AVCHD and Handbrake

[beallio]

I just purchased a Panasonic HDC-SD9 and I'm looking at the optional Panasonic VW-BN1 which is an external DVD burner that burns an AVCHD DVD of the HD video off the camera's SD card.

Here's my question: My father-in-law will be using the camera for a couple of extended trips this year but will not have a computer with him. I'm thinking the best way for him to dump files off my SD cards is to burn them in the VW-BN1 and then I want take the DVDs later and work on them in FCE. Is Handbrake my best option for ripping the HD video off the DVDs for later working in FCE? Is there any worry of image degradation?

 

[-DH]

Is Handbrake my best option for ripping the HD video off the DVDs for later working in FCE?

NO. Not if the DVD is formatted as a DVD-Video (that will play in DVD players). Handbrake is made for converting DVD-Video footage into other delivery formats - NOT for editing. Use MPEG Streamclip or DVDxDV to convert to an editable format that works natively in FCE.

FWIW, DVD-Video is a highly compressed standard definition format, so yes, there will be degradation of the image quality.

-DH

 

[beallio]

So is there a better way to dump files/video off several 16GB SDHC cards without a laptop?

 

[-DH]

So is there a better way to dump files/video off several 16GB SDHC cards without a laptop?

http://www.hometownmallonline.com/pcv-mate.html

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/555786-REG/Digital_Foci_P19_160_Photo_Safe_II_160GB.html

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/573624-REG/Digital_Foci_P19_250_Photo_Safe_II_250GB.html

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ..._3000_Multimedia_Storage_Viewer.html#features

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/570182-REG/Jobo_GVX160US_GIGA_Vu_extreme_Stand_Alone.html

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ...ick_1MC120BK_120GB_Media_Center_Portable.html

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ..._HyperDrive_COLORSPACE_Portable.html#features

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/518048-REG/Verbatim_PB80GB_PhotoBank_80GB_Stand_Alone.html

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/523860-REG/Wolverine_7160_160GB_FlashPac_7000_7_in_1.html

Need more? Google it.

-DH

 

[beallio]

That's awesome- I didn't know these existed, thank you very much!