Panasonic HD Writer software - no download? Any other options?

[bobogs]

HDC-TM700 camcorder. I rebuilt my pc, and I can't find my HD Writer AE cd. I don't know what version I had. Panasonic's website doesn't have a download, they want to send me a disc (I didn't notice if they want me to pay for it)...that's odd on many levels.

Do I need to resort to a torrent for this app?

Another question...I've confirmed that the m2ts files that HDWriter creates on the target disk are the same size as the mts files in the STREAM folder on the camera's media, so the transfer is obviously not doing any transcoding, and they both play in VLC. Are there other options/software for copying the videos off the camcorder? I could copy the files and change the extension (or not), but on the target drive, each m2ts file has three other files (cont, pmpd, tmb), and I don't know if they're important.

Thanks!

[_Al_]

Another question...I've confirmed that the m2ts files that HDWriter creates on the target disk are the same size as the mts files in the STREAM folder on the camera's media, so the transfer is obviously not doing any transcoding, and they both play in VLC. Are there other options/software for copying the videos off the camcorder? I could copy the files and change the extension (or not), but on the target drive, each m2ts file has three other files (cont, pmpd, tmb), and I don't know if they're important.

http://www.avforums.com/forums/camco...necessary.html

That HD writer is perhaps good to add some title, transition, join clips together, and it does it with smart render feature I presume?

If you decide to use window explorer or something, you just copy those m2ts files on your hardisk you can try to use a brand new Avidemux 2.6.0 , it can join those clips together without recompression, Avidemux was rewritten in this new release. I just happen to test it, joined couple of clips, nothing serious, panasonic 50p video and put it into mkv container. MKV seems to be handled better with PC and hardware players.

[Ianwoody123]

Are you looking to copy files off the internal memory of the camcorder or the sdhc card? I have a TM700 and the version of hd writer that came with mine is AE2.1. However when I try to install it on my new laptop it says it will not work with the SP of my operating system - Windows 7 Home Premium. It is possible to copy the files on the camcorder to sdhc card using the camcorder itself and then you would be able to download them off the card using windows explorer. I video to the card and then just copy the files to the laptop using the card reader. Hope this may be of some help. I have since ignored the warning it may not work and installed it anyway. So far it seems to be working ok. For many years I have used Corel Video Studio and have found it very good to use with many features.

[glenpinn]

HDC-TM700 camcorder. I rebuilt my pc, and I can't find my HD Writer AE cd. I don't know what version I had. Panasonic's website doesn't have a download, they want to send me a disc (I didn't notice if they want me to pay for it)...that's odd on many levels.

Do I need to resort to a torrent for this app?

Hi, would you like a copy of me new panasonic HD Writer AE 2.6T that i got with my new HDC-SDC750 camera recently.

i ripped the files from the disc to a folder on my hdd, and its only 190mb so i can zip it to a rar file and upload it to my Mediafire cloud storage and send you the download link.

EDIT: link is in my nexp post, got it done before going to bed, its 2.30am thursday morning here in sydney.

Another question...I've confirmed that the m2ts files that HDWriter creates on the target disk are the same size as the mts files in the STREAM folder on the camera's media, so the transfer is obviously not doing any transcoding, and they both play in VLC. Are there other options/software for copying the videos off the camcorder? I could copy the files and change the extension (or not), but on the target drive, each m2ts file has three other files (cont, pmpd, tmb), and I don't know if they're important.

i dont even use my panasonic HD Writer AE 2.6T anyway, when i plug my cam into my pc using the USB cable, i just locate the actual m2ts file from each videos i shot and copy them straight to my hard drive without any of the other files that are associated with each video, because i just re-encode my footage to h264 MP4 using handbrake, so i only need the m2ts file to import.

when i am done, i use the "delete card" option in the camera menu to wipe the sdxc card.

if i put my 64gb sdxc card in a card reader i use windows explorer to copy all the contents, then grab the m2ts file, and delete the rest, so the card is empty ready to start shooting again.

[Ianwoody123]

Hi That would be great thanks. I must admit I tend to use explorer to download everything but it would be good to know whether there is any change in download quality when using the writer.

[glenpinn]

Hi guys, if anyone wants the panasonic HD Writer AE 2.6T software, here is my download link.

http://www.mediafire.com/?fibg1ggcmtwhzof

Hi That would be great thanks. I must admit I tend to use explorer to download everything but it would be good to know whether there is any change in download quality when using the writer.

when you say "change to download quality" when using the writer, there cannot be any change to any quality of the video file if all your doing is using that program to copy or transfer your video footage from the memory card or or internal memory to your HDD for processing.

[TinyPlankton]

Hello

In a bit of a panic. The work notebook that had HD Writer AE 3.0 on it was formatted and an SOE installed. We thought we had the software disc in the camcorder bag (we've got a HDC-SD90) but we only have the manual, not the software. Aaahh! Like others, Panasonic want me to pay for it again ($65AUD) and it will take 5-7 business days to get here but I need it by tomorrow afternoon.

