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HF10 / HF100 AVCHD & Mac Advice

Yeah . . . fella, you do realise that by duplicating this post on three threads you're going to split any responses you generate into three threads, and have to check all three any time you come to check for responses, right?

Oh well . . . good luck anyway! :rolleyes:
 
Courtaj said:
Yeah . . . fella, you do realise that by duplicating this post on three threads you're going to split any responses you generate into three threads, and have to check all three any time you come to check for responses, right?

Oh well . . . good luck anyway! :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Yeah, I know, it's a real pain! ;)
 
Need help with HF10 using FCE horrible output when burned with iDVD

My first experience with Mac is horrible. I just purchased a MacBook Pro and a Canon Vixia HF10. After downloading with Log and Transfer to FCE, making my movie which looked great on the playback, I then exported to QuickTime, transferred to iDVD and burned a disk that had horrible ghosting effect. Every time I had a camera pan, the screen blurs horribly and their are little smudged around trees and things with detail. I have tried everything from different settings to talking to apple pro reps and nothing. I am ready to scream. You would think the apple people would know just what to tell me but they don't.
I see several threads out there with people having the same problem but no fixes.
Any help out there. How about bennyboy...he seems like he knows what is going on with this setup.
I am shooting in 1920x1080i60 in FXP 17mbps
:confused:
 
Thanks for the excellent post. I just purchased an HF10 and have imovie09. Would adding FCE to my workflow but not FCP still make this tutorial valid?

I was planning on the following:

Archive Raw Footage on my RAID5 BOX
Use a Scratch Drive for editing
 
Hello there,

Thanks for this tip. I backed up my AVCHD files from my HF100 and ready to make the disk image but when I select custom and enter the size, disk utility says that it can only make the maximum size at 7.2GB and can't hold one that large. My file is over 14GB. Has anyone else had this problem? I keep playing around but I can't get it to work and not even sure how to break it in half if I need to do that. I'd love some help. I don't have the footage anymore either so I hope there is a way. Also, I will be trying to add this to iMovie '09 but that is probably neither here nor there. Thanks for any help!!
 
:confused: bennyboi- or anyone tell me the directory of folders from the HF10?

Hi lovely peoples.

benniboi- i love it- I am still optimistic but i need some help

I just can't get access to the camera and I have 6 DVD's of .mts files i shot for a doco that i am trying to import into imovie

I have dmg file with folders in it- but imovie won't recognise it. Is my directory of folders not right? I have .mts files inside the AVCHD folder and then 3 other folders you listed- is that correct?

If i get this correct can i still fool imovie? or Do I have to be able to plug in the camera?

I also don't understand what it means to log and transfer

Could you please explain this section of instructions to me in a little more detail?

thanks
z



bennyboi said:
Hi all,
I found a way to archive Canon HF10 / HF100 AVCHD footage (without conversion) and at the same time view the footage anytime I want without the camera hooked up. Also, I can view multiple archives in the FCP Log & Transfer window at once again with no camera or card reader! Let's Read on!

For those happy with the current workflow provided by iMovie & FCP, don't read on. It gets a tinge complicated, but no sweat for regulars here at macrumors!

Ok- for tutorial's sake, let's pretend we took our AVCHD HF10 OR HF 100 cameras on a 3 day shoot for vacation, and we have a macbook with FCE / FCP / iMovie.
Day 1: Monterey, CA.
Day 2: San Fran, CA.
Day 3: Napa, CA

Day 1: Ok. You get to your hotel end of Day 1. You're with the lady, so you don't want a lengthy log and transfer process to occur. Create a folder on your desktop called Day 1. Simply plug in camera, and the "CANON" disk mounts on your hard drive. Open it, and drag the 1st folder (it should say AVCHD) into a folder on a desktop. It may take 20-30 minutes to copy, no sweat. Tend to the lady. Afterwards, unmount drive, erase camera contents for next day's shoot, and charge that ghastly 1 hr battery (i bought 2x 2hr batteries from B&H).

Day 2: Repeat process. Camera contents dragged onto desktop folder "Day 2" no use for iMovie or FCP yet. Enjoy your vacation!

Day 3: Shoot, Dump, Go home. Tell lady you're going to make the best video ever!

