Avchd Video Editing Software

One of the big benefits of the avchd system is that you can transfer the video content to the hard drive of your computer very quickly, using an ordinary USB cable. There is no need to transfer in real time as is the case with most tape recorders.




However, as the format is sort of a cousin of the blu-ray technology, the avchd cameras almost always have a rather intricate folder structure for its files, similar to the folder tree that has become standard on blu-ray discs. So when working with your newly shot material, it is usually best to create a folder on the hard drive of your PC and then copy the entire content of the camera's memory, leaving the folder structure intact. It is also certainly possible to copy just the individual video files. They typically have the extension .mts and are usually found in a folder called Private / Avchd / Bdmv / Stream.

Finally, like with any material you should always keep a safe copy of all your raw material, and then use copied version of that to begin your video editing project. The actual editing does not differ that much from editing other formats.

Editing HD video material (avchd or not) isn't that different from editing video of normal quality, but it does require some serious horse power under the hood of your PC. A several years old PC will most likely not cut it.

Most video enthusiasts do not edit their material just to have it as a file in their computer, but instead have the intention of showing off their latest master piece to others. Blu-ray players capable of displaying high definition has yet to become something you find in each and every home, so if you intend to give your movie to other people (as a gift or selling it) you will probably have to burn it in DVD format - which means giving up the hd quality.

Right now DVD can be seen as a temporary technical solution, mostly intended for use with older TV's that aren't capable of displaying high definition anyway. By storing your finished video editing project you can always burn additional high def copies of it at a later time - when even grandma have bough a 50 inch high definition television.

Scaling your avchd video down is something that has to be done before you can burn to DVD, and this process can take many hours even on a fast computer. Simply leave the conversion running when you don't need to use the computer for anything else, over night for example.

An upside of the scaling process is that the end result will most often end up looking slightly better than if the same video had been shot with a regular resolution camera, as the scaling process is able to use the extra information provided by high definition for creating an optimal DVD experience.