I've managed to obtain HD Writer AE 2.0 but I'm not sure if it will work.. any chance I could grab that 2.6 software, please? I hope it works in place of the 3.0 version.

Many thanks
Plankton

[glenpinn]

any chance I could grab that 2.6 software, please? I hope it works in place of the 3.0 version

sorry my other link didnt work as i relocated the file to a new folder in mediafire, but i have updated that link so it should work now.

here it is anyway.

http://www.mediafire.com/?fibg1ggcmtwhzof

i may have a 3.0 version in a few hours, a friensd of mine bought a new cam the other week and im sure it came with 3.0 but he doesnt use their software anyway so i will grab it from him and upload it to my mediafire account and post the link back here when its done.

[TinyPlankton]

Glenpin, you're a legend mate. Thanks!

[glenpinn]

Glenpin, you're a legend mate. Thanks!

LOL just trying to help out fellow video guru's.

be sure to check back here in the next 10 or so hours to see if the 3.0 version is available from my friend.

EDIT: ok i just got his disc and ripped the files from it into a folder, and it is now uploading to my mediafire account.

should be ready in a couple of hours, as this 3.0 version is 240mb, and takes a while to upload.

also, make sure you keep a copy of this program on an external drive or whatever it is you might be using, or bookmark my link for the 3.0 version when i post it up, just for future reference.

oh, btw, how come your using this software in the first place, what exactly do you use it for, and im only asking as i have a license for VideoReDo TVSuite with h264 for all my editing/muxing/conversions and i use the camera transfer wizard in windows to drag the AVCHD files off my camera to my hdd, and i then delete the files from the 64gb sdxc card from the camera.

[glenpinn]

Panasonic HD Writer AE 3.0

http://www.mediafire.com/?s7ae3hq644bs6mg

[TinyPlankton]

That's fantastic, thanks again Glenpinn! Downloading as we speak.

I work for a health industry not-for-profit and generally our staff are people-persons rather than techy-persons. HD Writer AE 3.0 is what the camera came with a couple years ago so they're now familiar with using it. Some of them are going into the country on Thursday night to provide services to people all day Friday and they record all of the sessions they deliver to children. The SD card holds one recording at a time so they save it onto the notebook they take with them then wipe the SD card ready for the next therapy session.

I don't know much about it all myself, I haven't had much to do with this team, I was just handed the dilemma yesterday by our IT contractor who is rolling out the SOE. "This one needs some camera software on it, I hope you have the CD somewhere because it's not in the bag and we've already wiped the PC..." *facepalm*

So yeah, long story short (sorry!), they use it for transferring the videos to the PC and for playing them back. They don't tend to play them back very often, they transfer them to an external hard drive (from within HD Writer) when they get back to the office.

HD Writer 3.0 makes this easy for them because you can point it to specific 'registered locations' so they don't start losing files in strange places.

[glenpinn]

hi, ok glad to have helped out, any extra help please ask, although i dont use HD Writer myself.

cheers.

[metrosuperstar]

I own a Panasonic HDC-TM700 and I'm wondering if I HAVE to use the HD Writer AE that came with the camera? My AVCHD (.MTS files) are playing back properly on my Windows 7 when I simply copy/paste using Windows Explorer, or import using Adobe Bridge. Any advantage to using Panasonic's proprietary software to IMPORT footage if I'm going to do all my editing in Premiere anyway? (I'd rather not install their software if I dont have to....)

[darkknight145]

http://shop.panasonic.com/shop/model...s&support#tabs just click the software tab then download the requiredsoftware

[glenpinn]

hi, if you are connecting your cam to your pc using USB and your using premier to import, then you dont need the AE Writer software, and you then use the camera edit/delete option to delete the files from your cam once you have them on your hdd for editing.

i use the windows built in transfer wizard to copy the files from both my HDC-SDT750 cams to my hdd, then i use the cams built in delete option to wipe my 64gb sdxc card.

cheers

[metrosuperstar]

hi, if you are connecting your cam to your pc using USB and your using premier to import, then you dont need the AE Writer software, and you then use the camera edit/delete option to delete the files from your cam once you have them on your hdd for editing.

i use the windows built in transfer wizard to copy the files from both my HDC-SDT750 cams to my hdd, then i use the cams built in delete option to wipe my 64gb sdxc card.

cheers

Thanks for bringing to my attention that I can import footage using Premiere...i had overlooked that as an option. Now I see that I can use Premiere's Media Browser to quickly bring into a project some stills (CAM_MEM-->DCIM) or video clips (CAM_MEM-->AVCHD) while the camcorder is connected. HOWEVER, if I want to transfer ALL the footage I created on the camcorder to the PC's hard drive, and then access that directory in the Media Browser, are you suggesting to use Windows Explorer and just copy the files over from the camcorder to the PC? If so, would you just copy the G:\AVCHD\BDMV\STREAM directory since it is the one with all the .MTS files, and discard the other ones?

