The AVCHD 3D Thread

Thanks for starting this thread, Wolfgang.

To start, here's a workflow that's been pretty consistent for me up this point with JVC MVC footage.

Start with JVC TD1 footage, shot in high quality mp4 (lower or higher bitrate) or AVCHD 3D modes.

The fastest process (with no re-compression) uses AVCHD 3D mode:

1. Shoot your footage on the TD1 in AVCHD 3D mode. Set this in the camera's menu. Note that this mode may not be available on your camera until you upgrade to the latest firmware. NOTE: Download and follow the upgrade directions carefully, since you may damage your camera if the upgrade is interrupted.
2. Using the "Edit Movies" icon, do basic editing in the Everio MediaBrowser 3D software that ships with the TD1. Check for the latest version here. If you have the old version, make sure you upgrade, or you will not be able to edit AVCHD 3D footage. Select the type of footage you want to edit (AVCHD 3D), then how you want to export it (also AVCHD 3D). Don't confuse AVCHD 3D with AVCHD 2D or AVCHD Side by Side.) Follow the prompts to start editing. Basic editing allows you to cut heads and tails from the clips, add dissolves, overlay simple titles, and add music. Note where the edited movies are saved. These movies also appear in the MediaBrowser library when you finish editing a movie. More details coming later, if requested.
3. Go back to the main menu and select "Create Disc." Drag your edited movies into the timeline and click "Next." Put a blank Blu-ray disc in the drive and click "Start." (NOTE: This doesn't work with DVD blank discs.) AVCHD 3D footage does not need to re-encode, so the process should go very quickly. The original quality is maintained in everything except dissolves and titles, but they appear to be of very high quality, too, and don't slow the process much.

When the disc finishes, try it in an AVCHD 3D capable Blu-ray player. I have the Sony 480 and 590 players. Both play back these discs through a Denon 1312 3D capable AVR to an LG LM7600 passive 3D TV. I have issues playing this 3D video back onto an Epson 6010 projector. The resolution is reduced to what looks like less than DVD quality. Apparently, different gear responds to different AVCHD 3D playback devices differently.

The process for creating such discs from JVC mp4 files (lower or higher bitrate) is the same. However, mp4 files must be re-encoded to AVCHD 3D before they can be burned to disc. The process seems to involve some image degradation from the original, but it is still high quality (but no higher than native AVCHD 3D mode). When doing the edit, select mp4 instead of AVCHD 3D for the original clips, but keep AVCHD 3D as the export format.

Discs created with MediaBrowser 3D are in the BDAV format.

More to come, and perhaps changes to this, as new information becomes available.

Please submit your results so others can benefit from your experience.

Wolfgang,

Perhaps you could detail the process for Sony TD10 users.

BTW, raw Panasonic Z10000 clips (as MTS files) can be imported into MediaBrowser 3D and edited like the JVC clips. Once such clips have been imported to the computer via Panasonic's software and converted to m2ts format, they can no longer be used in MediaBrowser. Also, video shot in AVCHD 3D mode on the JVC TD1 can be played back on a Panasonic Viera 3D TV right from the memory card. At least this was my experience a few months ago when AVCHD 3D capability was added to the TD1.

More to come on the creation of AVCHD 3D discs in Edius 6.52.
Edited by Joseph Clark - 11/3/12 at 5:33pm

A quick question on your TD1 workflow...

During my recent vacation, I shot AVCHD 3D when I had good lighting and some AVCHD 2D when the light wasn't so good or when I needed the 10x zoom.

I now want to edit all the footage and combine both 2D and 3D footage to create a 3D disk - any thoughts on how this might be possible?

I realize of course that there would be no 3D effects on the 2D footage

Steve

What software will you be using, Steve? With most, you can mix and match different formats. I haven't seen Vegas, Edius or PowerDirector have a problem with mixed 2D and 3D. 2D just ends up looking flat in the finished project. I doubt it will work in MediaBrowser, but I haven't tried it. Experiment. It might work even there.

One way to "simulate" 3D with 2D is to pair two instances of a 2D clip and add some z-axis depth. I don't think this will work in PowerDirector, but it works in Vegas and Edius. Especially if it's a distance shot, this will fool most people into thinking it's real 3D. It works best if there's nothing in the foreground. Of course, simulated 3D (even if it's with tools built into the software) doesn't come off looking nearly as good as real 3D.