Return to your sun-less lair. We're going to make "Disk Images" or dmg's of what we just shot. When these "disks" are mounted, FCP will "think" we have three HF10's mounted and allow us to view all three days simultaneously. We can log at will, not convert anything yet, and save our logging progress until next logging session!
Additional advantages: You can be shooting or charging the camera's battery while footage is safe & sound, ready to be logged and tranferred.

1) Open folder "Day 1." Get info on 1st AVCHD folder- note the SIZE of the data. Repeat for Day 2 & Day 3. We need to know the SIZE of the data. Let's pretend Day 1's size was 6.2 GB

2) Now, open up Disk Utility (applications > Utilities > Disk Utility).
Create a new disk image. When the dialogue pops up, offering you a 40 megabyte disk image, tell it you would like a "custom" size, and enter whatever Day 1's size was (6.2 GB, but actually, add about .1 GB for lame ghost data, please, so 6.3 GB). Also, name the disk image "Day 1." Depending on space, you may want to create the disk image on an external drive.

3) The disk image will take a few minutes to create itself. Once it is created, it will mount itself like a disk on your desktop. Now, open the "Day 1" folder on your desktop and it will reveal the AVCHD folder. Drag that onto your "Day 1" disk image (wait for copy). Launch FCP or iMovie, then the log & transfer to test. I had problems with getting the right AVCHD folder at the 1st level of the disk image. For the HF10, the folder hierarchy should follow: AVCHD > (then 3 folders) AVCHDTN, BDMV, and CANON. Sometimes there was an annoying AVCHD folder at the 1st level that had the real AVCHD folder I needed, so I just moved it around. It's not as hard as I probably just made it out to be. If it doesn't make sense, Read it twice, it's very easy I promise.

4) Repeat for Day 2, and Day 3. Remember: The folder hierarchy should go AVCHD > (3 Folders in here) AVCHDTN, BDMV, CANON. Drag Day 2's content into the Day 2 disk image, same for Day 3.

Now you should have 3 disk images (Day 1, Day 2, and Day 3).
When I launch FCP, then launch Log & Transfer, it recognizes all 3 disk images, and as a bonus, assigns the disk name to each clip's reel. So now if I log and transfer something from Day 1, it knows automatically it's from "Day 1."

You can now delete the footage off your desktop (but not the disk images you created!). If you unmount the disk images, just find the dmg you created earlier, double click, and mount right back up.

So in this vacation video of which we shot 3 days of material, we're going to be responsible and go through our Log & Transfer window and select and properly label ONLY the clips we want. Then we transfer. We just saved a lot of space by not transferring EVERYTHING! If we want to go back later and look for a shot we didn't think we need, mount up the disk images and return to find them. Keep the camera in the closet :)

Word of caution: Whether we have a camera hooked up or disk images, FCP crashes often when intensely viewing material in Log & Transfer. So after each clip we set in & out points for and label, SAVE ALL (or option/apple/s). If it crashes and comes back, It remembers our progress. I enjoy labeling, setting in and out points, and moving on, then mass transferring as I go to bed or leave for the market. Always creates a much more organized project this way too. :cool:

To me, this process made sense. I've done tape for years and enjoyed it. But I'm loving the hard drive process / experience. And creating these DMG's as ways to archive + log & transfer have really sealed the deal in terms of cost/convenience/time.

Hope this helps anyone out there with these cameras. The AVCHD format is new and wacky, but joyous! Good Luck!!!
Click to expand...
 
I'm not really following this :confused:

If I wanna make a disc of say ten AVCHD clips at about 700MB how do I go about that??
 
bennyboi said:
2) Now, open up Disk Utility (applications > Utilities > Disk Utility).
Create a new disk image. When the dialogue pops up, offering you a 40 megabyte disk image, tell it you would like a "custom" size, and enter whatever Day 1's size was (6.2 GB, but actually, add about .1 GB for lame ghost data, please, so 6.3 GB). Also, name the disk image "Day 1." Depending on space, you may want to create the disk image on an external drive.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the write-up - it's a great way to archive footage and then still be able to process it. I believe I found a shortcut in your process that will substitute for the steps of copying the folder locally, creating of the custom size image, and then copying the files.

