Canon HF 200 upload

[diversteve]

My sister must have an HG-20. As it's compatible with the DW100 DVD burner and none of the other models listed as compatible with it are priced near what they paid for the camera - or are too new.

Maybe it's just semantics but I've both watched her and transferred video clips myself from the camera to the drive by moving the directory structure over via USB. And was then able to navigate to a sub-directory in Pinnacle and view/edit/copy clips to the timeline using the Pinnacle S12 window. I never saved any output but was able to play them accurately in the editor. IIRC it was in the edit screen but I may be wrong about that.

Pinnacle S12 was the only program running at the time. I just went on the Canon site and looked at a Pixela screenshot, I'm quite certain I've never seen/used that interface ever.

It's possible that the Pixela software is what enables this to happen. But it's not needed to use it first from what I've observed. It's also possible that they have some other codec on their machine that enables this.

I'll find out and post the process/software needed here next time I'm over there. They're local so it may be next weekend.

Maybe one of the other two posters who seem to be doing this with the HF200 can clarify this also.

 

[diversteve]

Now, I am having the problem of playing the videos. The video plays in a jerky motion and the sound and video do not match. Ie. like you see some one mouth the word hello and then hear it 10 seconds later. I am afraid that my cpu is not up to the task. But it did not work in sd mode either and I have been editiing, playing, and watching sd video off of my JVC camera for years. I really want this to work. Please send more ideas, thanks for posting previous ideas. I think I am going to have to make the call to Canon. MY CPU was custom built in 2005. I have a AMD 64 bit cpu with 1 gig of ram and a vidoe GTforce 250mb video card.

That's what it sounds like. What's the processor speed? Or you need more ram.

So have you now resolved your earlier problem of being unable to capture HD clips?

From the Corel X3 website:

# Microsoft® Windows® 7, Windows Vista® or Windows® XP with latest service packs installed (32-bit or 64-bit editions)
# Intel® Core™ Duo 1.83 GHz, AMD Dual-Core 2.0 GHz or higher recommended
# 1 GB RAM (2 GB or higher recommended)
# 128 MB VGA VRAM or higher (256 MB or higher recommended)
# 3 GB of free hard drive space
# Minimum display resolution: 1024 x 768

So at a minimum you appear to need more ram. IME I've had a lot more problems being at/near the minimum for anything related to video editing. On one of the other NLE s/w websites, the "recommended" is required for HD. I didn't see that on the Corel site.

 

[MSPDiver]

Lets hope it is just the RAM that is an easy fix. If it is the cpu. That is going to get expensive. I really want this to work. I think the u/v will be nice. I enjoy making video slide shows from my canon A570is. This is just the icing on the cake.

 

[robint]

Now, I am having the problem of playing the videos. The video plays in a jerky motion and the sound and video do not match. Ie. like you see some one mouth the word hello and then hear it 10 seconds later. I am afraid that my cpu is not up to the task. But it did not work in sd mode either and I have been editiing, playing, and watching sd video off of my JVC camera for years. I really want this to work. Please send more ideas, thanks for posting previous ideas. I think I am going to have to make the call to Canon. MY CPU was custom built in 2005. I have a AMD 64 bit cpu with 1 gig of ram and a vidoe GTforce 250mb video card.

You need a faster computer with more memory. Sorry, but that is the downside of HD video! We had the same problem last April when I upgraded to HD. I thought my 2 year old computer was fast enough, it said it met the minimum requirements, but after downloading the first video clips we realized that minimum meant crap - jerky motion and sound. We went out and spent $1500 and got a quad-core and HD monitor and it was AMAZING the difference. Everything ran smoothly.

 

[aquaspider]

As stated by robint, you DO need a powerful machine to deal with HD video. Don't confuse viewing the footage directly from the camcorder with editing it: The camcorder uses hardware decoding but the computer does not. Software decoding takes waaay more power. AVCHD makes effecient use of the relatively small capacity of memory cards, but is a bear for a computer to deal with. My old card reader can't read the Hispeed/Hicapacity cards, so I use a small USB reader that came with one of the cards I bought. It works fine to copy the files to the HDD. You don't need hook up your camera with cables and firewire, etc.

Ordinarily you will want to use the material in the native format to preserve quality. In this case, forget it! Some programs can accept AVCHD directly into the timeline. When I tried it, everything slowed down to a crawl. I am using an e8500 overclocked to 4GHz and it is not nearly fast enough. I have read that quad core OC macnines are similarly compromised. Just convert to a format that your NLE likes. Maybe my eyesight is lousy, but Cineform avi converts look as good as the originals to me and they are easy to edit. I tried several other file converters and most were disappointing in one way or another or had artifacts here and there. Windows 64bit with lots of RAM is recommended, but with the converted files you may find that your older cpu can do the job. Macs are also popular but pricey if you don't already have one. I use W7 32bit/ 4GB RAM with cs4 and have not had a program crash since I went to Cineform. You might be able to get away with less RAM if you use a memory gadget set to stay on top of your windows and keep your eye on it. When memory gets low, save and close before your editor crashes and then reopen and continue. Doing it this way, I can work with about a half hour of video max on the timeline at one time. Break your video into smaller parts if necessary. HDD space will be eaten up distressingly quickly also. Pick up a 2TB one when they come on sale at Frys or wherever.

If you find something that works well for you, please post a write up to to help the rest of us.

 

[MSPDiver]

I am using Corel Studio Pro it allows you to upload AVHCD. You can use something called smart proxy which lowers to standard defintion. Once completed it allows you to output back to hd. I am thinking about getting a MAC laptop. Or I might try to build a I7 with the best graphic card and most memory I can get. What do people think about the MACs.

 

[Marinevisions]

Just FYI,
This little piece of information has saved me a ridiculous amount of time.
Final Cut Pro: Tips for archiving memory card-based media

It basically says to make sure you keep the folder structure of your card intact when doing a log and transfer. Final Cut uses the meta data during log and transfer, which is stored in the other folders, not in the video file itself.

This will also make playing the videos much different on your computer. If captured correctly, you shouldn't have to have a brand new computer to edit/view.

Example. I am using a three year old laptop. (same occurred on Macbook)
When I browsed directly to the videos on the card and copied them to my hard drive, the file playback was very choppy.
After following the correct instructions for Log and Transfer, the same videos play without any problems at all.

 

[gunsrunner]

I am using a 2.1ghz dual core cpu with 4gig memory and ati m3750 graphics in my laptop.
In my desktop is a 2.66ghz dual core cpu with 4gig memory and nvidia gts8800 grapics.
I have a media centre in the theatre room that has a E8600 at 3.33ghz, 4 gig mem and 9500gt graphics and it plays my files and blueray fine.
I have never used the canon software and have never saved the metadata.
I use Cyberlink Power Director 8 for editing. I have put 2 hrs of vid in the timeline without problems.

BUT I do seem to remember reading that if you used the canon software to download the files onto your hard drive it saved the metadata as well, I am interested to read that with the metadata final cut pro works better. So i will be trying this when i get home, not that i have any trouble with stuttering, but just to see if there is a difference!!

MSPDriver, I would recommend that you at least try some extra memory 1 or 2 gig more.(cheap)
You could also look into overclocking your cpu, google your particular model and motherboard and you will find out how.(free)
The graphics card does not have to be the best, as long as it's fairly new.
But if you need to upgrade much then you may be better off with a new one.(ouch)
Cheers,
Guns

P.S. Big hard drive will be a must have!!!(8 terabytes and growing)
P.S.S Check how many programs you have running and stop them if you can!!