[glenpinn]

ok, its easy, i do not ever use editing software to import my MTS files from my cams to my editing pc hdd.

i plug the usb cable in, turn on the cam, plug the usb into my pc, and windows transfer wizard should pop up on your screen, you simply select the import pctures and videos option, set it up as shown in the screenshots below, and once copied to your HDD, you can delete the files from your cam manually using the delete function on the cam menu.

in the windows option below, you do not need to select the files location directory on your cams sd card or internal hdd, the wizard should seek out the files on your cam and import them directly into the location folder that you have set in the transfer wizard (see screenshot below)

i have a 128gb SSD drive as my win 7 OS drive, so i import all my files to my pictures folder first, and each of the files from my cams are numbered 0001 0002 0003 etc by default inside my pictures folder, and it is these files that i use to do my processing with (i dont use premier) i prefer using the free handbrake, avidemux, XMedia Recode and tsMuxer, plus the only commercial software i use is VideoReDo TV Suite + h264 version 4, great software for working with AVCHD (MTS) files to various output formats.

after i have copied my files to the pictures folder, i then make a backup of these files onto another hdd in my pc as my 2nd backup copies of the source files, and i copy them to one of my usb powered 2tb portable drives as a 3rd backup (yes im paranoid)

you should be able to then use the premier browser to locate the files that you need to work with.

[metrosuperstar]

Great! Thank you glenpinn! Just a quick question, do you import your VIDEO footage to "My Pictures" or to "My Videos"?

[glenpinn]

Great! Thank you glenpinn! Just a quick question, do you import your VIDEO footage to "My Pictures" or to "My Videos"?

well you can import them to any folder you like, even into a folder on another hdd if you prefer.

i just select the windows pictures folder for the dumping directory because by default, thats where the import wizard puts them, unless you browse to some other location, and when processing my files in my various softwares, i set the output file destination to my workflow (job) folder located on my 2tb seagate hdd so the software is not reading from the SSD, and writing the output file back to it at the same time.

i shoot video mostly, but sometimes i do take photos on my HDC-SDT750 because it actually does take pretty reasonable quality photos, so the pictures folder is just my dumping folder.

also, my HDC-SDT750 cams only shoot to sdxc cards, up to 64gb in size (class 10) which i carry 4 of these for each cam (each card shoots 5.5 hours of 1080/50p MTS) plus i carry 5x VBG260 long life batteries for each cam (3.5hrs each) as i shoot in some pretty remote places and have no power with me for up to 15 hours at a time (the camera lights can use a lot of battery power when i need to use them)

my next cams will either have onboard hdd + a 32gb or 64gb sdxc card slot, or 2x 64gb sdxc card slots if panasonic ever decide to make such models, having only 1x 64gb sdxc card slot on any cam is a bit of a shame, but these are awesome cams.

i also take a small 11" Asus Eeepc with me for dumping off files from the sdxc cards when needed.

[metrosuperstar]

OK, I'll dump them to a secondary drive since my 128GB SSD is too full... but you've been a great help!
I assume that you are discarding your .CPI files by importing this way? If so, do you lose date/time that these videos were shot? (Oh, I just realized the date/time is still visible when clicking the file properties so I doubt its a big deal to lose the .CPI)

[glenpinn]

hi, no i still see the recorded date in the file properties>details tab, however im not bothered with that because when i dump my files to my main drive from the cam, i straight away title the MTS file so i can see when it was shot, so my files look like the following.

unedited file direct from the cams = 2013a-New Years Day Family Bbq (1080-50p MTS)
the next video i shoot in 2013 will be = 2013b xxxxxxx (1080-50p m2ts) if you get my drift.

i import the MTS file into VideoReDo (it has the most accurate frame cutter of all the free, or cheaper commercial editing programs) and i cut bits out that i dont need in the finished file and i output that edited file to the same format using the M2TS Muxer, which doesnt re-encode it, but changes the file extension to M2TS (its the same thing)

that file then becomes my final cut, which i then save into my Archive folder with the name 2013a-New Years Day Family Bbq (1080-50p m2ts) and when i am happy that i no longer need the original unedited MTS files from the cams, i delete them.

i then import that new edited file back into VideoReDo and convert it down to 720/50p M2TS using a high bitrate (to retain quality) and i use the auto audio output which doesnt alter the AC3 6ch audio track from the original file.

i do this 720/50p m2ts conversion because the original 1080/50p MTS file from the camera is not bluray compliant, where 720/50p m2ts is compliant, and i always want to retain the original 50fps that my cams shoot because it simply offers far better playback.

the other reason why i do the 720/50p m2ts conversion is because there are no hdd media players that can play 1080/50p m2ts files without shimmering, nor can the built in media players in any HD tv support them, but 720/50p m2ts is supported.

the only way to play back 1080/50p m2ts (or mp4) files on a HD tv is to use a htpc/laptop and play them thru windows.