[meirion658]

HELP I have just bought a panasonic SD9 Camcorder. However i am a complete novice at all this and have no idea on what sort of software i need to start editing. Can someone please help me and point me to the right direction/software, thanks

[senu]

You need a decent PC for starters
C2D at the minimun. 1 or more Gb RAM
The SD9 outputs AVCHD
The 1080p ( 1920x 1080) is not supported by Sony Vegas Movie Studio Platinum 8, but 1440 x 1080 ( 1080 i) is
Sony have annouced a Ver 9 for August 2008
UleadVS 11.5
Pinnacle Studio 11/12 12 is new and is getting mixed revies
Magic Movie Edit Pro
are other titie able to edit AVCHD
and Nero Vision 5 (part of Nero 8)

Be aware that you cannot transfer and play the edited files on your camcorder

[mmace]

I don't have a core2duo, I have a pentium D and it edits AVCHD without problems

[senu]

Originally Posted by mmace

I don't have a core2duo, I have a pentium D and it edits AVCHD without problems

Pentium D is dual core.. Core 2 duo has less cache memory, use less power but is more efficient overall
However
Try a single core Processor and see the PC grind to a halt with AVCHD

My single core P4 3.0Ghz equally "kind of" edits err.. Ok but rendering is very slow and smooth playback a real struggle
I do have another PC : quad core with 2Ghz RAM which plays AVCHD back ( and pretty much anything you give it) without breaking into a sweat

[Frank@UK]

Howdy. I have 2 day old Panny SD9 I took video of my daughters 9th birthday party in the garden yesterday along with plenty of stills. I used highest settings. Holy **** Batman! It looks very good ...but KAPPOWWW!! It doesn't half eat into the card storage. I was using 8Gb and it only contains about 1 hour or so footage/stills. Got 1 more anyway and 2 others on order. Perhaps I should test lower settings 1440x1080 maybe

But back to the subject. My Panny came with HD Writer and a Trial version of Pinnacle Studio. I'm not up on either yet (I'm not at all sure what HD writer actually does) but surely you can try these first? Did you not recieve these discs with your cam?

Cheers... Frank

[senu]

Originally Posted by Frank@UK

But back to the subject. My Panny came with HD Writer and a Trial version of Pinnacle Studio. I'm not up on either yet (I'm not at all sure what HD writer actually does) but surely you can try these first? Did you not recieve these discs with your cam?

Cheers... Frank

HD writer is seriously basic. I used the version that came with the SD1 and was ..terribly underwhelmed but that was then
HD writer may now be the toast of editing software .. Im unable to say
Pianncle studio on the other hand has moved on , the trial versions are often too much of a taster and though worth a try may be morehasle tha n is worth
Why not try yours and see if it is worth the time ( Im assuming your PC is beefy enough)

[meirion658]

I have installed the HD software an it is very basic. Lots of people seem to like the Sony Vegas but it does not work with the SD9 at the higher settings or so i understand, but v9 will when out in August?

[senu]

Originally Posted by meirion658

I have installed the HD software an it is very basic. Lots of people seem to like the Sony Vegas but it does not work with the SD9 at the higher settings or so i understand, but v9 will when out in August?

True, Sony Vegas MS doest like Panasonics 1080p but you can use it with 1080i
As for Version 9
Well August is upon us .. in 24 hrs..
Pinnacle Studio 12 is here now though I havent see or used it. Some seem to swear by , and other at it
It seems it has teething problems!

[JH4]

I swear by Ulead Video studio 11.5 Plus myself !

[senu]

Originally Posted by JH4

I swear by Ulead Video studio 11.5 Plus myself !

It was suggested in my first post

Can you share your user experience with us pls

WE did have a Ulead expert on here who seems to be far less frequent now
Brian 110507 . In fact not since January.
He actually has (? had) an exceptionally helpful website

[rogs]

I think this may be the site you are thinking of : http://brians_ramblings.mysite.orange.co.uk/

[senu]

Originally Posted by rogs

I think this may be the site you are thinking of : http://brians_ramblings.mysite.orange.co.uk/

Thanks it is

[Bodger15]

Originally Posted by JH4

I swear by Ulead Video studio 11.5 Plus myself !

I am new to video editing but Ulead Video Studio 11.5 works well for me although I am still learning how to drive it..........

[JH4]

I can't really add much to that excellent web site mentioned above, but I do know that UleadVS11.5Plus seems to do all I want it to, including authoring AVCHD and NTSC conversion. (It's got BD burning as well.)
I would say though, that it is important to make sure that the files you burn to disc are what you want - ie, sometimes it can default to stereo, for example, when the source footage is in 5.1; or outputting 1440X1080 rather than matching a source file of 1920X1080. Making sure that the output is what you intend is quite easy in the menus, but can be missed, if you are not clued up. It's a shame to louse up a disc by not checking this, before burning.
It does do full HD output, btw.
The editing is quite easy, once the basics are learned. My downloaded version was missing the help files, for some reason, but I've now got a retail version which includes a very comprehensive user manual.
I run it on a somewhat elderly P4 PC with only 1G of RAM. It does work fine, but you just have to be patient ! , as I have mentioned on this forum before.
Hope this helps a bit..

