Best converter of Canon AVCHD files for Final Cut?

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Level 1

9 points

Best converter of Canon AVCHD files for Final Cut?

Anyone out there know the best converting software of Canon AVCHD files for Final Cut? I have a Canon HF G30 that shoots at 60p and I'm assuming I need to convert that to Apple Pro Rez 422 (HQ) for use in Final Cut, so just wanted to get some recommendations. Have been using PavTube HD video converter but I'm not 100% sold on the resulting video quality it gives, so I'm wondering if there is something out there that is better.

Settings used on the PavTube converter are 1920x1080 and bit rate of "high quality" and frame rate of 59.94 but the image still looks somewhat pixilated to me, for some reason.

Thanks in advance.

Posted on Mar 27, 2015 10:43 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Shane Ross

Level 8

43,110 points

Mar 28, 2015 1:09 AM in response to DVDon3

EditReady by digitalmedia.com. I swear by it.

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Answer 2

DVDon3 Author

Level 1

9 points

Mar 28, 2015 10:31 AM in response to Shane Ross

Do you mean Divergent Media?

http://www.divergentmedia.com/editready

And what settings do you use? As I said, I'm trying to convert my original 60P 28mbps AVCHD Canon file to the best-looking resolution possible.

These are the exact settings I've been using in PavTube:

Task information: "00021.MTS"

Name	Source	Target
Audio Codec	ac3	pcm_s16le
Audio SampleRate(hz)	48000	44100
Audio BitRate(bps)	256000	352800
Audio Channels	Stereo	Stereo
Video Codec	h264	Apple ProRes 422(HQ)
Video Size(pix)	1920*1080	1920*1080
Video BitRate(kbps)	26413	24000
Video FrameRate(fps)	59.9401	59.94
File Size	1.906GB

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Answer 3

Shane Ross

Level 8

43,110 points

Mar 28, 2015 11:44 AM in response to DVDon3

Thank goodness your google skllls are strong. Yeah, that's it. I shouldn't post until after my first cup of coffee.

Audio needs to be 48kHz, not 44.1

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Answer 4

Meg The Dog

Level 6

13,561 points

Mar 28, 2015 11:49 AM in response to DVDon3

Here is what I would use, if I wanted to maintain the same framerate as the source material:

Considering your source files are h.264, ProRes HQ is a waste of disk space, it is like putting your files in a box that is 4 times to big for them - you gain nothing by doing so, but it is your call as it does not hurt anything. It just requires more disk space, and makes the files require higher performance drives to play them back.

MtD

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Answer 5

DVDon3 Author

Level 1

9 points

Mar 28, 2015 4:43 PM in response to Meg The Dog

Thank you to both of you, this is a big help.

One interesting question, however: I bought EditReady and the quality looks to be better from what I can see (still testing) but two of the clips in my AVCHD file are missing in EditReady but are showing up when I import them into other converters, like PavTube and Acrok MTS converter.

Any idea why that might be? The files in question seem to both show up and decode properly in both of those programs, but EditReady doesn't show them at all in the import list, much less decode them. My final folder of converted clips is 19 clips in EditReady but is 21 using the other two, and it's plain to see which ones they are, because the list is numerical and EditReady definitely skips those numbers.

Here are my lists:

PavTube:

00000.mov

00001.mov

00002.mov

00003.mov

00004.mov

00005.mov

00006.mov

00007.mov

00008.mov

00009.mov

00010.mov

00011.mov

00012.mov

00013.mov

00014.mov

00015.mov

00016.mov

00017.mov

00018.mov

00019.mov

00020.mov

00021.mov

EditReady:

00000.mov

00001.mov

00002.mov

00003.mov

00004.mov

00005.mov

00006.mov

00007.mov

00009.mov

00010.mov

00011.mov

00012.mov

00014.mov

00015.mov

00016.mov

00017.mov

00018.mov

00019.mov

00020.mov

00021.mov

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Answer 6

Meg The Dog

Level 6

13,561 points

Mar 28, 2015 5:16 PM in response to DVDon3

Are the clips that are missing the 2nd halves of longer clips?

Depending on the format of the storage media, some clips are broken down into several clips when recorded if they exceed file size limits imposed by the storage media format.

They are joined back together when on a system that can support the larger files.

Play the clips that proceed the missing clips and see if they contain the missing clip's material.

If they are unique clips that are missing, I don't know the answer.

MtD

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