Thinking of buying an HD camcorder? Consider this...

[p1mdg 0]

Yesterday I got my spanky brand new, Sony HDR-TG3. Having converted from an HC40 on Mini DV I was quite excited. Here are a few things I never even considered before purchasing an HD camcorder, and just thought I would give a heads up to all those who are thinking of buying HD.

With my HC40 d/loading footage and editing clips was easy using firewire and worked very simply. The new camera is a different story as it uses a memory stick. Firstly you can record either in HD (high definition) or SD (standard definition...). HD quality from this camera is superb. In order to d/load your clips to pc/laptop you must use the software that came with the camera (Sony Picture Motion Browser) and is connected via a USB cable. You then import your clips to your computer's hard drive. Now here is where I nearly got caught out, if you record in SD the clips are recorded in an Mpeg-2 format which most if not all computers will rcognise and therefore is not a problem. However I didn't buy an HD camera to record SD. When recording in HD clips are recorded using AVCHD (Advanced Video Codec High Definition) which will then generate clips that have a .m2ts file extension. Shock horror, not many pc's recognise .m2ts file formats. In order to play these .m2ts on your computer you have to have a stand alone player (part of the sony software bundle) or convert the files to something that your pc will recognise (.wmv or .avi etc...). The trouble with this is that you risk losing some of the quality from your clips. If you want to edit your clips you need an editing package that recognises .m2ts files. Luckily I use Sony Vegas Movie Studio 8.0 to edit my footage, and it does recognise .m2ts files so when I need to edit my clips I just import the file in it's raw .m2ts format.


So in a nut shell if you are thinking about buying an HD camcorder that records to memory stick or a hdd make sure your video editing software is AVCHD friendly and will recognise .m2ts files. If it doesn't then you have got alot of work on your hands converting your videos at the risk of losing quality.

Sorry to bore you all but there were some things about using an HD/memory stick camcorder that I wasn't even aware of. So hopefully you will be better informed than I was if you weren't aware of any of the above.

Hopefully my new cookie helmet and black box will arrive soon so I can jump my new cam.

Blue skies all!
Mart

"When I left school I couldn't even spell skydiver. Now I are one!"

[DSE 5]

You musta missed my article in Parachutist on this subject a while back...
ALL PCs recognize mts/m2ts file formats. It may be that your software doesn't, but XP and Vista all have free codec packs that recognize/read the files. Apple is the platform that struggles, and there are now 4 solutions for Apple users, too.
Vegas reads almost everything, hence it's value to me as an editor both on the DZ and in the post-house.
Congrats on the new purchase!

[p1mdg 0]

I don't get parachutist magazine here in the UK. I just wrote a post based on what I had to discover myself when I bought a new camera. The information I gave was so that others could make a more informed choice on a new purchase rather than get a new camera home and have to find it all out the hard way like I did.... I got to the point where I wanted to go back to my HC40 and was pulling my hair out when things wouldn't work how I wanted to.

HD is going to be the way forward so I persisted and reported my findings. I'm now happy that I will still be able to do all of what I could before when using Mini DV.... I just can't wait to jump it now!

Thanks for the response though.
Mart

"When I left school I couldn't even spell skydiver. Now I are one!"

[sky-pimp 0]

Thanks for the info as i am about to get a tg3 and would be really upset if i didn't know before hand i would need new editing software .

so i am now thinking we should get a list of software that would be suitable for the tg3 footage editing that is mts/m2ts friendly ( or should it be AVCHD (Advanced Video Codec High Definition friendly))

it sound like we could start with

SONY VEGAS

YeHaaaaaaaaaaa

[pilotdave 0]

Do a search on here. It's been discussed many times since the CX7 came out. DSE has listed which programs are compatible and which are not...multiple times.

Dave

[sky-pimp 0]

Thanks for that
you could'nt post a link here to that info could you please, i can't find it !!!!!

YeHaaaaaaaaaaa

[p1mdg 0]

Quote

Thanks for the info as i am about to get a tg3 and would be really upset if i didn't know before hand i would need new editing software .

so i am now thinking we should get a list of software that would be suitable for the tg3 footage editing that is mts/m2ts friendly ( or should it be AVCHD (Advanced Video Codec High Definition friendly))

it sound like we could start with

SONY VEGAS

Here is a list of AVCHD friendly software http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_video_editing_software#High_definition_import

Mart

"When I left school I couldn't even spell skydiver. Now I are one!"

[chrismgtis 0]

As someone said, whether or not a PC can "recognize" a specific type of file just depends on whether or not you have the correct codec for the video and some software that supports playing it, importing it etc.

When you're buying an HD camera I guess you kinda have to make sure you research these especially as you may need to use software like Premiere to really enjoy it or get much use out of it.

Rodriguez Brother #1614, Muff Brother #4033
Jumped: Twin Otter, Cessna 182, CASA, Helicopter, Caravan

[Mustang69 0]

Just after I ordered Sony Vegas Movie Studio 8 Platinum, I noticed a newer version of Sony Vegas. I searched this forum but could not find any reference to it. I thought that was odd and wondered if I had jumped the gun.

I just installed 8.0 and it promptly updated itself to Vegas Movie Studio 9.0. So, in case anyone is wondering what the difference between 8 and 9 is, I guess it doesn't matter.

Whoops! Although it looked like 8 was updated to 9, I just launched Vegas 9.0 and it asked me for a serial numer that I don't have. I tried the serial number that came with 8 but it didn't work. I did back out and 8 launched with no problem.