Question about Mini DV (Canon HV30)

[Ted]

Hello all,

I hope this is the correct forum, and if it isn't, I kindly ask for it to be moved to the correct forum.

I have a Canon HV30 and I love it... the thing is dealing with importing footage into my Windows 7 computer.

I'm just not sure how to go about it.

If I film something... and then film a second event... I may accidentally film over the FIRST thing...

(That's not the problem... I don't archive my tapes, so I don't mind filming over an already filmed event... once I import it into my computer, that is).

The problem is:

When I go to import the SECOND event... how do I tell my software/computer to ONLY import that event... because if, for example, my first event is 10 minutes long...and my 2nd event is 7 minutes long, then there will be 3 minutes of the FIRST event at the tail-end of the 2nd event?

Am I making sense?

How do I tell my system to ONLY import the new material?

Do I have to watch and just make sure that I click STOP right after the first event is taped as its importing?

I'm wondering if I should consider investing in an SD card based camera...where footage is more like FILES that I can manipulate, rather than DV tape that I have to import?

Am I making much sense?

I guess I'm asking if there is a way for the software to recognize different clips and just import those clips?

[Bobby]

Hi Ted.

Two aspects here. First of all, being a tape and being linear, you can't just "skip" easily to the next "scene". That is just a fact of life. Yes, using an SD card or HD camcorder would make that better as you can easily select the file you want to work on.

On the other hand, all digital scenes on tape are timestamped and most programs will recognize the timestamp and use it to create a different file. Lots of us here use WinDV for SD and HDVSplit for HDV and both will do that.

So, you just position the tape just prior to the second clip, start capturing, and you will get two (or more) clips, with the first one being the just remains of the first clip. Just throw it away.

[Ted]

Hi Bobby,

Thanks so much for answering! (and more importantly, thanks for understanding what my garbled request was! LOL)

So when you say "just position the tape prior to the second clip" do you mean prior to the END of the second clip? Or prior to the start of it?

For example, when I used Windows Movie Maker (I'm waiting for PrEl 7 to arrive! LOL), :

1. I rewound my tape to the start of the tape.
2. I filmed a clip.
3. It was shorter than what was originally there, so when I went to import it into WMM, it didn't seem to recognize it as a "clip"....because it imported what I filmed today AND what was there.

Now, to be fair, I clicked "Stop" importing at the end of the clip I filmed today... I guess I was just wondering if there is a way for software to recognize it.

I'm guessing that is what HDVSplit does... it recognizes the time stamp.

Is HDVSplit hard to use?

Or do I import using HDVSplit.... and then I have a file and THEN I import that file into my editing software?

I'm sorry for the very basic questions.

Also... on a related note... I've heard that there are problems with software and compatibility with SD card cameras (the software doesn't recognize the files?) so would that just be another can of worms for me?

Thanks again for your help!

[Bobby]

If you record clip "a" on the tape, capture it, rewind, then record clip "b" which is shorter than "a" - I am not sure what happens when you get to the end of "a".

But your workflow in regards to the tapes could use some work. Generally most of us don't re-use our tapes as they are the first level of backup of our projects. But if you have no reason to keep the tape image, I would get a bulk tape eraser and erase the tapes after use - that way you are always starting with a "clean" tape.

If "b" is at the end of "a", then position the tape just before the beginning of "b". You will get a small piece of "a", but throw that away.

HDVSplit is fairly easy to use, and plenty of help here. You can get it at

http://www.videohelp.com/tools/HDVSplit

and, yes, it creates .m2t files which can then be imported into PRE7 when you get it.

[Bobby]

Oh, and another thing you are going to have to think about it your workflow is whether you are going to produce SD (standard definition) content or HD. The HV-30 always records in HD (HDV) which you can read by HDVSplit, or it can downconvert in-camera to SD. In that case, you would could read the files with WinDV and create .avi files instead.

What is your target output? DVD? Blu-Ray? YouTube?

[Ted]

I usually am creating tutorials for my papercrafting hobby, etc. and thus have it go to YouTube... rarely on DVDs and never on Blu-Ray.

I've thought about switching to Standard Definition for that reason...but YouTube offers HD now.

