. Also in the case of iMovie, it creates thumbnails to make the quick scanning possible. This has to do with the type of codecs Apple prefers for editing. Sorry I can't explain it but it has been mentioned around the net. Of course to you, it shouldn't matter as you just want to get to work.

[xStep]

All I hear is the sound of a carpenter blaming his tools.

All I hear is a Mac Fanboy crying about the bad news. ;)

If lapino wants to use his Windows box what is wrong with that. It sounds like he doesn't want to wait for the conversion process. That is his prerogative.

[lapino]

It's just that I'm a bit disappointed that a great, fast machine like the MBP and very professional software (or at least sw that has it roots there, in the case of FCE) doesn't support AVCHD natively without converting it, and that Apple has no GPU acceleration for the format. Guess it's not done for a Mac owner to criticise but it IS a fact than Win7 has better support for a well know and very often sold format, and I hate that, because I want to leave windoze behind completely at a certain time.

Besides, even when converting to AIC has no downsides when it comes to picture quality, it IS a whole different filesize after converting, and while my PS3 will play AVCHD very well on my plasma tv, it does not play .mov, and as far as I can tell (I hope I'm wrong) I cannot export to AVCHD with FCE.

[xStep]

...it IS a fact than Win7 has better support for a well know and very often sold format, and I hate that, because I want to leave windoze behind completely at a certain time.

Windows 7 isn't for sale yet and OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) is just around the corner. Perhaps we'll be seeing full AVCHD support in that too. One can only hope.

...while my PS3 will play AVCHD very well on my plasma tv, it does not play .mov, and as far as I can tell (I hope I'm wrong) I cannot export to AVCHD with FCE.

The PS3 supports several formats (http://manuals.playstation.net/document/en/ps3/2_60/video/filetypes.html). Perhaps you could make a compatible MP4 (http://boardsus.playstation.com/playstation/board/message?board.id=ps3media&thread.id=61028) file for it, which could also be played on other systems too.

[iSlave]

Guess it's not done for a Mac owner to criticise but it IS a fact than Win7 has better support for a well know and very often sold format,

Never forget the first commandment of Mac Forums - 'Thou shalt not criticize OSX or Apple. Ever. For anything'.

Hopefully Snow Leopard will fix this, if not, then yeah, Win7 will be better for editing AVCHD whether OSX fans like it or not.

PS - I own a Mac.

[DaReal_Dionysus]

I'm not bashing Mac here (bought my first MBP a few weeks ago) but I find it very hard to get decent AVCHD editing and exporting on the Mac. I tried both iMovie, Final Cut Express and Adobe Premiere (trial) but my MBP just doesn't cut it. It's either way too slow and viewing AVCHD movies is just a plain horror.

Today, I tried Windows7 with Vegas (trial) and this is night and day difference. Windows7 plays AVCHD fluid without any additional codecs (!) and Vegas makes editing them a breeze without having to convert them to a (less good) format like FCE does.

I really hope there will be decent AVCHD solutions for my Mac one day, but for now, my video editing will be in Windows7 only. Too bad.

this is what is known as the learning curve. It happens to all who make the switch at first. I had the same issues till i learned the Mac system. Give specific details to what you are trying to accomplish and we will help.

[lapino]

I think I've got Mac down pretty good by now, but to answer your question: I'm trying to a) make AVCHD play fluently on my MBP so b) I can edit it natively without converting it to another format and c) be able to export it back to AVCHD (mostly for less disk storage) and e) put these files with menus etc on a DVD/BluRay disc for playback on my PS3.

Pretty simple eh? Well, supposedly not on Mac. Turns out I need to convert AVCHD to a different format before being able to edit (ok, I can live with that), but then I also cannot output it to AVCHD again, and FCE doesn't even have a DVD/BluRay menu designer either.

So if I'm wrong, please tell me how I can do these (pretty simple) tasks on my MBP.

[rhett7660]

I think I've got Mac down pretty good by now, but to answer your question: I'm trying to a) make AVCHD play fluently on my MBP so b) I can edit it natively without converting it to another format and c) be able to export it back to AVCHD (mostly for less disk storage) and e) put these files with menus etc on a DVD/BluRay disc for playback on my PS3.

