AVCHD

AVCHD (Advanced Video Coding High Definition) is a file-based format for the digital recording and playback of high-definition video. It is H.264 and Dolby AC-3 packaged into the MPEG transport stream, with a set of constraints designed around camcorders. Developed jointly by Sony and Panasonic, the format was introduced in 2006 primarily for use in high definition consumer camcorders. Related specifications include the professional variants AVCCAM and NXCAM. Favorable comparisons of AVCHD against HDV and XDCAM EX solidified perception of AVCHD as a format acceptable for professional use. Both Panasonic and Sony released the first consumer AVCHD camcorders in spring of 2007¹. Panasonic released the first AVCHD camcorder aimed at the professional market in 2008¹, though it was nothing more than the (by then discontinued) FLASH card consumer model rebadged with a different model number. In 2011¹ the AVCHD specification was amended to include 1080-line 50-frame/s and 60-frame/s modes (AVCHD Progressive) and stereoscopic video (AVCHD 3D). The new video modes require double the data rate of previous modes. AVCHD and its logo are trademarks of Sony and Panasonic.

AVCHD (Advanced Video Coding High Definition) is a file-based format for the digital recording and playback of high-definition video. It is H.264 and Dolby AC-3 packaged into the MPEG transport stream, with a set of constraints designed around camcorders. Developed jointly by Sony and Panasonic, the format was introduced in 2006 primarily for use in high definition consumer camcorders. Related specifications include the professional variants AVCCAM and NXCAM. Favorable comparisons of AVCHD against HDV and XDCAM EX solidified perception of AVCHD as a format acceptable for professional use. Both Panasonic and Sony released the first consumer AVCHD camcorders in spring of 2007. Panasonic released the first AVCHD camcorder aimed at the professional market in 2008, though it was nothing more than the (by then discontinued) FLASH card consumer model rebadged with a different model number. In 2011 the AVCHD specification was amended to include 1080-line 50-frame/s and 60-frame/s modes (AVCHD Progressive) and stereoscopic video (AVCHD 3D). The new video modes require double the data rate of previous modes. AVCHD and its logo are trademarks of Sony and Panasonic.

Overview

For video compression, AVCHD uses the H.264/MPEG-4 AVC standard, supporting a variety of standard, high definition, and stereoscopic (3D) video resolutions. For audio compression, it supports both Dolby AC-3 (Dolby Digital) and uncompressed linear PCM audio. Stereo and multichannel surround (5.1) are both supported. Aside from recorded audio and video, AVCHD includes many user-friendly features to improve media presentation: menu navigation, simple slide shows and subtitles. The menu navigation system is similar to DVD-Video, allowing access to individual videos from a common intro screen. Slide shows are prepared from a sequence of AVC still frames, and can be accompanied by a background audio track. Subtitles are used in some camcorders to timestamp the recordings. Audio, video, subtitle, and ancillary streams are multiplexed into an MPEG transport stream and stored on media as binary files. Usually, memory cards and HDDs use the FAT file system, while optical discs employ UDF or ISO 9660. At the file system level, the structure of AVCHD is derived from the Blu-ray Disc specification, but is not identical to it. In particular, it uses legacy "8.3" file naming convention, while Blu-ray Discs utilize long filenames (this may be caused by the fact that FAT implementations utilizing long file names are patented by Microsoft and are licensed on a per unit sold basis ). Another difference is location of the BDMV directory, which contains media files. On a DVD-based camcorder the BDMV directory is placed at the root level, as on the Blu-ray Disc. On the HDD-based Canon HG10 camcorder the BDMV directory is located in the AVCHD directory, which is placed at the root level. Solid-state Panasonic and Canon camcorders nest the AVCHD directory inside the PRIVATE directory. Following a standard agreed upon by many still camera manufacturers, solid-state camcorders have a root-level DCIM directory for still images. AVCHD is compatible with the Blu-ray format and can be authored without re-encoding on Blu-rays or DVDs, though not all Blu-ray Disc players are compatible with AVCHD video authored on DVD media, a format known as AVCHD disc. AVCHD recordings can be transferred to a computer by connecting the camcorder via the USB connection. Removable media like SDHC and Memory Stick cards or DVDs can be read on a computer directly. Copying files from an AVCHD camcorder or from removable media can be performed faster than from a tape-based camcorder, because the transfer speed is not limited by realtime playback. Just as editing DVCPRO HD and HDV video once demanded an expensive high-end computer, AVCHD editing software requires powerful machines. Compared to HDV, AVCHD requires 2-4 times the processing power for realtime playback, placing a greater burden on the computer's CPU and graphics card. Improvements in multi-core computing and graphics processor acceleration bring AVCHD playback to mainstream desktops and laptops.