With regards to flash/SD-card cameras, are they ONLY in High Definition? Would you (or anybody else reading this) happen to know?

[Bobby]

...With regards to flash/SD-card cameras, are they ONLY in High Definition? Would you (or anybody else reading this) happen to know?...

Oh, I think you can still get both. I have relatives who purchased Panasonic units this year for Christmas and they decided to keep the cost low and stay with SD. But who knows how long the industry will stay that way.

OK - if you want to create HD for YouTube, you should use HDVSplit and stay with a HD workflow. When you get PRE and are ready to get started. start a new thread and make sure you ask the right questions to get you started. Enjoy the cam!

[Ted]

...With regards to flash/SD-card cameras, are they ONLY in High Definition? Would you (or anybody else reading this) happen to know?...

Oh, I think you can still get both. I have relatives who purchased Panasonic units this year for Christmas and they decided to keep the cost low and stay with SD. But who knows how long the industry will stay that way.

OK - if you want to create HD for YouTube, you should use HDVSplit and stay with a HD workflow. When you get PRE and are ready to get started. start a new thread and make sure you ask the right questions to get you started. Enjoy the cam!

I'll do that...

Bobby, thanks so much for your patience and taking time to help me out.

[jackfalbey]

With regards to flash/SD-card cameras, are they ONLY in High Definition?

Surprisingly, most major manufacturers released a bunch of new SD-card standard definition camcorders at CES this week. Apparently they feel there is still a strong market for standard def...

[Bobby]

Glad to help!

[Ken Jarstad]

I don't know about the rest of the world but as for me, I always record HDV on my HV20 and downconvert to standard definition in the camcorder when I capture. I have never yet made an HD video (unfortunately). However, I must say that my HV20 is the best standard definition video camera I have ever owned!

[Ted]

I don't know about the rest of the world but as for me, I always record HDV on my HV20 and downconvert to standard definition in the camcorder when I capture. I have never yet made an HD video (unfortunately). However, I must say that my HV20 is the best standard definition video camera I have ever owned!

Hi Ken,

I'll hope that you forgive what is probably a question with a painfully obvious answer

How would one go about doing that (downconverting to SD in the camcorder when it's captured?) I was under the impression that I could either record in HDV or SD... I had no idea we could downconvert.

And if so, what is the advantage of doing so?

Again... I'm still learning and will probably be still learning for the rest of my days!

Thanks much!

[Ken Jarstad]

OK, Ted, the HV series Canons, as well as others, have an option to down-convert the footage to standard-definition, wide-screen DV-AVI files while playing back/out via the Firewire cable. All the Canon HV series should configure similarly.

Make sure the Firewire cable is NOT connected or the output selection will not be available in the Menu system! Make sure the camcorder is in the Play mode. Press the Func. button. Use the joystick to select Menu and then depress the joystick to select it. Toggle the joystick down until you get the PLAY/OUT SETUP2 menu and depress the joystick. Toggle down until you land on DV OUTPUT and depress to select. Toggle to get DV LOCKED and select. Press Func. to finish.

Now you can plug in the Firewire cable. Some folks like to turn the camcorder power off before doing that but I don't bother. You can dismiss the popup window if you like and use WinDV for capture. Remember it doesn't play the source sound when receiving the camcorder input.

Now, assuming you have been recording in HDV mode, you now have one of the finest DV camcorders ever made! The luma and chroma channels have over four times the necessary data to glean from when constructing the DV-AVI data stream and it does a very respectable job.

[Ted]

Ken, thanks very much for the thorough explanation.

So, basically... even though it's in standard definition, it's going to be of higher quality than a camcorder that only films in standard definition?

I'll print out these instructions for future use.

Again... many thanks!

[Bobby]

Ted, spend some time with the cam book. The cam has a LOT of features; read not so much to learn everything as to get an overview of what it is capable of. Time well spent, IMHO.

I went through the decision of downconvert or not, and finally decided not to, and use an HD workflow. I don't think there is a clear decision either way, but to me the important thing is saving the footage in HD for the future. I want generate SD media now, but might want to re-do the project as HD (Blu-Ray, etc.) later. On the other hand, it is always on the tape in HDV if you ever want to go back and get it again.