Pretty simple eh? Well, supposedly not on Mac. Turns out I need to convert AVCHD to a different format before being able to edit (ok, I can live with that), but then I also cannot output it to AVCHD again, and FCE doesn't even have a DVD/BluRay menu designer either.
So if I'm wrong, please tell me how I can do these (pretty simple) tasks on my MBP.

FCE or FCP wouldn't have this.. .this is usually done is a DVD authoring program like DVD Studio Pro or Adobe's Encore. Someone correct me if I am wrong but FCE or FCP only do the video editing part of the movie correct not authoring DVD menu's etc.

Glad to see you made it back to the conversation!

[lapino]

Thx. Problem is the DVD authoring software you mention is WAY too expensive for a simple amateur like myself. I just want to put clips of my family outings and such on a disc, in HD with some decent menu's so my wife/family can navigate them easily.

[howardnow]

I use the free iLife software that comes with every Mac to make great menus under iDVD. It's easy to set-up, just export from either FCE or Imovie.

[howardnow]

If you need to output to HD rather then SD, I found this post:

"Before wasting the money on an external (or internal) BluRay burner, you should consider using what you already have. Did you know that if you buy the BluRay plug in for Toast you can burn up to 25 minutes of BluRay on a normal DVD disc with any DVD burner? I don't know about you but I don't want to watch a family movie longer then about 10 minutes so that should be plenty. Also consider the cost of media... $10 (Blu-ray) vs. about .30 cents (for a standard DVD)."

[rhett7660]

Thx. Problem is the DVD authoring software you mention is WAY too expensive for a simple amateur like myself. I just want to put clips of my family outings and such on a disc, in HD with some decent menu's so my wife/family can navigate them easily.

Didn't say they weren't. There is always iDVD that you can use which comes with your Mac. I haven't used it yet so I do not know the limitations of what it can or can't do. But it should be able to do pretty much most of the things you want it do to.

[TheStrudel]

The root of the issue here is that you want to use AVCHD in such a way that most professional software isn't aimed at. Though I will agree that  could be doing a much better job with GPU acceleration, and I hope that both the next version of FCS and snow leopard add it.

[lapino]

I can use iDVD but doesn't iDVD render the final output, even when the project includes HD content, to SD quality? Or is there a way to set iDVD to output to HD?

[rhett7660]

This is from another thread:


Best possible?

Big part of the puzzel is whether you shot 720p or 1080i. The interlacing typically looks terrible on computer formats, though really quite terrific on your TV.

ALl my footage is 1080i so I will talk about that from here on. Perhaps it's all simpler in 720p...

...and it's reasonably hard to preserve the interlacing all the way to the TV! If you de-interlace you footage, you will essentially lose half of your picture information -- which is not why you went to HD in the first place. It looks good (great, perhaps) but not the breathtaking presence of 1080i.

I have not been able to edit footage without at least one cross rendering. However, if you import in iMovie (or FCP, essentially it's the same) into AIC 1080i, that's fine for your editing, and will work with toast in the end.

Sadly, the only way I have been able to get a decent result is the Blu-ray path. Which means a (non-supported) burner and a player (or PS3. I wish I bought the PS3!). To move your footage from one room to the other, it seems extreme!

So, the workflow I used is like this:

1) import 1080i with iMovie
2) Edit away!
3) export with "share" -> "Export using Quicktime"
settings: HDV 1080i, AIC
4) Burn to Blu-ray via Toast.

Honestly, it looks pretty good!

In an ideal world, we could edit in AVCHD and preserve the data (no cross renderings) through the whole workflow. Good old iMovie & DV did that -- it was amazing! -- but I'll take my re-rendered HD any day before that old DV stuff...

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=707675

To add to this, one reason why I think Win7 might have a better handle on this is because this format is reasonable new 2006-2008? Maybe someone can chim in here also, but hasn't this just become a readly available and used format in the camcorder industry? I mean jvc used .mod format etc. Which you have to convert in order to bring it in to some editing programs too.