AVCHD as distribution format

A DVD disc with AVCHD high-definition video recorded on it is sometimes called an AVCHD disc. AVCHD discs cannot be played in a standard DVD player, but can be played in many Blu-ray Disc players. Smooth playback is not guaranteed if overall data rate exceeds 18 Mbit/s. It is possible to create simple menus similar to menus used for DVD-video discs. AVCHD content can also be recorded on SDHC cards and played by many television sets, Blu-ray Disc players and media consoles. The AVCHD specification does not officially support Blu-ray Disc media, though some software packages allow authoring AVCHD content on Blu-ray Discs. For better compatibility with Blu-ray Disc players AVCHD video can be authored on Blu-ray Disc media as Blu-ray Disc video. Authoring a Blu-ray Disc video title does not require re-encoding of AVCHD audio and video streams. The resultant disc plays in any Blu-ray Disc player, including those that do not explicitly support AVCHD. Many software vendors support AVCHD mastering. In particular: Cyberlink PowerDirector and PowerProducer can author a compliant AVCHD disc, or BDMV on DVD media. Corel (formerly Ulead) DVD MovieFactory 7 can master AVCHD discs with menus. Various Sonic products can author AVCHD discs using HD/BD Plug-in. Compressor 3.5 is capable of authoring AVCHD discs; subtitles are not supported. Nero Vision 9 can create an AVCHD disc with data rate up to 18 Mbit/s, or an AVCHD-compliant folder for distribution on an HDD or a memory card with data rate up to 24 Mbit/s. Sony DVD Architect 5 can author AVCHD-compliant discs with menus using AVC encoding as well as non-standard discs using MPEG-2 encoding. In both cases data rate is limited to 18 Mbit/s. Panasonic HD Writer AE can author AVCHD content on DVDs, BD discs and on SD cards. MultiAVCHD can author AVCHD discs as well as Panasonic-compliant AVCHD memory cards. Magix Movie Edit Pro 15 Plus with updates can author AVCHD content on DVDs, BD discs. Pinnacle Studio 11.1.2 and higher offers AVCHD disc output. Although AVCHD shares many format similarities with Blu-ray Disc, it is not part of the Blu-ray Disc specification. Consequently, AVCHD-playback is not universally supported across Blu-ray Disc players. Blu-ray Disc players with "AVCHD" logo play AVCHD discs authored either on 8 cm or 12 cm DVDs. Players without such a logo are not guaranteed to play AVCHD discs. The 1080-line 50p/60p AVCHD Progressive recording mode employed in some camcorders, is not compliant with the current Blu-ray Disc specification, though many current player models unofficially support it if they support AVCHD format.

Hardware products

Hitachi

2008: DZ-BD10HA (Three-media recording: Blu-ray Disc, AVCHD on HDD, AVCHD on SDHC)

JVC

2008 June: GZ-HD10 (HDD, MicroSDHC), GZ-HD30/GZ-HD40(HDD, MicroSDHC card, dual AVCHD and TOD recording) 2009 January: GZ-HD320 (100 GB HDD, MicroSD), GZ-HD300 (59 GB HDD, MicroSD), GZ-HM200 (dual SDHC) 2009 February: GZ-X900 (SD/SDHC card) 2009 September: GZ-HM300, GZ-HM400 2009 December: GZ-HD620 2010¹ March: GZ-HM1 2011 January: GZ-HM30 (pre-released December 2010) 2011: GZ-HM4XX, GZ-HM6XX, GZ-HM8XX, GZ-HM9XX 2013: GZ-EX555 2014: GZ-R10BAA 2018: GZ-R495BE