Wolfgang,

I believe this is the best workflow for TD1 users who want to maintain high quality and smooth motion. I export to an SD card (using AVCHD 3D Writer), then burn the files to disc using ImgBurn. I'll put the workflow in my post above (with the exact English menu wording used in Edius), so as to keep it all consolidated in one place.

This workflow is great for creating AVCHD 3D discs. It gives TD1 users access to Edius' sophisticated editing tools (color correction, 3D control, titling, etc.). It works great with my Sony 480/590 players, Denon 3D receiver and LG passive 3D display. I have a problem with my Epson projector using this process, in that it lowers the resolution when played back from disc. Played back from an SD card on the Panasonic 320 player, it looks good, but to me that's an impractical solution. I don't want to tie up expensive SD cards with edited projects, when discs are so cheap.

I'm going to experiment with hard drive storage today. My Sony players don't have a problem with DVDs that contain 26mbps AVCHD 3D content.

In my first test, the Sony 480 player didn't recognize the content on the USB hard drive I rendered the AVCHD 3D folder to (from Edius). It saw the hard drive, and the folder, but it wouldn't play back the AVCHD 3D content. Have you gotten hard drive playback with the Sony 590 player? I've yet to try that.

Just as an aside...

Has anyone had problems using Edius with Windows 8 - I upgraded to Windows 8 (and I absolutely love the improvements) but before I pull the trigger on Edius I want to make sure it's compatible as I read some less than complementary threads on Edius, their support and their compatibility with the pre-release versions of W8

No first hand experience with Windows 8, Steve. I do know that Win8 out of the box doesn't have the DVD and Blu-ray codec packs, and I've read of some compatibility issues. I'm strictly Windows 7 at this point. I believe you can download the Windows Media Center Pack (or whatever it's called) for free for a couple of months, then it's $10. (Not sure of the specifics.)

Windows 8 has been a huge improvement for me (i7 4GB laptop) - faster loading and faster app loading too. When you try it I think you will like it but it doesn't help when the software apps don't run Maybe give it a year before you change.

I'm trying Magix Video Pro X4 instead at the moment which seems to run just fine on Win8 - imported my AVCHD3D files OK but will try burning a BD to see how good it actually is.

Wolfgang, I can't figure out how to create output in Pinnacle 16 that PMH will read. I've tried AVCHD outputs, but when I try to import into PMH, they can't be found. Any suggestions or specifically how I create such output in Pinnacle? Thanks so much.

I finally realized my Panasonic BDT210 doesn't read AVCHD 2.0 files--thought it did after the last firmware upgrade. Anyway, I'm going out tomorrow to get a Sony 590. I also researched and found out the Panasonic BDT500 supports AVCHD 2.0 on an SD card (only).

And, I updated Pinnacle 16 with the patch and now when I create an image it goes about halfway through and stops for no reason and hangs there forever. I've tried it on several projects and the same thing. I will not complete. I tried uninstalling and reinstalling P16 and the patch, and the same thing, so tomorrow, I'm uninstalling and reinstalling without the patch. Any ideas as to what might be happening I have i7 intel desktop running Windows 7 64-bit.

I got my Sony 590 today, hooked it up and played all my AVCHD 2 assets I've created in the past. I have to say that after a month of trying everything I could get my hands on (read spend, spend, spend), AVCHD 2 multistream 3D just does not look good on my Optoma HD3300, so I'm abandoning efferts and will stick with plugging in media directly from camera, which are okay, just not convenient.

Joe, can you comment on the quality of the AVCHD disc 3D playback ( actual video quality) through your Sony players on your TV, vs. raw video directly from the camera, or a 1080 24p standard BD conversion through a standard player? Is there much degradation? Does it look better than a standard conversion to 1080 24p?

Honestly, I sort of gave up on this whole AVCHD 3D 2.0 workflow. The quality with my Sony players and the displays they're attached to was very good. Motion was better than converting 60i to 24p, of course. But I never did get the Epson to show things in full quality. Also, the fact that few players can deal with this "standard" made it not worth the effort for me. I'll convert my existing 60i footage to 24p, which means there are some shots I won't be able to use. In the future, I'll shoot at 24p for most projects (HMZ1 and Panasonic Z10000). For fast motion, I still shoot at 60i and then convert to 1280x720/60p, which also works well with the existing Blu-ray 3D standard.