1) Insert SD card/reader.
2) Open Disk Utility
3) Choose File > New > Disk Image From Folder (Cmd + Shift + N)
4) Select the folder on the SD card, click Image
5) Choose name and where to save the image

Done.
 
I have a Canon HF100 and the easiest way i found to ingest my footage into FCP is the following:

1 - Create a new folder in your Desktop (or another place in your computer) with a name at your will (like 'New York - Day 1').
2 - Copy the entire 'BDMV' folder from the SD/SDHC card into the folder you created before (i do it with a card reader).
3 - In FCP, open the 'Log and Transfer' window.
4 - Drag the folder you created (or just the BDMV folder) into the L&T window.

You must have FCP 6.0.2 or later.
 
really confused all the way round AVCHD

I have a Canon HF20, new MacBook That I bought just to be able to use with it. I couldn't find anything to make my old G5 work with it. The more I read about AVCHD and MTS files the more I get confused.:confused:

First off I tried iMovie 09 to iDVD that was nice for editing but the footage is not in HD its SD. I want to burn HD movies thats why I got the nice new camera on black friday. So I tried lots of things like Voltaic and revolver flamingoHD. Its ok but still no editing and menus. I have FCE that I dont know how to use. Today I got Toast Titanium with the Bluray plug in. From what I understand you drag the mts file in chose the bluray tab select DVD5 or 9 as and burn it to play on my PS3. I kept getting an error right before each clip would finish encoding. So I was successful at burning a bluray data disk. Which it wouldn't show me thumbnails of what I was adding, such a pain. It played in my PS3. How can I burn these the way its explained to a standard DVD?

Second the mts files play great from a flash drive and just now I connected the HF20 to my PS3 w/ the USB I have been filming with 60i and 30 because i read iMovie doesn't support 24. When I select the AVCHD file and hit play it auto plays my clips and my set says they are 1080i. I switched the camera to 24 it still says 1080i. There are two ways to watch the clips from the PS3. The HF20 shows up as a USB device with (VIXA HF20) if you hit X it list AVCHD and digital camera movie which is empty when you push X on the AVCHD the clips auto play in 1080i. But if you select triangle on the USB device it will list all the folders under display all then select AVCHD then BDMV then STREAM it will allow you to select all the clips separately.

Here is one of my frustrations when I select the clips separately they all play in 1080p. Why are they different in this aspect?:confused: I thought if I record in 60i that is interlace not progressive and if I film in 24 its 1080p.

All I want to do is edit my movies in something like iMovie and burn them in the full 1920 X1080i or p resolution or the compressed AVCHD with DVD menus and titles. Can this be done with what I have?
Can anyone help me or point me in the right direction
 
Archiving AVCHD Footage with HF10. Another simpler way.

After reading about all the info I could about this crazy codec and camera, including this helpful post, I've finally found a way to do it even more simpler. I read somewhere about the archive feature using iMovie 09 so I tried it and it works beautifully. Here's the process I've found that works for me without having to create disc images and so forth.

1. Open iMovie09.
2. Plug in card or camera (recognized camera instantly).
3. Import window opens.
4. Select archive all (at bottom of window), select location to store.
That's it.

When I plugged in the card or camera, the import window created thumbnails where you can preview the footage before archiving. It all looks great. After I tried it with the card first, I opened FCE4HD to see if I could log and capture. FCE recognized the files and the preview was flawless. I haven't edited any footage yet and do not anticipate any problems with transcoding (hopefully). I'm using the above camera and a new 2.8 MBP. I also have Premiere Pro and will have to try previewing and editing with that too. Hopefully this helps anyone out there that was having the same inquiries as I was. This should be a stickie.

Happy editing, JG
 
Final cut Express 4 to iDVD

Hi all I am having trouble trying to get the best quality DVD from FCE of my HD footage. I export with no compression and get a file size of 7.32 GB but when I export to iDVD to burn it comes out at 1.89 GB??

Any help would be well appreciated. HD was filmed on a Sony
 
Wow. So I really hate to revisit this 2yr old thread/conversation, but I tried to do what the OP tried without any success. Am I missing something here? I'm using the latest MAC OS and FCP.

Seems like a great idea and would love to do it, but it isn't working for us.

Help!:confused:
 
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