Leica Camera

Digital still cameras 2010: LEICA D-LUX 5, LEICA V-LUX 2 2012: LEICA D-LUX 6

Panasonic

Panasonic AVCHD camcorders offer interlaced, progressive scan or native progressive recording and combinations of these modes depending on a particular model. 1080-line and 720-line recording is possible depending on a model. Panasonic AVCHD camcorders use AVC with High Profile @ Level 4.0 for all modes except 1080p50/1080p60, which are encoded with High Profile @ Level 4.2. Maximum data rate is limited to 24 Mbit/s for AVCCAM models, to 17 Mbit/s for most consumer models and to 28 Mbit/s for 1080p50/1080p60 recording modes. December 2006: HDC-DX1 (DVD), HDC-SD1 (SDHC) HDC-SD3 (SDHC, available in Japan only) AG-HSC1U - essentially a rebadged HDC-HC1 (SDHC, comes with portable 40 GB HDD storage) August 2007: HDC-SD5 (SDHC), HDC-SX5 (DVD, SDHC), HDC-SD7 (SDHC) January 2008: HDC-SD9 (SDHC), HDC-HS9 (60 GB HDD, SDHC) April 2008: AG-HMC70 (SDHC) June 2008: HDC-SD100 (SDHC), HDC-HS100 (60 GB HDD, SDHC) September 2008: AG-HMC150 (SDHC) January 2009: HDC-HS300 (120 GB HDD), HDC-HS200 (80 GB HDD), HDC-TM300 (32 GB built-in flash memory, SDHC), HDC-SD300 (SDHC, available in Europe only), HDC-SD200 (SDHC). June 2009: HDC-TM30/HDC-TM10 (32 GB built-in flash memory, SDHC), HDC-SD10 (SDHC) June 2009: HDC-TM350 (64 GB built-in flash memory, SDHC, available in Japan and as of October 2009, from Panasonic Stores across the UK) September 2009: AG-HMC40 (SDHC) February 2010: HDC-TM700/HDC-SD700/HDC-HS700 (introduced 1080p60/1080p50 modes, depending on region) March 2010: HDC-SD60/HDC-TM60/HDC-HS60 December 2010: AG-AF100/AG-AF101/AG-AF102 (4/3" large sensor camera) September 2011: AG-AC130/AG-AC160 (SDXC/SDHC/SD) June 2014: AG-AC90A; upgrade of the AG-AC90 In 2009 Panasonic introduced AVCHD Lite and AVCHD to selected members of its Lumix line of digital cameras: 2009: DMC-ZS3/TZ7*, DMC-TS1/DMC-FT1* (AVCHD Lite) 2009: DMC-GH1 (AVCHD) 2010: Lumix DMC-ZS7/TZ10*, DMC-G2 (AVCHD lite) 2010: Lumix DMC-GH2, DMC-GF2 (AVCHD) 2011: Lumix DMC-ZS10/TZ20* (AVCHD lite) 2011: Lumix DMC-FX77/FX78*, DMC-TS3*, DMC-FZ45/47/48* 2011: Lumix DMC-GF2, DMC-G3/GF3 (AVCHD) 2012: Lumix DMC-ZS20/TZ30 (AVCHD, AVCHD Progressive: GPH, PSH) 2012: Lumix DMC-G5 2012: Lumix DMC-FZ200 2012: Lumix DMC-GH3 with a bit rate of 28 Megabit per second (AVCHD 2.0) 2012: Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX7 * to avoid European specific tax, Panasonic digital cameras for this market are limited to 30 minutes recording.

