Software for Canon HF S20 t/edit/store?ransfer

[Pwpw]

Hi,
I have a Canon HF S20 HD Camcorder. I looking for the best software to transfer & edit my movie file on my MacPro. I have Final Cut Express, but have not used it much. What are my choices concerning software for sale or otherwise.
I'm also looking for information on what kind of files to save the movies as, as well as where to store them. Someone suggested using Itunes.
I'd like to be able to eventually send them wirelessly to my HD T.V.
Any advise, websites, or ideas would be helpful.

Thanks,
Pwpw

 

[bagelche]

I use an HFS20 and edit with both Final Cut Pro and Premiere CS5 at work. The latter is handy for quick turn around because it can handle the camera's AVCHD files natively without transcoding them to an editing codec. FCP, however, is the program I am more familiar with. With it you have to transcode to ProRes via Log & Transfer (I use ProRes LT for most things). I do not know if FCE operates in the same way as FCP with regards to Log & Transfer.

Both FCP and Premiere are fairly expensive. The new FCP X, while getting a lot flack (and rightly so) may be a good editing app for your needs, but you're looking at $400 to pick up the whole package (FCP + Motion + Compressor). You may want to to start of with iMovie, which you likely have installed on your computer already. FCE may meet your needs as well.

The important thing for Final Cut Pro (and I believe iMovie as well) is to retain the file structure of the SD card from your HFS20. You need to retain the "PRIVATE" folder and all of its subfolders in which the actual video files reside. The catch is that "PRIVATE" doesn't mean much in-and-of itself nor can you have more than one "PRIVATE" folder in the same location on your drive. What I do is create a folder on my data drive with a meaningful name (i.e. "Gravity Race 110615 card 1" or some such) and then copy the PRIVATE folder to that folder. This keeps your small source AVCHD files available for transcoding and editing and you can archive them for later use if needed or delete them when you're done w/ the project.

As for sending them to your TV, the easiest way is probably with an Apple TV. For that you will want to export them to an H.264 file. There are presets for this in iMove and FCP (I don't know about FCE).

 

[Pwpw]

hanks for the info.

Thanks for the quick reply.
I have used imovie a bit and seems like a good entry level but limited program.
I'll look into the others. What is the main flack FCP X is getting?
I'm not a professional, but would like to get deeper into editing my movies and try to get to the level of assisting my friends who shoot their own documentaries once or twice a year.

Finally, we have a Sharp LED/LCD HD 46'' I have an airport express hardwired into one of the HDMI ports. Would I be able to use this as a way to send movies to the T.V. from the MacPro hard drive? Also have a Rocku box set up for HD MLB.
Thanks,
PWpw

 

[cgbier]

For your job, FCE is more editor than you might ever need in your life. There is a good training book at Peachtree from Diana Weynand.

As long as your friends don't sell their documentations to big broadcasters you'll do fine.... and then FCP X is not that useable for this task either.