I am hoping that SL will be able to handle this format a little better.

Edit>> Here is the link to wiki on the format: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AVCHD

Take it for what it is worth.

[ecPixel]

What kind of editing are you looking for? If it's just simple trimming the unwanted section and re-saving it / burning onto dvds. Just use Toast 10.

The Toast Video Player actually play mts files w/ no problem at all also.

[CaptainChunk]

I think a lot of what is missed here is despite the fact that you may able to edit AVCHD natively using Windows7 and Vegas, AVCHD isn't exactly the most desirable codec to edit to begin with. It uses H.264 compression, which is a delivery codec by design.

Yes, it would be convenient to be able to do this natively on a Mac, but I suppose we'll just have to wait for the next generation of FCE/FCP and hope that they'll (finally) have an overhauled interface and code base with support for GPU acceleration. Final Cut has only gotten facelifts and added features over new versions since FCP 1.0, but largely the same underlying 32-bit Carbon code has remained.

The present gripes with AVC on the Mac are similar to ones experienced with HDV several years ago. Back then, a lot of machines (Mac and Windows alike) couldn't handle cutting it natively because the CPUs were too slow (and at that time, GPU acceleration only really applied to gaming).

[lapino]

Still, it's amazing the "cpu" in small camcorders can play/edit AVCHD without a hitch, while a high speed Mac cannot. I know this is only due to software support but still...

[TheStrudel]

Software support and hardware acceleration - if you've got a purpose designed chip, which is doing nothing but en/decoding AVCHD, as opposed to chips being tied down with an OS and a dozen other things, it'll do its job, no fuss, no mess. Though it's worth pointing out that better chips could allow higher quality AVCHD recordings, or more options in recording.

[blackhand1001]

Anything on GPU acceleration on the Windows side?

Yes, GPU acceleration of both rendering and video playback has been in use for quite some time. Windows has had an advantage in graphics acceleration for just about all of graphics cards being a standard feature in computing. It has has native mode support (works like a gpu, not a cpu) for many of these functions which is much more efficient than CUDA/OpenCL is.

[Eidorian]

Yes, GPU acceleration of both rendering and video playback has been in use for quite some time. Windows has had an advantage in graphics acceleration for just about all of graphics cards being a standard feature in computing. It has has native mode support (works like a gpu, not a cpu) for many of these functions which is much more efficient than CUDA/OpenCL is.My area of interest was with Vegas more than anything else.

[TennisandMusic]

What is with the rude responses in this thread? Try opening a raw avchd file in Win 7, vs opening it in OSX. Just opening it for playback. See what happens.

Now check out all the options for editing NATIVE AVCHD on Windows vs OSX. Just look! I can sort of edit my AVCHD files on my mac if I transcode them. I had a 15 minute file that was about 1.9 gigs. After transcoding, which took a few HOURS, that file was now about 10 gigabytes large. Unacceptable.

I had to go back to my Windows machine to do my editing, and that is not what I want to do.

Will this be fixed in Snow Leopard?

[xStep]

I had to go back to my Windows machine to do my editing, and that is not what I want to do.

Will this be fixed in Snow Leopard?

Actually it sounds like you choose to go back to windows, since the transcode did work. You didn't have to.

Even when Apple talks about SL Monday morning at the Apple Developer Conference, we likely won't here about this. If/When they choose to support native AVCHD editing in iMovie and FCE, they will release it specifically for those editors.

[TennisandMusic]

Actually it sounds like you choose to go back to windows, since the transcode did work. You didn't have to.

Even when Apple talks about SL Monday morning at the Apple Developer Conference, we likely won't here about this. If/When they choose to support native AVCHD editing in iMovie and FCE, they will release it specifically for those editors.

However 15 minutes of video took hours to transcode. This does not work when I have hours of video to edit. I shoot a lot of stuff. So therefore to be in ANY way efficient I HAD to use Windows. Should I really spend DAYS transcoding for hours of video? Do you realize how much time and space that takes?