Sony

Consumer Sony AVCHD camcorders released before 2011 could record 1080-line interlaced video only, while the prosumer HDR-AX2000 and professional HXR-NX5 cameras were capable of recording in interlaced and progressive formats. Released in March 2011, the Sony NEX-FS100 is the first professional NXCAM camcorder capable of 1080p50/p60 recording; consumer-grade HandyCam NEX-VG20 followed in August 2011. The list of AVCHD camcorders includes: September 2006: HDR-UX1 (DVD), HDR-UX3/UX5 (DVD), HDR-UX7 (DVD) October 2006: HDR-SR1 (30 GB HDD) June 2007: HDR-SR5 (40 GB HDD), HDR-SR7 (60 GB HDD) July 2007: HDR-SR5C (100 GB HDD), HDR-SR8 (100 GB HDD) Summer 2007: HDR-CX7 (Memory Stick Duo) March 2008: HDR-SR10 (40 GB HDD, Memory Stick), HDR-SR11 (60 GB HDD, Memory Stick), HDR-SR12 (120 GB HDD, Memory Stick) HDR-TG1/TG3/TG7 (Memory Stick Duo) August 2008: HDR-CX12 (Memory Stick Duo) March 2009: HDR-CX100 (8 GB HDD, Memory Stick Duo) March 2009: HDR-XR520V (240 GB HDD), HDR-XR500V (120 GB HDD Version) March 2009: HDR-XR200V (120 GB HDD) March 2009: HDR-XR200VE (120 GB HDD + GPS) March 2009: HDR-XR100 (80 GB HDD) July 2009: HDR-CX500E, HDR-CX520E October 2009: HDR-CX105 (8 GB Memory Stick Duo) January 2010: HXR-NX5, HDR-AX2000. March 2010: HDR-XR550 (240 GB HDD) June 2010: Sony NEX-5, NEX-5C (without Eye-Fi support), of both models, variants with AVCHD 1080 50i and AVCHD 1080 60i only exist July 2010: Sony HXR-MC50E. March 2011: Sony NEX-FS100 August 2011: NEX-VG20 October 2011: Sony SLT-A65, Sony SLT-A77V, Sony NEX-5N, Sony NEX-7 In 2010, Sony introduced AVCHD to selected members of its Cybershot line of digital cameras. January 2010: DSC-HX5V (GPS+COMPASS), HX5V-E (European version, limited to 30 minutes recording due to European specific taxes) March 2011: DSC-HX9V (GPS+COMPASS), HX9V-E (European version, limited to 30 minutes recording due to European specific taxes) 2012: DSC-HX10V, DSC-HX20V, DSC-RX100, DSC-WX50 2013: DSC-RX100 II, DSC-HX50V 2014: DSC-RX100 III 2015: DSC-RX100 IV

Software

Codecs

FFmpeg includes an AVCHD decoder in its libavcodec library that is used for example by ffdshow, a free, Open Source collection of codecs for Microsoft Windows. CoreAVC is an H.264 decoder for Windows, which can decode AVCHD as well as a variety of other H.264 formats. Gstreamer uses libavcodec to decode AVCHD on Linux, BSD, OS/X, Windows, and Solaris

Converters

Badaboom is a media converter that uses NVIDIA GPUs to accelerate conversion of AVCHD to mobile devices. HandBrake converts AVCHD Lite format to MP4 and MKV (tested on macOS; other versions available), AVI and OGM are supported in versions before 0.9.4. Roxio Toast 10 Titanium on macOS converts AVCHD to most formats. Total video converter is a converter for most video formats, including converting from AVCHD and burning AVCHD disc. iDealshare VideoGo can convert AVCHD to MP4, ProRes, MOV, AVI, WMV, FLV, DV, MKV, VOB etc.

