What is the best workflow for Sony AVCHD .mts files through FCPX to DVD?

Dear kind sirs/madams,

I've come to believe that this forum is most suited for my question. As sated in the Subject, I'd like recommendations on the full workflow when shooting with a Sony video camera that generates AVCHD .mts files. Then editing in FCPX and ultimately burning to a DVD. The only constraint I have is to keep the Sony footage in 1080 because I may want to later send the footage to a higher capacity media.

(what I'm looking for is camera settings (i.e. shutter speed, frame rates, shooting modes), media ingestion format, and final export/output file format, etc.))

I'm at the moment working through many different combinations and I'm wondering what would generate the smoothest looking film in the experience of others. (i.e. no choppiness on pans, good graphic regeneration) Assuming that my lighting and camera techniques are on par, I'm interested in producing a crisp outcome.

Thanks in advance,

Bill

As you want to create a DVD, I'd shooting in 50/60i (PAL/NTSC). Shutter speed at 1/50 (PAL) or 1/60 (NTSC). Aperture to your liking (get ND filters to achieve the needed f-stop).
Shooting mode: I prefer a flat, low contrast picture. It is a question of taste, but I use it as it gives me a very good start for color correction in post. Your camera should have a preset for such a picture style.

Panning slowly and fluid. That's more an issue of practicing than technique. A good tripod helps.

Ingest: Copy the whole card structure to your computer, and have FCP X import the files from there. Archive the card's content. With AVCHD you might want to optimize your footage or use Proxies, depending on your Mac's specs.

Output: You can use FCP X DVD-burn feature (I use it for screeners only as it doesn't build a "real" menu), For 1080 output, I use ProRes LT.
If you have iDVD or Roxio Toast, you can use the ProRes file as a base for your DVD. The software does the rest for you.
I normally send my stuff to Compressor and make a batch for ProRes (archive), h.264 (web), MPEG 2 (DVDSP). That batch runs over night.

I don't want to sound arrogant, but: Read the manuals of your camera and software.

Thanks cgbier! Just FYI my camera is an HXR-NX5U, what a workhorse!

I've been doing exactly what you say, I'm just trying to streamline my process.

Except for Compressor. I have yet to use it successfully. It either crashes or takes greater than 8 hours to process.

Specifically, when it comes to burning I waited 2 hours for FCPX DVD burner to spit out a DVD and it just said failed. So my my solution is sticking with iDVD which is fantastic and allows me to create beautiful menus.

As for panning, some of my the shot look amazing within FCPX but when exported some of them are completely unacceptable - I guess its the "slowly and fluidly" however why do all look great within FCPX?

Thanks for the detailed info cgbier.

Any other workflows, variations? what about not shooting in interlaced? to avoid that "videoee" effect? What about converting the files to h.264 before ingest? ...or again any other successful workflows.....

(oohh yeah and I've read the manuals.... what makes you say that, anyhow? something I forgot? something in my original post that I wrote indicating that I haven't read the manuals, just curious? because what I'm looking for in essence is the combination of three variables that there is no single manual for.....camera, software, dvd success.....in a workflow sense -- weather one uses a TDK +R or a Verbatim -R may make a difference as well....) So bottom line I'm looking for successful work flows to add to my experimentation, until I find the cleanest, crispiest, high quality result) sincerely,

For DVD, you want to shoot interlaced (with the i behind the frame rate). I only shoot 24 or 30p if I know that it is for web only.
Don't edit in h.264! It is a delivery format, not an editing codec. You want to stick with ProRes. That also might help with your panning (IMHO AVCHD is a lousy format for anything that moves).

If iDVD works for you, by all means, stick with it.

Compressor is not the fastest, but if you set up Qmaster, it works fine. My stuff is normally around 20 minutes long. Even on my 2010 i7 MBP, I don't have to wait longer than an hour for an x264 (better image quality than Apple's h.264 to boot) in Compressor, but as I said, I run my stuff over night. If I'm in a hurry, I still have an old 24" iMac, that doesn't meet the FCP X specs, but works fine in my render farm.

I have been lucky, so far, that FCP X, Motion and Compressor run pretty solid on my system.

There's a discussion on x.264 in a Macbreak Studio podcast - that site is a great source for everything about editing on a Mac.

Hey cgbeir, yeah that video was great. Its a great start for me to delve in to the world of compressor. I'll setup Qmaster and see what happens.

You know - I'm not to crazy about AVCHD either. I recently shot with a canon DSLR and my result was fantastic and extremely easier as compared to .mts. - with no hassles or mixups or re-renders .... I'm going to have to get a DSLR, and just sit the SONY in the corner on a tripod as B-cam.....

i think the AVCHD is the root cause of my difficulties...

I'm not to sure if a vDSLR will be the ailment for all your issues. You'll just open up a different can of worms.
I never used it, but I think your Sony is a great cam from what I read. Give it another chance.

OK OK, those pans though - some of them come out so sh&tty....its either me like you said....(because Im running and gunning - usually in a rush) or frame rate or other factors like we've been discussing. But thanks for the conversation..keep it coming. I'll see what I can do with all these suggestions. I def have a lot of variables to solidify in my workflow.