[senu]

Thanks I stopped at ver 10
I still use Movie Factory6+ though for its excellent Disc authoring. It editing abilities are a bit "lacklustre" despite claims to being able to edit

[inzaman]

I have been thinking of updating my HCPC as it will only cost about £180 to enable me to have both multi region BD and HDDVD.

I am thinking of going with AMD Athlon 2.5g AM2 1MB cache dual core energy efficient 4850e, and 4gb RAM; will this give me enough juice to also allow me to edit AVCHD as i might as well kill two birds with one stone

[rogs]

Originally Posted by meirion658

I have installed the HD software an it is very basic.

But it can be very important ! - A lot of people have downloaded the footage from their SD card without using HD Writer. That's fine, provided you are going to edit the footage, and export it to another medium.

If however you need to upload the footage back onto the card at a later date, so that you can use the camera to play the video through an HD TV, then you need to upload the entire folder structure as it was. The camera will not recognise just the .m2ts files.

If you import your footage using HD Writer, then it stores the entire structure, so that you can upload it again in a form the camera recognises.

It's useful if you don't yet have a PS3 or Bluray player.

At the moment I just keep the original files intact, and play about with copies of the .m2ts video files.

It doesn't really matter what I do wrong with them, I've still got my originals, if I need them.

On my ancient P4 I stand no chance of even viewing AVCHD files in real time - let alone editing them! So for the time being I just convert them to Canopus HQ, using the free AVCHD to HQ converter from the Canopus Japan site, and then I can watch and edit much more easily.
The files are a bit big though --about 3 times the size of raw DV files, so about 40GB per hour, but it's easy enough to convert them to 1280 x720P files in Virtualdub.

That way I get to see my HD (well most of it!) on my old steam driven computer.

Still saving for a new one though !

[senu]

You make perfect sense but is it not just as easily possible to copy the whole structure anyway, HD writer or not . I would imagine it is a Folder BDMV with subfolders, Backup Clipinf Playlist Stream ( which has the video files) and Index type file or 2
If any editing is done all this wont work anymore too
What P4 do you have ?
Ive just been kind of playing AVCHD clips on a P$ too with core AVC pro using MPC and FF player ( also free)
Oxygen ( no longer downloadable due to legal issues) also sort of works (PM me if you want it)

[rogs]

I'm not at my own machine at the moment, but IIRC, if you connect the camera via USB, and attempt to download the card contents directly (ie not through HD Writer) then the device is just seen as a bulk storage device, and doesn't download the folder structure intact -(although most of the files do seem to be there!)
Same thing if you remove the card and use a card reader.(Which is what I do).

If you import via HD Writer, you can write back to the card again via HD writer, so that the camera recognises the footage, and can play it. I've not been able to do that with files downloaded outside HD Writer.

I am just using an old 2.4GHz P4, with a GB of RAM.

Hopeless with anything HD that's seriously compressed, but much better with things like Canopus HQ files, which are just like king size DV AVI files in my experience!

I can also edit them in Premiere 6.5, which is surprising. Exporting is fun, but the huge uncompressed files are only temporary!

Usually import them into Virtualdub, resize to 1280 x 720, deinterlace, and export as Xvid.

Looks pretty good on my 22" widescreen monitor, which can only manage 1280 x 768 from it's DVI connection anyway!

As I say, almost a steam driven computer!

[senu]

Thanks
If you want to try the playback software give me a shout but P4 2.4 is getting on a bit
My P4 3.0Ghz feels just as "old"... I do have a quad core machine though but mainly for work related stuff and in the Study.. not fun related

PS :Looks like Canopus have removed the codec from thier website

[rogs]

Thanks for the offer --- I have already got Oxygen (somewhere!) -- but it didn't like my machine -crashed a lot!

I use VLC and MPC quite a lot, both very good, IMHO.

As you say, P4 2.4 is not going to be able to do much with HD, and even Core AVC pro is not going to allow 'smooth' playback -- I've read of it not being quite 'there' on more powerful machines than mine!

I'm surprised that I have been able to do as well as I have, bearing in mind what I should be using, but hopefully it'll all be upgraded soon.
It should have been done already, if the central heating boiler hadn't needed replacing!

You should be able to download the Canopus converter software from here:

http://www.canopus.co.jp/download/av...nverter_ev.htm

Just click on the Japanese link below the English description at the bottom left.

