Classroom in a book

Importing AVCHD media
In the example you just completed, you used XDCAM EX media. AVCHD media is 
imported and used in a similar way. The difference comes in choosing the correct 
preset when starting the new sequence. The XDCAM, P2, or AVCHD folder struc-
tures may be different, but if you use the Media Browser as we recommend here, 
the workflow will be very similar.
Performance of AVCHD media
AVCHD media is a highly compressed format that creates a challenge when per-
forming frame-accurate nonlinear editing. Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 is designed 
to handle native AVCHD media but requires a fast processor and a lot of memory 
to handle it efficiently. If you’ll be working with high-definition video, including 
AVCHD, it’s recommended that you scale your hardware to the high end of the 
Adobe hardware recommendations. You can further improve performance by using 
a compatible CUDA graphics card. The Mercury Playback Engine in Adobe Premiere 
Pro CS5 can leverage compatible CUDA cards to significantly boost performance. 
This is covered in more detail in Lesson 9.

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ADOBE PREMIERE PRO CS5 CLASSROOM IN A BOOK
55
Mixing media formats
It’s not unusual to work on a project and end up with video clips from differ-
ent cameras at different resolutions. This is no problem for Adobe Premiere Pro 
because you can mix clips of different frame sizes on the same Timeline. In this 
exercise, you’ll do just that. You’ll add a standard-definition video clip to the 
Timeline with other XDCAM EX high-definition clips.
1
Start where you left off, or open Lesson 03-01.prproj from the Lesson 03 folder.
2
Using the Media Browser, navigate to the Lessons/Assets folder.
3
Right-click the file Behind_the_scenes_SD.avi, and choose Import.
4
Drag the Behind_the_scenes_SD.avi clip to the end of the Timeline, and then 
play the Timeline.
Notice the SD clip is much smaller than the XDCAM EX clips. This is because 
the SD clip is a smaller frame size than the XDCAM clips. You can deal with 
this in a couple of ways. One is to enlarge the SD clip, which will make it a little 
soft or fuzzy. Another solution is to use the SD clip as a picture-in-picture (PIP) 
over an XDCAM clip. You’ll try both methods in the following steps.
5
Select the Behind_the_scenes_SD.avi clip by clicking it once in the Timeline. If 
it’s displayed too small to click, zoom into the Timeline by pressing the = key on 
your keyboard.