On windows, I copy the native files over to my disk, and start watching and editing immediately, and it flies. Windows Media Player 12 plays back the raw files and they look flippin amazing. So it's more than just editing in apps. What about quicktime playing these files? I hope 10.6 fixes this. I really do. Anyone who thinks the current solutions are acceptable are crazy folk.

[xStep]

However 15 minutes of video took hours to transcode.

Anyone who thinks the current solutions are acceptable are crazy folk.

Out of curiosity, what are your hardware specs?

I agree, waiting hours to get to work is a little nutty, at least for the consumer. Pros have good reason to use codecs designed for editing.

[Courtaj]

I had a 15 minute file that was about 1.9 gigs. After transcoding, which took a few HOURS, that file was now about 10 gigabytes large.For what it's worth, I agree that not even being able to play AVCHD clips in QT Player (and having to install third party players instead) is more than a bit sad. Then again, most Windows users aren't on Win7 and are therefore in the same (or a strikingly similar) boat.

What I am wondering about, though, is why it's taking "hours" to transcode a 15-minute clip in OSX. Should take no more than 1.5x clip time, i.e. 22 minutes or less. Still not as convenient as dragging and dropping files, but not hours of inconvenience, either.

[TennisandMusic]

For what it's worth, I agree that not even being able to play AVCHD clips in QT Player (and having to install third party players instead) is more than a bit sad. Then again, most Windows users aren't on Win7 and are therefore in the same (or a strikingly similar) boat.

What I am wondering about, though, is why it's taking "hours" to transcode a 15-minute clip in OSX. Should take no more than 1.5x clip time, i.e. 22 minutes or less. Still not as convenient as dragging and dropping files, but not hours of inconvenience, either.

AVCHD works perfectly in vista now too actually.

[theBB]

I have 3.5 year old iMac core duo and conversion of 15 minutes takes longer than 15 minutes, sure, but nowhere near hours. If it takes that long on your machine just to convert, I cannot imagine editing AVCHD natively would be a smooth experience. I don't think you are comparing apples to apples. Your windows machine sounds more powerful hardware wise.

In any case, I am curious. iMovie editing can go way beyond simple trimming. When Vegas edits AVCHD, what are its limits? Based on other posts, it seems Toast can handle basic editing as well as burning HD disks.

The biggest drawback of a conversion for me is the diskspace. I wish there was a way to get iMovie not to decompress sections of the movie that the user knows will not be edited, as either it will stay as a separate clip on its own or whatever transitions etc that is needed will be applied before or after that clip, not during.

[Courtaj]

AVCHD works perfectly in vista now too actually.Okay, but you didn't answer my question about the transcode time issue. What software are you using?

[darkgoob]

Why not just transcode to AIC rather than work with AVCHD directly? Less good? Really? I've put direct HDMI output from my camera up next to the same clip converted to ProRes or AIC and I see no difference at 1920x1080.

Because it takes FOR FREAKING EVER on any laptop or iMac to import/convert the damn files, and then they take up the entire fraking hard drive since they baloon in size with NO quality improvement.

The question is more why Apple has NO NATIVE SUPPORT FOR AVCHD, the standard for video now. WHY???? Is it because they are too cheap to pay the stupid MPEG license and would rather force their customers to live in a world where .MTS files don't load into QT Player... where it takes ten hours to simply do basic edits on a couple hours of video and then save it onto an external HD in a format recognizable by BD players... where I have to explain to my customers that Apple mysteriously fails to fully support the most common video camera standard at the level we have come to expect from Apple?

It really makes Apple look bad, as does their lack of Blu-Ray as an option... Fing pathetic... !! What are they thinking, seriously? What is the damn reason for this? Is there some actual reason, like Sony denied them a license? Or they didn't feel like paying it?? Whatever the reason is, IT'S RETARDED!! QUIT SMOKING CRACK APPLE! Your kool-aid can't possibly taste that good.

-=DG=-

Posted from my Palm Pre, which gets reception inside of buildings and comes with free GPS navigation software.

