Panasonic SDR-H200

[RocketPhoto]

I recently inherited a Panasonic SDR-H200. While it seems to take reasonably good videos, it has an internal hard drive onto which .MOD files are written. I'm guessing these files are some form of MPEG. It comes with a USB cable to transfer the files from the camcorder to the computer. Those transfers have occurred without any (apparent) problems.

PE3 does recognize the files, so I use it to conform, render, and export to create DV-AVI files, which are brought back into a new project.

But it occurred to me, would it be better to use another Application, something like MPEGStreamClip, to make the conversion?

Or, would it be better to use the S-Video and stereo audio out connections to go through an ADVC-300, which would then send DV-AVIs to the computer?

Any thoughts on which method/work flow is better would be greatly appreciated.

Greg

[Chuck Engels]

Hi Greg,
MOD files are just a pain with Premiere, Elements and Pro.
There are work arounds, sometimes as easy as changing the extension to .AVI instead of .MOD

Here is a topic from the Adobe forum with some suggestions
http://www.adobeforums.com/webx?128@@.59b6f9ca

[RocketPhoto]

Thank you for the response, Chuck. I have read the topic you suggested in the Adobe forum and was amazed because I have had none of those problems - no error messages, green artifacts, etc. I have gone so far as to complete a movie project and burn to DVD, both directly and by saving to Folder.

So I initially was just trying to find the best work flow. You'll probably say leave well enough alone and just run with it. I tried the suggested test of changing the extension to .avi to see what happens. As soon as I imported to PE3, it locked up both the computer and PE3. After ending the task and bringing up PE3 again, this time I changed the extension from .MOD to .MPG. After importing, PE3 quickly did the conforming function and the file went onto the timeline and played with no problem. So I guess I am still stuck with .MOD or .MPG, but can't change it to .AVI unless I do a conversion beforehand.

Yet I still have to ask, any thoughts on the original question about the best work flow or method?

[JohnnyO]

PE3 does recognize the files, so I use it to conform, render, and export to create DV-AVI files, which are brought back into a new project.

Thank you for the response, Chuck. I have read the topic you suggested in the Adobe forum and was amazed because I have had none of those problems - no error messages, green artifacts, etc. I have gone so far as to complete a movie project and burn to DVD, both directly and by saving to Folder.

I have a Panasonic digital camera. Every now and then I get lazy and do not want to take my video camera with me, so I use my digital camera.

Premiere Elements never has a probklem with these MOD files. In fact, I do not even convert them to DV-AVI. I use them as is.

If you are not having problems with these files, and Premiere Elements handles them OK, there is no need to convert them. It is time consuming to convert them. Muvipix.com even uses tMOV files for the backgrounds now.

From memory, I think most of the complaints about the MOV files were from Canon cameras.

[Steve Grisetti]

Well, how the program performs with non-standard video files (like MODs or MJPEGs) can vary from system to system, depending on what codecs you have installed, etc.

If it works, it works. If it doesn't, you're probably best converting the files to DV-AVIs.

Though Johnny is right: The most problematic MODs are the ones that come JVC Everios.

[RocketPhoto]

You're right - if it works, it works. I don't have a real good idea what codecs are installed (or how), but PE3 has handled these .MOD files without problem. So I'll just leave it at that - and consider myself lucky the Panasonic files fared better than the Canon or JVC.

Thanks again for all the responses.

Greg