Camcorder questions: USB interface? Edit of HD videos?

[PattiMichelle]

Thanks for this great thread. I just got a Vixia HF11 and was clueless on how to download via the USB until I found this thread. I was able to download the .mts files fine and they do work with kdenlive, and probably work better with Avidemux. All this under 11.1 x86_64 Athalon 6000+ and NVidia 8600. I wasn't able to get things to work with windows, though they provided software CDs. I suspect because I missed some minor detail - the instructions are *very* cryptic and terse. Quick Start guides aren't what they used to be.
Patti

[deano_ferrari]

I concur with this. I bought a Panasonic HDC-SD20 earlier this year, and have about an hours worth of (undedited) video clips to download. Reading this thread reminded me about this. I have yet to play, but thanks to oldcpu's adventures with this, I will give it go soon.

[oldcpu]

Originally Posted by PattiMichelle

Thanks for this great thread. I just got a Vixia HF11 and was clueless on how to download via the USB until I found this thread. I was able to download the .mts files fine and they do work with kdenlive, and probably work better with Avidemux. All this under 11.1 x86_64 Athalon 6000+ and NVidia 8600. I wasn't able to get things to work with windows, though they provided software CDs. I suspect because I missed some minor detail - the instructions are *very* cryptic and terse. Quick Start guides aren't what they used to be.

A related thread is here, where micro_chip and ken_yap helped me out in creating a command line where I could convert an entire directory of .mts files to a slightly lower format (that is quicker to use with kdenlive and also with avidemux):
process multiple files from one command line?? - openSUSE Forums

code I use is here:

for i in *.mts; do ffmpeg -y -i "$i" -f avi -vcodec mpeg4 -b 8000000 -acodec ac3 -ab 128000 -s 1280x720 2009_06_21_${i/%mts/avi}; done

where I change the "2009_06_21_" for each directory .... I keep the mts files in directories associated with each day that I take the video.

[PattiMichelle]

Avidemux and kdenlive are really awesome tools. Video formatting is a complex subject - it would be good to be able to simply move .mts files directly to .avi or some other format that's universal (with no def changes), but I know the files would be really huge. But that's OK, right? I usually make 2 - 3 copies of everything using different levels of codec compression, but I've yet to see what can be done with HD.

I use Avidemux quite a lot for conversion and simple editing (cropping, etc.) and under windows I use Virtualdub. Kdenlive looks at least as good as P* - Elements, I just haven't had the time to really dig into it. I hope it turns out to be stable under 11.1 - I'll have to send them a little contribution, 'cause it's been a decade that I've been searching for such a video editor.

I wish the Cinelerra folks would put video tutorials online like the kdenlive folks are.

I DID want to ask about the 24p etc. frame rates. Basically, one wants progressive I believe, but they never explain in detail the different settings in my HF11 - just use words like "cinematic" - I want the highest noninterlaced frame rate it can give. I think that's 30p at full resolution.

Patti

[PattiMichelle]

Originally Posted by oldcpu

code I use is here:

for i in *.mts; do ffmpeg -y -i "$i" -f avi -vcodec mpeg4 -b 8000000 -acodec ac3 -ab 128000 -s 1280x720 2009_06_21_${i/%mts/avi}; done

where I change the "2009_06_21_" for each directory .... I keep the mts files in directories associated with each day that I take the video.

OIC: I guess bash has a basic-like syntax? I never really went beyond simple DOS .bat files - so thanks for sharing the code! I noticed that the HF11 has a single directory it populates with numbered .mts files - how do you keep track of the dates they were taken?
Patti

[oldcpu]

Originally Posted by PattiMichelle

OIC: I guess bash has a basic-like syntax? I never really went beyond simple DOS .bat files - so thanks for sharing the code! I noticed that the HF11 has a single directory it populates with numbered .mts files - how do you keep track of the dates they were taken?
Patti

When I plug my camcorder into to my PC via the USB interface, I can see on the camera's SD card the date of the .mts files. So if I see 60 mts files, of different dates (say 2009_08_22, 2009_08_23, 2009_08_28), then I know that I took 60 videos on those 3 dates.

So I create 3 subdirectories on my PC's hard drive under /home/oldcpu/video called: 2009_08_22, 2009_08_23, 2009_08_28 and into each of those directories I drag a subset of the 60 mts files, putting the mts files for 2009_08_22 in the 2009_08_22 directory, I put the mts files for 2009_08_23 in the 2009_08_23 directory, and I put the msts files for 2009_08_28 in the 2009_08_28 directory.

Then I use the command line above.

I confess I can not recall if the mts file dates are retained when one drags and drops from the camera's SD card to the PC hard drive.

I find categorizing my videos by date is helpful in sorting what videos I took on different days of a vacation.

I also find it useful to change the time on my camcorder to match local time. The Canon HF S10 has a very neat future for helping with that.

[PattiMichelle]

OIC. It would be really nice if I could control my HF11 - start and stop recording - via the USB. I think there's a windows movie interface that does this across firewire for at least some cameras - don't know about USB... or Linux for that matter.

[deano_ferrari]

OIC. It would be really nice if I could control my HF11 - start and stop recording - via the USB. I think there's a windows movie interface that does this across firewire for at least some cameras - don't know about USB... or Linux for that matter.

I understand your wish here, but AFAIU, the clips have to be downloaded to your PC, then edited from there. Maybe we could lobby vendors to create linux utilities to do this, or better still contribute to kdenlive, avidmux, and similar. They could assist with the development of 'hardware control plugins' for these apps perhaps. Maybe I'm dreaming...

[PattiMichelle]

Hi Oldcpu - any thoughts on how to start/stop recording via wire for the HF11? (I think you have an HF10?) I find the IR remote useless in the sun.

[oldcpu]

Originally Posted by PattiMichelle

Hi Oldcpu - any thoughts on how to start/stop recording via wire for the HF11? (I think you have an HF10?) I find the IR remote useless in the sun.

I have an HF S10. I do not have a remote, and I have only operated hand held thus far. You could try asking on this forum: Camcorders - AVS Forum
or on here: Canon HDV, AVCHD & EOS Camera Systems - The Digital Video Information Network