TechNote

AVCHD support in Premiere Pro CS3 and Premiere Elements 4

What's Covered

Solutions for Windows
Solutions for Mac

Adobe Premiere Pro CS3 and Adobe Premiere Elements 4 do not natively support the AVCHD video format.

Premiere Pro CS4 and Premiere Elements 7 do natively support AVCHD.

You can purchase an upgrade to Premiere Pro CS4 or Premiere Elements 7 from Adobe Authorized Resellers and from Adobe directly. To locate an Authorized Reseller, visit the Adobe website at http://partners.adobe.com/resellerfinder/na/findreseller.jsp and choose your country or region from the menu at the top of the page. To purchase an upgrade from Adobe, visit the Adobe Store at http://store.adobe.com and choose your country or region from the menu at the top of the page. To contact Adobe Customer Service in your region for assistance, visit the Adobe website at www.adobe.com, select your region from the menu at the top of the page, and then click Contact.

If you do not wish to upgrade, then you can use a third-party solution to add AVCHD support to Premiere Pro CS3 or Premiere Elements 4 or to transcode AVCHD files.

Several third-party solutions are described below. Adobe is aware that this is not an exhaustive list of solutions and that other solutions are and will become available and may be better suited to individual workflows.

Please note that while most solutions will work in both Premiere Pro CS3 and Premiere Elements 4, not all will. Be sure to check with the publisher of the solution whether a particular application will support the solution. Adobe suggests trying a demo of the third-party software applications first to ensure compatibility.

Disclaimer: Adobe does not support third-party software and provides these procedures as a courtesy only. For further assistance, contact the software manufacturer or consult the software documentation.

Solutions for Windows

Blackmagic (recommended)

Blackmagic Intensity Pro card offers real-time capture to the PC from the camcorder using the HDMI cable into the Intensity card. This provides a Premiere Pro CS3-editable format, but the sound is stereo only.

For more information, see http://www.blackmagic-design.com/products/.

Shedworx VoltaicHD

VoltaicHD is a low-cost transcoder that can convert AVCHD files to AVI files that you can edit in Premiere Pro CS3 and Premiere Elements 4.

For more information, see http://www.shedworx.com/?q=voltaichdpc.

MainConcept

The MainConcept MPEG Pro HD 3 plug-in for Windows delivers AVCHD editing capabilities to Premiere Pro 2.0 and CS3 users.

For more information, see http://www.mainconcept.com/site/prosumer-products-4/mpeg-pro-hd-7850/information-7862.html.

Cineform

Cineform Aspect HD plug-in for Premiere Pro provides a real time, multi-stream editing environment which will convert AVCHD files to AVI using the Cineform Intermediate codec. Cineform Neo HD is a stand-alone application that will convert AVCHD files to AVI using the Cineform Intermediate codec when captured via Cineform HDLink.

For more information, see http://www.cineform.com/products/.

Sony VAIO

If you own a Sony VAIO computer with the VAIO Edit Component 6.1 or later, you can edit AVCHD files from Sony AVCHD cameras directly in Premiere Elements or Premiere Pro CS3. Please refer to your Sony documentation for further details.

To see if your VIAO computer is supported, see http://www.sony-asia.com/support/download/240340/product/vgn-tz37sn?site=hp_en_AP_i. You can also try searching for "VIAO Edit Components Upgrade" in an Internet search engine.

Panasonic

AVCHD clips recorded by Panasonic camcorders can be easily converted to P2 DVCPRO HD for editing on existing systems using a free AVCHD transcoder available on the Panasonic Broadcast web site, or transferred as uncompressed HD video using a simple HDMI to HD-SDI converter.

Note: This only works for Premiere Pro CS3 Version 3.1 or later.

For more information, see https://eww.pavc.panasonic.co.jp/pro-av/support/desk/e/download.htm#avchd.

Canopus ProCoder 3 Encoding Software

Canopus ProCoder AVCHD decoding allows the conversion of video footage from compact camcorders for editing on Premiere Pro CS3. It can export to the following formats:

Canopus DV
Microsoft DV
H.264
MediaEdge/HDMA4000 Video (MPEG-2, MPEG-4)
Any Video for Windows codec
Any DirectShow codec
Any QuickTime codec
MPEG-1
MPEG-2 (using Canopus codec)
Windows Media

For more information, see http://www.canopus.com/products/ProCoderSW/index.php.

Elecard Converter Studio v1.1

Elecard Converter Studio v1.1 can convert video to MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 and MPEG-2 formats. The application can be used to convert AVCHD camcorder files into formats supported by Premiere Pro CS3 and Premiere Elements 4.

Note: When converting from AVCHD to HDV, some loss of resolution will occur.

For more information, see http://www.elecard.com/products/products-pc/consumer/converter-studio-avchd/.

Pinnacle Studio 11

Pinnacle Studio is a low-cost editing program that can convert AVCHD footage from its timeline to MPEG-2 HD 1080i. This can then be edited by Premiere Pro CS3.

Note: Only the Plus and Ultimate versions allow you to edit AVCHD footage.

For more information, see http://www.pinnaclesys.com/PublicSite/us/Products/Consumer Products/Home Video/Studio Family/.

TMPGEnc 4

TMPGEnc is a transcoding software solution that requires the installation of a third-party AVCHD codec. It can batch-encode AVCHD files to Windows Media or other formats, which can then be edited with Premiere Pro CS3 or Premiere Elements 4.

For more information, see http://tmpgenc.pegasys-inc.com/en/product/te4xp.html.

Solutions for Mac

Blackmagic (recommended)

Blackmagic Intensity Pro card offers real-time capture to the Mac from the camcorder using the HDMI cable into the Intensity card. This provides a Premiere Pro CS3-editable format, but the sound is stereo only.

For more information, see http://www.blackmagic-design.com/products/.

Cineform

Cineform Neo HD is a stand-alone application that will convert AVCHD files to AVI files using the Cineform Intermediate codec when captured via Cineform HDLink.

For more information, see http://www.cineform.com/products/

Apple iMovie '08 and iMovie '09

iMovie '08 and iMovie '09 support importing AVCHD footage directly from a camcorder, if you have an Intel-based Macintosh computer.

AVCHD clips are converted to the Apple Intermediate Codec ("AIC"), which is installed with iMovie '08 and iMovie '09 (as well as Apple Final Cut Pro). You can import AIC-encoded QuickTime files into Premiere Pro CS3 on Mac OS.

For more information, see http://www.apple.com/support/imovie/.

Shedworx VoltaicHD

VoltaicHD is a low-cost transcoder that can convert AVCHD files to QuickTime MOV files that you can edit in Premiere Pro CS3 and Premiere Elements 4. It requires that the Apple Intermediate Codec (AIC), which comes with iMovie HD and Final Cut Pro, is installed on the system. It works with both Intel and PowerPC Macs.

For more information, see http://www.shedworx.com/?q=volmac-home.