Let's talk AVCHD

Dnajvorroj --- any reason other than cost and a better zoom on the HF20, instead of going with an HF S10 or HF S100?

i don't really need internal memory since ive got a huge collection of 32gb cards, which is why i didn't spring for the extra cost HF S10. But the bigger/better cmos in the S10/S100 is what sold me over the HF20/HF200. almost twice the pixels for an extra 200 bucks.

Reviews on camcorderinfo.com and Amazon say the F11/F20 do better with low-light and max out the bit rate on AVCHD recording. I'll take another look a the S10/S100 though just to be sure.

Update:

Last week I bought a new custom-built computer with an Intel i7 quad-core (hyper-threaded) processor. With four channels per core, this processor gives me sixteen rendering threads, and I must say, holy sh*t!!! My previous computer is still powerful, but again, holy SH*T!!! I also invested in an Nvidia GTX295 GPU with dual cores and two gigs of onboard dedicated memory. This GPU not only displays my 3D animation workspaces with blazing speed, but also runs games in a way I've never dreamed possible.

I'm using an AVCHD camera these days, and this computer processes my clips faster than they actually play when they're done. I used to spend a week shooting clips and then run out of space and have to spend another week processing them and clearing up space for the ones still on the camera's hard drive. Now I can't seem to feed this computer clips fast enough. AVCHD is improving every day and it's actually lost most of that nasty artifacting it had early on. I think it's here to stay. So between my new computer and AVCHD's improvements over the last year, I've developed a workflow that's incredibly fast and efficient. I'm actually having trouble thinking up new things to shoot now. Think about that for a second: this new computer is actually faster than INSPIRATION...

Holy SH*T!!!

I bought a Canon HF-S100 as well. I have to say I jumped in the deep end of the pool. I found out my computer could not handle it, so I got a new computer that is lightning fast (maybe not Holy Sh*t fast but close). Now I have Sony Vegas 9.0 running (the trial version because I had an older version that could not handle the AVCHD) and something is going wrong when I convert it to .avi.....it is jumpy (skipping)....like a webcast that has not downloaded all the way yet. Is it the software, is it the player (Windows Media Player), is it that the vidoe is fine and I can not see it like i should unless I burn it to DVD and run it on my TV? I should have gone in slower, but I did not see a reason to buy something and have to upgrade it in a month. So now I need help. Please feel free to IM me if your answer is too long for the forum, but I need help from anyone that is willing....please :) (and thank you) -Sandi

Got my HF11 yesterday as a gift from my father. So far I am enjoying it and having no issues with the MTS files. I just use FFMPEG to convert them to MOV files first before editing in After Effects. Gonna upload my first batch tonight.

I have the AVCHD files converted and accepted here now as .mov's and thrilled. It was a large learning curve but I got it. Thank you to all of you who emailed and talked to me on Yahoo to get me up and running. The submitters here are so friendly and helpful. Thanks again!! -Sandi