Editors

The following video-editing software features support for the AVCHD format: Apple iMovie for some cameras/camcorders. Adobe Premiere Pro (from version CS4 onwards). (Creative Cloud 2013 version natively supports AVCHD Dolby Digital.) Adobe Premiere Elements (version 7 through 9 only support import, no AVCHD output), version 10 supports AVCHD output. Avidemux Video editor for Linux and Windows Apple Final Cut Pro X natively supports AVCHD through Import From Camera. Apple Final Cut Pro for macOS. The latest version of Final Cut Pro 7 claims better integration with Apple's other professional applications and improved codec support for editing HD, DV and SD video formats, including encoding presets for devices such as iPod, Apple TV, and Blu-ray Discs. Apple Final Cut Express 4, Final Cut Pro 6.0.1, and iMovie '08-'09 (iMovie is bundled with all new Apple computers; Final Cut Express and Pro are sold separately) do not support editing of AVCHD clips directly. Imported AVCHD clips are automatically converted into the Apple Intermediate Codec format, which requires more hard disk space (40 GB per hour as opposed to 13.5 GB per hour for Standard Definition DV), a more powerful machine (an Intel-based Mac), and a more recent OS (Mac OS X 10.5). Final Cut Pro 6.0.5 "logs and transfers" the footage from AVCHD to AppleProRes by default and also gives the option of converting to the Apple Intermediate Codec. It does not allow native transferring of the *.m2ts clips nor directly editing them. The latest release of Apple's iLife suite (specifically, iMovie) has added support for AVCHD Lite cameras. It automatically imports AVCHD files when attaching a supported camera to the computer, and it can import older MTS or M2TS files that have been rewrapped (see above) e.g. as m4v. Avid Media Composer (version 5.x and later) supports AVCHD via transcode import. AMA linking is available in Avid Media Composer 6 when a special AMA plugin is downloaded from the Avid download center. AVS Video Editor supports videos from HD-cameras(HD Video (inc. AVCHD, MPEG-2 HD and WMV HD), TOD, MOD, M2TS.) Burn AVCHD video to CD-R/RW, DVD+/-R, DVD+/-RW, DVD-RAM, Double/Dual Layer on Windows XP, 2003, Vista, 7 (no macOS/Linux support). Blender supports the AVCHD format by using an FFmpeg decoder. Blender has a little-known, video editing system that integrates with its 3D editing tools. It supports proxy editing at down to 25% scaling, which helps when editing AVCHD video, which is slow. Corel VideoStudio supports importing, rendering and burning of AVCHD format in Windows system. Cyberlink PowerDirector 11 is capable of editing AVCHD 2.0 3D/Progressive natively, without transcoding, intermediate formats or proxy files. Using a patented technique (SVRT), AVCHD clips can be edited and output losslessly to AVCHD or Blu-ray Disc. PowerDirector also supports OpenCL encoding acceleration on Intel, AMD and nVidia graphics platforms. PowerDirector can output the finished movie to a variety of video formats, DVD, AVCHD on DVD, removable storage device, SD/SDHC/SDXC memory card, Memory Stick or Blu-ray Disc. Dayang Montage Extreme [ME] 1.2 Grass Valley Edius from 5.5 up to 9.5 (current version) and historically Edius Neo from 2 until 3.5 but not on current Windows versions. Kdenlive for Linux and BSD platforms Lightworks for Windows and Linux, starting with version 11.1. AVCHD support is available in the Free and Pro versions, however, the free version requires transcoding into a different format upon import of AVCHD files. Microsoft Windows Live Movie Maker 2011 (part of the Windows Live Essentials package) converts to lower resolution for editing and playback, but is capable of exporting in HD. Nero Ultra Edition Enhanced (from version 7 onwards) includes the Nero Vision editor and the Nero Showtime player, which both support AVCHD files. NeroVision can author DVDs in the AVCHD format. OpenShot Video Editor for Windows, macOS, and Linux Pinnacle Studio Plus (from version 11 onwards) Ulead Video Studio 11 has announced a support for MTS/M2TS, however many user report that this statement is completely false and the editor cannot import video of that format, not to mention editing. VSDC Free Video Editor Pitivi Video editor for Linux Sony Vegas 7.0e Sony Vegas Pro (from version 8 onwards) Sony Vegas Movie Studio Platinum (from version 8 onwards) Other developers have pledged their support but it may still take some time for the implementation.

Open Source codecs

The following open source codecs can decode AVCHD files: ffdshow tryouts, revision 1971 May 23, 2008, decodes AVC (H.264) format video. libavcodec (part of FFmpeg project) is a codec library that supports AVCHD. It is used in Jahshaka and Blender, notably.

Specifications

For simplicity, the combination of frame rate and video format is denoted using the common simplified notation of NNx, where NN is the frame rate rounded to integer and x is the format ("i" for interlaced and "p" for progressive). In this table, "60" actually runs at 59.94 frames/sec, "30" actually runs at 29.97 frames/sec, and "24" actually runs at 23.976 frames/sec, a relic of NTSC video.

See also

AVC-Intra: an intra-frame video format based on AVC compression scheme, offered on professional Panasonic video cameras. iFrame: an intra-frame video format based on AVC compression scheme, marketed by Apple and offered on some consumer camcorders. AVCREC: a standard to allow recording of broadcast HD programming on recordable DVDs using AVC encoding scheme. Comparison of video editing software XAVC

References

External links

AVCHD Official Consortium Web site

Text derived from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1362283597 under CC BY-SA 4.0; modifications have been made.