Newbie Question about Sony Vegas 8 Platinum & Flash or HDD Camcorders

[rico_ita]

Hello,

I am completely new to this forum and video recording editing. I have purchased SonyVegas Platinum 8 and have yet to receive it. I am also looking for an AVCHD camera to rent / then possibly buy (Consumer model for now).

I am told that with MiniDV (tape) based camcorders, you essentially have to transfer the video in REAL-TIME (which to me means playing the entire video footage while transferring).

Can someone please tell me if a Flash or HDD based camcorder will allow me to quickly transfer the footage to from the camera to the PC quickly for later for editing ??

Thank so much for the help.

[edDV]

Yes but,

AVCHD is higher compressed in the camcorder and saved to HDD or flash ram modules. Transfer to the PC is usually over USB2 and that part will go faster than 1x transfer MiniDV/HDV.

However the higher compression will slow things down during editing and overall quality will be lower than HDV.

This article says AVCHD is only supported for Sony AVCHD camcorders in SonyVegas Platinum 8. First I heard that. I advise you to read all the reviews before going the AVCHD route.
http://www.consumerelectronicsnet.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=187809

[rico_ita]

Yes but,

AVCHD is higher compressed in the camcorder and saved to HDD or flash ram modules. Transfer to the PC is usually over USB2 and that part will go faster than 1x transfer MiniDV/HDV.

However the higher compression will slow things down during editing and overall quality will be lower than HDV.

This article says AVCHD is only supported for Sony AVCHD camcorders in SonyVegas Platinum 8. First I heard that. I advise you to read all the reviews before going the AVCHD route.
http://www.consumerelectronicsnet.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=187809

Hello edDV and thank you for the reply.

Thank you for the link. I had read that article on another website and actually was aware that only Sony AVCHD camcorders were supported. I sent an email to Sony Software asking if they were in fact going to support other manufacturers soon but have not had a response as of yet... and honestly.. I don't expect one. I heard their customer service is very poor.

Have you worked with AVCHD? I wonder if anyone has experience with this. I guess the other option is to go with a 'pure' HDV camera but am not sure if they make a consumer model with HDD or FLASH. From what I've seen, cameras advertised as HDV later turn out to be AVCHD as you read further into the product description.

Hmmmmmm...

Thanks again.

[edDV]

HDV is currently only available with HDV tape. The files are larger and the quality is better in general.

AVCHD is intended for people that value small files but aren't as interested in serious editing. AVCHD editing requies a more powerful computer and appropriate software. That is why I suggested you read all the reviews so you know what you can expect.

HDV workflow is mature for Vegas. AVCHD is early in development and may prove more difficult.

The top consumer HDV camcorders are the Canon HV20 and the Sony HC7.
http://www.camcorderinfo.com/ratings.php

[aedipuss]

eddv -

Like other HDV camcorders, the Canon HV20 records to MiniDV cassettes, the same inexpensive and widely available format used by standard definition DV camcorders. No special tape required because they record using the same bandwidth.

the files are the identical size as miniDV - just recorded as compressed mpeg2 at the same 25mbps allowing 60min per tape.

[rico_ita]

Wow,

It looks like the best quality and easier to edit formats are still based on tape based camcorders. That's too bad because I hate waiting for stuff to transfer. I really thought it would be easier to get away with the AVCHD but I am only using a Centrino Duo laptop 1.8GHZ with 1GB RAM and I would be a little worried to edit AVCHD if it's going to kill my processing power or worse yet - bring my computer to a halt.

[edDV]

Wow,

It looks like the best quality and easier to edit formats are still based on tape based camcorders. That's too bad because I hate waiting for stuff to transfer. I really thought it would be easier to get away with the AVCHD but I am only using a Centrino Duo laptop 1.8GHZ with 1GB RAM and I would be a little worried to edit AVCHD if it's going to kill my processing power or worse yet - bring my computer to a halt.

You will also find that that laptop isn't adequate for HDV. Refer to Sony Vegas system requirements.

[edDV]

eddv -

Like other HDV camcorders, the Canon HV20 records to MiniDV cassettes, the same inexpensive and widely available format used by standard definition DV camcorders. No special tape required because they record using the same bandwidth.

the files are the identical size as miniDV - just recorded as compressed mpeg2 at the same 25mbps allowing 60min per tape.

Yes all that is true. DV records individual frames with 5x DCT compression. HDV records with 15 frame GOPS (NTSC) with one I frame and B,P motion intermediate data.

http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/M/MPEG.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HDV
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Video_Codec_High_Definition

[rico_ita]

Has anyone read the specs on the Samsung HMX10A ?

http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?logon=&langid=EN&sku_id=0665000FS10092...65&catid=25073

Is this a true HD quality camera? It states it compresses into MPEG4 but am wondering if this would be better than AVCHD ?

Please let me know your thoughts / opinions.

Thank you.

[edDV]

Samsung spec says 720p @ either 30 or 60 fps using MPeg4 H.264 compression.

90min records to 4GB, so that would calculate bit rate to ~44MB/min or ~6Mb/s.

Consumer AVCHD uses 6-15 Mb/s
AVCHD spec has a maximum of 24Mb/s

So the Samsung appears to compress more than does AVCHD.

They expect you to edit in the camera.
"There is no need to link HMX10 to a PC or other editing software" --- Samsung web site.

This identifies the target user and side steps the editing issues.

[rico_ita]

Samsung spec says 720p @ either 30 or 60 fps using MPeg4 H.264 compression.

90min records to 4GB, so that would calculate bit rate to ~44MB/min or ~6Mb/s.

Consumer AVCHD uses 6-15 Mb/s
AVCHD spec has a maximum of 24Mb/s

So the Samsung appears to compress more than does AVCHD.

They expect you to edit in the camera.
"There is no need to link HMX10 to a PC or other editing software" --- Samsung web site.

This identifies the target user and side steps the editing issues.

Hi edDV,

Would Sony Vegas be able to edit the MPEG-4 format from the HMX10 camera you think? Would it be a slow process requiring time to wait, or perhaps be resource hungry?

So far 3 people have given that camera a 5-star rating but may not be editing it.

I really like the idea of using an SD card.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts/comments.