[Teutonic67]

Hi all. Hopefully I'm making some obvious newbie errors - let's see!

1. Even though I think I have a reasonably steady hand, the playback is very shakey, even without any zoom to magnify such problems. The camera is advertised as reducing shake - is it something I have to switch on. If I record whilst walking it's pretty unwatchable.

2. The second issue is, after converting to mpeg-2 with the Sony software, playing the videos back in Windows Media Player gives a picture which is so far from being sharp. You can se what's going on, but nothing hs any kind of real definition.

Is it because WMP can't play this kind of mpg back correctly?

3. What do you recommend as being the best software to manipluate m2ts files, or should I stick with the Sony software which came packaged with it?

Thanks in advance for any advice

[glesgaguyav]

1. Most cameras "steadycam" is turned on by default, check the manual.

It should also be noted that it won't compensate for all movement, idealy even handheld cams should be used with a tri/mono pod, although it should improve slight handshake when handheld.

2. There will always be loss of quality when converting to MPEG2 DVD but if you are converting to the highest quality settings it should be minimal, are you sure the settings are for HQ DVD and not web sharing? which would be a far lower resolution.

3. Nero 8 is a good package, basic video editor, disk burner, media player for all formats.

[senu]

1. Even though I think I have a reasonably steady hand, the playback is very shakey, even without any zoom to magnify such problems. The camera is advertised as reducing shake - is it something I have to switch on. If I record whilst walking it's pretty unwatchable.

With video a tripod ( where possible ) is always recommended: this is even more so for Hi def ( AVCHD included) also panning is a At any rate zooming is to be used very sparingly

2. The second issue is, after converting to mpeg-2 with the Sony software, playing the videos back in Windows Media Player gives a picture which is so far from being sharp. You can se what's going on, but nothing hs any kind of real definition.

You might need to specify how you convert. sometimes default settings are not the ideal. You didnt link any Sony software, the link was to another forum

Is it because WMP can't play this kind of mpg back correctly?

It can, but it isnt the best player out there. VLC might be worth trying

3. What do you recommend as being the best software to manipluate m2ts files, or should I stick with the Sony software which came packaged with it?

No
Nero is suggested and is good
So are Sony Vegas Movie Studio, Ulead VS 11.5 plus , Pinnacle Studio 11/12