[RMF1]

Hi folks,

Yesterday I picked up a SONY HDR-CX105E after reading a couple of favourable reviews. I have been playing around with the camera a bit and I have found that the picture quality leaves a lot to be desired to say the very least. Any movement of the camera at all causes the image to blur excessively. Also, any movement of whatever you happen to be filming has a similar effect. Is there something wrong with the camera or is it just rubbish? I'm hoping that I'm doing something wrong here as I've already ordered a load of accessories from various sources on eBay.



Thanks in advance

[RMF1]

Actually guys, I think that the problem was that I was using zoom player to play the avchd files. When I use the player that comes bundled with the software I do not have the problem. Phew.

Although, it looks like I'm going to have to upgrade my PC soon as the raw files max out my CPU when playing which is odd bec ause I output other 1080p video files from this same machine to my TV all the time and they never send my CPU past 35% usage.

[rogs]

I've found the same thing with the AVCHD from my Panasonic. Play back using the supplied software on my Quad Core - superb quality, no motion blur, no 'stuttering' or jerkiness. Mind you, it needs about 60% on all four cores!

Try the same footage on a software player, motion blur and background 'stuttering' all over the place.

AVCHD can be very good - but it doesn't take much to upset it -- insufficient CPU power, poor software players, loss of quality from format conversion, loss of quality in final output conversion . Any one of those can degrade the quality - sometimes by quite a bit!

[RMF1]

Maybe I should have researched this format before buying the camera because it seems to be a real pain in the rear when it comes to editing. I've been trawling the net for a few hours today, trying to find some decent software that will allow me to edit the video and still output it at the same level of quality.

I don't have a blu-ray burner yet either so I would also like to convert these files into another HD format without a loss of quality that I can play without it maxing out my CPU. If anyone can help me with either of these then I would greatly appreciate it. Like I said before, I use this HTPC to play a lot of 1080p media without issue and I can't understand why this format is maxing my system out in the way that it is.

However, I think that one of my main issues with playback is that I'm using Windows 7 RC1 and due to MS locking down their rubbish codecs there is no way for me to be able to use coreavc to play back the AVCHD files. Maybe I'll need to go back to Vista in the meantime

EDIT: I'm just experimenting with a few short clips in SONY Vegas now. Joining about 12 minutes of clips together and rendering to a 1080i .avi file which is taking around about 18 minutes or so.

[rogs]

I use Canopus HQ as an intermediate format. Excellent quality, low CPU demands.
Downside? -- large file sizes (about 40GB per hour!). Dead easy to edit.

Easiest way to try it is with the trial version of Grass Valley EDIUS Neo 2 NLE Software

If you already have an editing program, there is another alternative Cineform Neo Scene: Cineform Neoscene.

Again, high quality intermediate format, and easy on the CPU. Easy to edit. Again, you can trial it.

There are lots of other options for AVCHD, but I reckon these two are the least demanding of resources, and both keep the quality high.

[RMF1]

Originally Posted by rogs

I use Canopus HQ as an intermediate format. Excellent quality, low CPU demands.
Downside? -- large file sizes (about 40GB per hour!). Dead easy to edit.

Easiest way to try it is with the trial version of Grass Valley EDIUS Neo 2 NLE Software

If you already have an editing program, there is another alternative Cineform Neo Scene: Cineform Neoscene.

Again, high quality intermediate format, and easy on the CPU. Easy to edit. Again, you can trial it.

There are lots of other options for AVCHD, but I reckon these two are the least demanding of resources, and both keep the quality high.

Thanks I'll try them out. My Vegas test with 12 minutes of video didn't work out so well. 26 gigs in total for 12 minutes of video. LOL!