About 24Mbps Avchd footage

Hello,
Are you recording standard definition images, or high definition images?

Thanks

Hello,

Using the MXP setting on the camera?

Thanks

OK, no you are doing everything right!
The AVCHD codec is designed to record the image in as little disk space as possible by making a very small file. It does a very good job of capturing the image and recording it in the very compressed format. Unfortunately, this highly compressed format is difficult (very very very difficult) to edit, and no one would ever want to edit with it if they ever tried.
So Apple converts the file to Pro Res, *which is a much larger file*, you can compare the native file size for a clip on your camera HD to the Pro Res converted clip, and you will see the Pro Res file is much much larger. This increase in size is necessary so that the clip can be easily edited.
I think what you were seeing is AVCHD at 24 mega bits per second, versus Pro Res at 1.5 mega bytes per second - but I am just guessing here.
But the bottom line is that your image is not being degraded in the conversion to Pro Res - it is simply being transcoded into a format that can be edited. And the picture quality of Pro Res is very much equal to the finest AVCHD recording.
Hope this helps.

No, you do not lose quality because in addition to being an editable format, Pro Res is actually a higher quality format, capable of rendering video in a more accurate way than AVCHD. But if you think about it, if you were to use Pro Res in your camera, your camera might only be able to store 18 minutes of video. This is why so many camera makers are using AVCHD - it makes a very nice image in such a tiny file.
And for a lot of people who will never edit, but only look at the camera playback on a monitor, it is a fully functional format, and a good choice.
Apple's Pro Res allows us to take advantage of the compression in AVCHD for image capture and then edit it within Final Cut.

Message was edited by: Meg The Dog to fix a typo