It is just plan silly that so many consumer cameras have the ability to encode 5.1 and Studio 14 can't import it.  AVCHD import downmixes to surround sound.

This request has been around for a long time.  I don't recall the first utterance (around mid 2007?), but cameras with DD 5.1 have been around since then and continue to appear.

Part of the problem is that the senior developers or marketers (all high savants, surely) "know" that "DD 5.1" is already supported by Studio, since the specs say so, and think that the lowly goobers requesting the support can't read.  The trouble is that the goobers do read and get the impression that the support exists, only to find out that (in fact) the support does not include preservation of native 5-channel sound upon import into Studio.  The ability to export to DD 5.1 is not really of any use at all if the source 5-channels have been compressed to 2.  To tinker with the fade and balance is quite laborious and not the same thing.

The other part of the problem owes to the fact that many cameras used for product testing probably use 2-channel or 1-channel sound only.  When Studio 12.0 first appeared, it compressed the 5 channels to one.

Since Studio 14 has not been equipped for DD 5.1, which would not have been a major feat, the product probably never will.  The request never gets past square one, since no one would earn points for engineering something that those on top think has already been done or which merely draws a "duh" and fogs eyes.

But, at least until recently, the same omission was true of Premier, PD, Nero, and Vegas.  Still so?

It works just fine with Vegas Movie Studio which I think I will stick to using.  To me Pinnacle/Avid is misleading to the point of mis-selling DD5.1 support to it's customers.

RajGrover:

It is just plan silly that so many consumer cameras have the ability to encode 5.1 and Studio 14 can't import it.  AVCHD import downmixes to surround sound.

Hi. My first post here.

Just got my first ever movie camera (I have always done stills before .. but now I have Grandchildren !!) - I went for the Panasonic HDC TM300 & I'm very pleased with it. The software that came with it (HD Writer AE 1.0) is very basic - just chop & rejoin with a handfull of Transitions.

However, the software handles the 5.1 sound embedded in the AVCHD files perfectly .. I didn't have to set anything up .. when I chop & move the video, the surround soundtrack is automatically chopped & moved too.

The software burns AVCHD to DVD & SDHC cards for my Panasonic Blu-Ray player too .. and the video's look & sound identical whether I'm playing from the Camera, or the DVD.

In short - the supplied (free) editing software did just about everything I needed .. except 2 things.

I want to add my own soundtracks sometimes

I'd like more (and better) titling & transition options.

I carefully read eveything I could find about the current state of play with HD video editing .. tried the demo of Corel thing but didn't like it at all.

Pinnacle studio looked good & got some good write-ups .. so I double-checked "am I CERTAIN that it's Dolby Digital compatible" like the free editor was ??

Website says yes... (but couldn't find a demo to try out .. ??)

So I bought it .. £100 .. then burnt a test disk to immediately make sure that the surround sound in my originals was being preserved ..

Dammitt - this thing's mixing it all to mono.

Tried various settings -- nothing -- must be a bug -- wonder if there's a forum ???

 

So here I am...

Wish I'd found this first .. luck of the draw I guess !!

Please add my vote for "Preservation of surround audio in imported AVCHD videos" .. apart from this the program seems excellent so far ..but the fact that it was advertised as "Dolby Digital 5.1 compatible" was, frankly, a lie.

(but like the other guys, I'll hang on to the app & hope for an update.........)

For illustration about this problem with DD 5.1 in the Studio 14, look

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aViK2Y8zbmk

Unfortunately it is the same in the Studio 11, 12 and 14.

Problem can be verified directly in the Studio if imports both files (input and output) to new project.

Visually you can see the difference in the curve of sound.

When click Play in the Studio, you will hear the difference in volume of sound.

But Avid Support does not understand still.

[click to view image]