As for the HQ codec itself --well there seems to be so doubt as to whether it should be a free download. It's easy enough to find descibed as 'Freeware' by just Googling 'download canopus HQ codec'

Whether it's supposed to be freeware, I don't know - I have seen some comment that says only the decode side is free. But it's not as if you have to find it on a 'warez' or a 'bit torrent' site. It's quite openly listed as 'freeware' on codec sites that list others as 'payware' or shareware' etc... I guess you have to make your own decision on that one......

[Frank@UK]

Thanks for the nuggets of info here. I have an AthlonXP 2400 which needs upgrading but I'm holding off for awhile. (afterall I've just bought Panny SD9 4 x 8Gb cards HDMImini cable etc. Not to mention holiday blah blah...)
So using HD Writer to grab/retrieve card info and view footage via cam is great news for me. I have no HD player only the Philips TV capable of showing it. I was waiting to see the outcome of HD DVD and BlueRay before getting a new player. Also I believe the HD discs that you have to burn onto are pretty expensive, not looked into that yet.
Cheers Frank.
Going on Holiday to France with the wifey and kids on Saturday. Those cards I just got are going to take a bashing, I'm gonna be filming everything

[senu]

Originally Posted by rogs

Thanks for the offer --- I have already got Oxygen (somewhere!) -- but it didn't like my machine -crashed a lot!

I use VLC and MPC quite a lot, both very good, IMHO.

Correct
FF player has just joined that gorup

You should be able to download the Canopus converter software from here:
http://www.canopus.co.jp/download/av...nverter_ev.htm
Just click on the Japanese link below the English description at the bottom left.

Thanks I just did and will give it a go. Saying that, HDV files from AVCHD are Pretty OK too ( From Nero Vision 5)

As for the HQ codec itself --well there seems to be so doubt as to whether it should be a free download. ..
Whether it's supposed to be freeware, I don't know - I have seen some comment that says only the decode side is free.

But it's not as if you have to find it on a 'warez' or a 'bit torrent' site. It's quite openly listed as 'freeware' on codec sites that list others as 'payware' or shareware' etc... I guess you have to make your own decision on that one......

Im neither looking a gift horse in the mouth.. nor sweating the small stuff about that
It is free until stated specifically otherwise .. So far that is not the case

[meirion658]

So let me get this straight, with video studion plus 11.5 i can simply pull the SD card out of the SD9 insert into my PC and the software will capture the footage. Someone please correct me if i am wrong?

[rogs]

You're not so much 'capturing' the footage, as in the old days of realtime DV capture for example, but you can import the m2ts stream (that's the actual video files) directly from the card, according to the VideoStudio 11+ specs.

Just remember that if you import the files like this, without using HD Writer, then you won't be able to re-write them to the card.
Of course, you may not want to do that, in which case directly importing into VideoStudio 11+, and then erasing the card for reuse would be your easiest option.

[senu]

Originally Posted by rogs

You're not so much 'capturing' the footage, as in the old days of realtime DV capture for example, but you can import the m2ts stream (that's the actual video files) directly from the card, according to the VideoStudio 11+ specs.

Just remember that if you import the files like this, without using HD Writer, then you won't be able to re-write them to the card.
Of course, you may not want to do that, in which case directly importing into VideoStudio 11+, and then erasing the card for reuse would be your easiest option.

Yes
At any rate, you cannot playback edited and re encoded files back to the camera
If you wish to have your original for playback to camcorder, use HD writer , them import your files to software from the copy on your HDD, or having previously used HD writer, ( you can then copy the files directly off the card knowing you have an intact folder for the original for playback)
Either way ( as you may know) Editing Software does not overwrite original files

[raotor]

Originally Posted by JH4

I run it on a somewhat elderly P4 PC with only 1G of RAM. It does work fine, but you just have to be patient ! , as I have mentioned on this forum before.
Hope this helps a bit..

I'm ordering my first HD cam next week and have wondered which HD editing software to use. Most of all though, I am currently running an old 3.6Ghz P4 myself with 2Gb RAM and wondered how well - or not, it should work.

[Phil Hinton]

Originally Posted by raotor

I'm ordering my first HD cam next week and have wondered which HD editing software to use. Most of all though, I am currently running an old 3.6Ghz P4 myself with 2Gb RAM and wondered how well - or not, it should work.

Best way would be to download a trial version of the software and see how your machine copes. I would recommend Sony Vegas (depending on what format you are going to use, it takes most or you can add in a plugin to play others) as it is one of the easiest systems to get to grip swith and there are plenty of online video tutorials showing you how to use it to its best.

[JH4]

Originally Posted by raotor

I'm ordering my first HD cam next week and have wondered which HD editing software to use. Most of all though, I am currently running an old 3.6Ghz P4 myself with 2Gb RAM and wondered how well - or not, it should work.

UleadVS11.5Plus will work fine on this.

[meirion658]

Just downloaded Sony Vegas 9 TBYB and it seems to work with the SD-9 and it seems to work well with the 1080P so result. Gonna play around abit more before i buy tho.