Noob with a Canon Vixia HF10

[ShockwaveGT]

Hey there,

I recently moved from the States to Europe and since things are cheaper in the States right now, I figured investing some money into a private HD Camera would be a neat thing...

I've been recording several things so far and reviewing them on the the camera itself, things look great. I can hook it up to a HDTV and watch my clips in complete fluidity, etc... etc...

Now when I'm trying to download the movies to my computer(s), I keep running into the same problem. The video editing program it comes with from PIXELA ImageMixer, doesn't download my movies correctly to my computer.

I've gone from simple student laptops running XP 32 edition, to a gaming computer Vista 32 Ultimate (Q6600, 8800 GT, 4 gigs ram), and none of these computers downloads the videos like the are on the camcorder...

I've maxed out the video settings of my movies since I have a 32gig memory chip giving me about 5 to 6 hours of HD filming, well my battery would die by then already but I think it's still neat.

What am I doing wrong???

So far, the gaming computer has been running the videos best but they're far from perfect, I'm completely new to this and I can tell that something is not right.

Is PIXELA ImageMixer a ****** program? To me, yes it is, after 3 tries on different computers I've come up with 0 successful results.

The camcoder should be fine because when I play the videos on it, the quality is excellent and the same applies when hooking it up directly to a TV.

Right now I'm trying not to spend money on software, so any freeware advice would be great, but if that's not possible, biggest bang for my buck is what I want.

However, first and foremost, I want to be able to download my HD clips without them looking like they've gone through some type of distortion or meatgrinding...

Thanks for any responses

[senu]

Originally Posted by ShockwaveGT

Hey there,
..Now when I'm trying to download the movies to my computer(s), I keep running into the same problem. The video editing program it comes with from PIXELA ImageMixer, doesn't download my movies correctly to my computer.

How? you shouldnt need it actually,

I've gone from simple student laptops running XP 32 edition, to a gaming computer Vista 32 Ultimate (Q6600, 8800 GT, 4 gigs ram), and none of these computers downloads the videos like the are on the camcorder...

I've maxed out the video settings of my movies since I have a 32gig memory chip giving me about 5 to 6 hours of HD filming, well my battery would die by then already but I think it's still neat.

What am I doing wrong???

Is PIXELA ImageMixer a ****** program? To me, yes it is, after 3 tries on different computers I've come up with 0 successful results.

What you arent doing right is relying on Pixela
It might be that apart from not being that great It has Vista issues

Right now I'm trying not to spend money on software, so any freeware advice would be great, but if that's not possible

It isnt

, biggest bang for my buck is what I want.

Any of the lastest software will do, they differein GUI and fine detail but all will generally be fine..Look at the HF 10/100 thread for what users befor you have tried

However, first and foremost, I want to be able to download my HD clips without them looking like they've gone through some type of distortion or meatgrinding...

I cannot imagine why you have not simply bought a USB card reader and copy across the SD cards contents bypassing Pixela altogether
What is clear is

1) AVCHD playback is very processor intensive . Even with a quad core and 2Gb RAM if your system is normally loaded with lots of background programs, the clips may not fly: try using the Vista utility to monitor hor many cores are being used and which percentage: this may give you distorted playback

2) AVCHD playback software relies on codecs, which are not equal. Some are better than others; What are you relying on..? If Pixela , maybe try something as simple as Nero Showtime ( Part of the Nero suite)

You may need to buy Playback or editing software that is very affordable and would let you enjoy your camcorders footage even if you arent looking to spend money..
Freeware ( if at all available) is often paid for in other ways ( may mess your system up )

HTH