Rendering AVCHD files to H.264 causes...

Hi everyone,

I have a Sony HDR-SR11 camcorder that produces files in AVCHD format (.mts file extension). The camera natively produces file which are approx 100mb for every 1 min of video (1440x1080 setting). My issues is that when I add files to the timeline and then render them in Premiere Elements 7 using the H.264 1440x1080i format (creates a M2T file) the file size actually doubles (1 min is now approx 200mb). I'm only bringing the files into PRE 7 so I can add transitions, but I cannot afford the disk space if the program will double each videos size.



Is there a different setting I should be using to just do basic editing and not change the source quality? I know the camera adds significant compression to the file, but why would it grow in size when I render.



Any help is greatly appreciated.



Mark
Rendering AVCHD files to H.264 causes...
Update:

If I go in the Share Tab and click the advanced button I am able to fine tune my rendering settings. I found that changing the Bitrate Settings on the video tab will allow me reduce the file size. The default settings is 21 Mbps for both target and Max, I think it is WAY higher than the Sony Camcorder does natively so that is why the file size was growing??? is this correct?



Anyways, changing the Maximum Bitrate slider to about 10.1 Mbps gave me a file size equal to the original file from the Sony camcorder. The quality looks a tad softer than the original, but it's really hard to tell.



Anyone know if this is the solution to the problem described above? And, anyone know what bitrate these Sony HD cams output normally?
Rendering AVCHD files to H.264 causes...
What bitrate did you capture the video at? The SR11 captures 1920x1080 at 16Mbps or 1440x1080 at 9Mbps, 7Mbps, 5Mbps dependant on the setting you have chosen.

Yes Paul, it was a bitrate issue... I was recording at 1440x1080 and encoding at 21 Mbps, so hence the file size was growing.

You are right,When you apply H264 codec to AVCHD footage it will increase the size of the video becuase the AVCHD and H264 properties and qualities are different. It is as designed. If you have to reduce the size you can change the bit rate, this would reduce the quality of your video. premiere doesnot has the option to export the video as AVCHD.

But to clarify, if the camcorder is recording at 9 Mbps and I encode in premiere using H.264 9 Mpbs I don't think the quality is impacted. At least it's really hard to tell the difference from the few test's I have run.



Also, I must be confused about the difference between AVCHD and H264 because they seem to both be M2T or M2TS file format.