[darkgoob]

Actually it sounds like you choose to go back to windows, since the transcode did work. You didn't have to.

Even when Apple talks about SL Monday morning at the Apple Developer Conference, we likely won't here about this. If/When they choose to support native AVCHD editing in iMovie and FCE, they will release it specifically for those editors.

What a jerk!! It's people like you that make people hate Mac users. Snobby, arrogant, and bone-headed. You are defending Apple's choice to not support AVCHD-- a very poor choice since people specifically buy Macs with the expectation they will be SUPERIOR for things like video-- just because it's Apple and you religiously believe anything they do is done the correct way because it's Apple. Well quit snorting lines of the kool-aid powder... !

Apple needs to get back in the lead on stuff like this ... I GUARANTEE there are people who have returned their Mac and bought a Sony just to get AVCHD and Blu-Ray support.

[lapino]

Indeed! It's very annoying to see AVCHD so poorly supported on my Macbook Pro, a laptop I bought specifically to do photo (great) and video work (bad) on the road.

I love my MBP and OSX is great to work with, but the lack of native AVCHD support is really disappointing. I hope there will be native AVCHD editing on the new version of Final Cut, but so far there's no sign that it will have that feature.

[xStep]

What a jerk!! It's people like you that make people hate Mac users. Snobby, arrogant, and bone-headed. You are defending Apple's choice to not support AVCHD...

LOL! Come to the party late and insult people. That will make you look good. :eek:

I never defended Apple, wasn't being arrogant or snobby, or bone-headed. I may have been a little cheeky though. :p

Go get a sense of humor.

[Jognt]

a 1.5GB AVCHD file uncompresses into 10GB? DUH!

That's not apple's fault! The file would uncompress into the same size on Windows! HD video is simply HUGE.
No quality improvement after uncompressing? Uhm, again, DUH :) Ever tried to convert an MP3 to a WAV? What's gone is gone mate.

The only reason AVCHD gets converted first is because H.264 is an incredibly demanding codec which is pretty hard to edit on the fly unless it's GPU accelerated.

Instead of complaining about how Apple sucks for not having proper support of a (relatively new) codec try sending in feedback forms on adding such support.

If you want to rant, fine, go ahead, but don't rant without actually trying to improve the situation!

Oh btw, since Snow Leopard is getting OpenCL i'm guessing iMovie (among others) gets GPU acceleration ^_^.

There, problem solved. There's one feature that doesn't yet work the way you want and you're making it sound as if your girlfriend broke up with you!
It's annoying that it doesn't properly work, I know, but don't go ranting and blaming people or company's like Apple for stuff that isn't their fault in the first place. (such as the uncompressing video size thing)

For the person that thought it was strange that a CPU can't playback AVCHD while the small hardware chip can:
- It does not take a intelligent person to work as a boxing person for a factory
- It [i]does[i] take an intelligent person to manage and oversea the whole factory.

CPU's are more like they can do A LOT decently whereas the hardware dedicated chips can do ONE thing VERY good.

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LOL! Come to the party late and insult people. That will make you look good. :eek:

I never defended Apple, wasn't being arrogant or snobby, or bone-headed. I may have been a little cheeky though. :p

Go get a sense of humor.


lol @ xStep :p

[Drag'nGT]

Less good? I'll avoid the grammar...

I have no issues with any of my AVCHD files. So I don't know what you're getting at or the pot you want to stir. How does it work in Snow Leopard? That's the real question.

[Sounds Good]

Oh btw, since Snow Leopard is getting OpenCL i'm guessing iMovie (among others) gets GPU acceleration ^_^.
Does this mean that once Snow Leopard comes out we'll also need to buy a new version of iMovie to take advantage of this?

[Eidorian]

Does this mean that once Snow Leopard comes out we'll also need to buy a new version of iMovie to take advantage of this?You'll need new software to take advantage of it.

[Sounds Good]

You'll need new software to take advantage of it.
Which software?

[Eidorian]

Which software?You'll first need Snow Leopard and then software that takes advantage of the updates in Snow Leopard.