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Sherellyn
I'm hiring a videographer to video my wedding and I want to edit it myself and maybe take some stills off of the data. To make sure I get what I want and don't get taken advantage of; what format do I need the video in so it'll work with my system and what quality of film should they shoot the wedding in? I'm going to for a mock-umentary style, 6 hours of filming, possibly 2 cameras. Also, anybody have an idea what program I should use to do this? Is iMovie worth anything?
Answer
1) Video is video. There is no film involved.
2) Any format will do. If the videographer is half decent, you are talking about a full day for about $800-$1,200 then add more for the second camera (and camera operator). If other "fancy" items are needed (Steadycam or similar vest stabilizing system, camera crane, lighting, etc. expect to spend more).
3) If the videographer captures using low compression, miniDV tape, that means importing real time. 6 hours of captured video = 6 hours of importing x 2 cameras = 12 hours of importing. In high definition (HDV format), decompressed and ready to edit, 1 hour of HDV imported decompressed video is about 44 gig x 6 hours x 2 cameras = 528 gigabytes of video. Add more $ for the importing time (in this case, 12 hours). If you are planning to do the editing, are you planning to supply the external hard drive to store this video? If not, what are you expecting the video to be stored on?
If the videographer is planning to capture AVCHD compressed video to flash memory, and hand you the memory cards, when you decompress the MTS files for editing, the same 44 gig per hour of imported/decompressed video applies. So you'll want an external drive, anyway. Be sure the external drive has platters that spin at 7200 rpm or 10,000 rpm. Less expensive drives (commonly used in laptops for power savings) spin at 5400 rpm and can be a problem when editing high definition video.
If you expect the videographer to give you the flash memory cards or the tape at the end of the shoot, be sure to get this in writing. This is not a common practice.
4) Since no film is used, there is no "quality of film" issue. The "Class" rating on the memory cards will be a requirement of the camera or camcorder used. Usually a Class 4 or faster is required - many use Class 10 cards. The Class rating is for the speed of the video data being written to the card. Either it works (higher Class = faster write speed) or it does not (counterfeit cards are marked with a higher class rating than they are) and will not be able to keep up with the speed to write the high definition video. But the *quality* of the captured video will be fine.
Digital tape - miniDV can capture up to 1080i video assuming an HDV camcorder is used. A single 60 minute tape can hold up to 63 minutes of HDV format, 1080i, high definition video. If the tape is new (never been used), then there is no "quality issue" that impacts video quality. I use Sony Premium miniDV tapes. They come in 8-packs from Fry's Electronics for about $28. Special "HD tape" is not needed. If the expectation is for the videographer to hand you the digital tape at the end of the shoot, then you will need a miniDV tape based HDV camcorder that can deal with the video for importing - over firewire connection between the camcorder's DV port and the Mac's firewire port. If the videographer uses an external flash memory or hard drive storage device for HDV format video storage, expect to pay more.
You did not mention what mics you require (shotgun mics, handheld dynamic mics, clip-on wireless lavaliere mics - there are many to choose from). You did not mention if an external audio record will be available/used or if only camcorder captured audio will be available. Synchronizing the audio is not dfficult if captured properly, but you will probably want a video editor that can deal with multiple audio tracks (like Final Cut or Adobe Premiere).
You did not mention which MacBook Pro you are using. If your plan is merely for cuts and cross fades between sequences and adding basic titles, the iMovie is fine - it is not designed to be used for multi-camera editing, but it is possible to do (very challenging). Final Cut (and Premiere) is much more multi-camera friendly as it supports multiple, simultaneous, video and audio tracks. There is a learning curve to all of these.
You did not tell us which version iMovie. This is important when dealing with AVCHD-compressed files. And some Macs do not have a firewire port (older MacBook Pros do) required for miniDV tape camcorders - and USB won't work (neither do USB-to-firewire adapters), but if your Mac has a ThunderBolt port (newer MacBook Pros do), then using a Thunderbolt to firewire adapter works great. If the videographer uses flash memory cards and hands them to you - and you need to convert the AVCHD compressed MTS files for the video editor to deal with them, then MPEG StreamClip from www.squared5.com works well...
If your videographer plans to use a dSLR to capture video, you need to know that dSLRs usually overheat and shut down after about 15 minutes of video capture (and take longer to cool down and return to use), so just a heads up.
Congratulations on your nuptials!
1) Video is video. There is no film involved.
2) Any format will do. If the videographer is half decent, you are talking about a full day for about $800-$1,200 then add more for the second camera (and camera operator). If other "fancy" items are needed (Steadycam or similar vest stabilizing system, camera crane, lighting, etc. expect to spend more).
3) If the videographer captures using low compression, miniDV tape, that means importing real time. 6 hours of captured video = 6 hours of importing x 2 cameras = 12 hours of importing. In high definition (HDV format), decompressed and ready to edit, 1 hour of HDV imported decompressed video is about 44 gig x 6 hours x 2 cameras = 528 gigabytes of video. Add more $ for the importing time (in this case, 12 hours). If you are planning to do the editing, are you planning to supply the external hard drive to store this video? If not, what are you expecting the video to be stored on?
If the videographer is planning to capture AVCHD compressed video to flash memory, and hand you the memory cards, when you decompress the MTS files for editing, the same 44 gig per hour of imported/decompressed video applies. So you'll want an external drive, anyway. Be sure the external drive has platters that spin at 7200 rpm or 10,000 rpm. Less expensive drives (commonly used in laptops for power savings) spin at 5400 rpm and can be a problem when editing high definition video.
If you expect the videographer to give you the flash memory cards or the tape at the end of the shoot, be sure to get this in writing. This is not a common practice.
4) Since no film is used, there is no "quality of film" issue. The "Class" rating on the memory cards will be a requirement of the camera or camcorder used. Usually a Class 4 or faster is required - many use Class 10 cards. The Class rating is for the speed of the video data being written to the card. Either it works (higher Class = faster write speed) or it does not (counterfeit cards are marked with a higher class rating than they are) and will not be able to keep up with the speed to write the high definition video. But the *quality* of the captured video will be fine.
Digital tape - miniDV can capture up to 1080i video assuming an HDV camcorder is used. A single 60 minute tape can hold up to 63 minutes of HDV format, 1080i, high definition video. If the tape is new (never been used), then there is no "quality issue" that impacts video quality. I use Sony Premium miniDV tapes. They come in 8-packs from Fry's Electronics for about $28. Special "HD tape" is not needed. If the expectation is for the videographer to hand you the digital tape at the end of the shoot, then you will need a miniDV tape based HDV camcorder that can deal with the video for importing - over firewire connection between the camcorder's DV port and the Mac's firewire port. If the videographer uses an external flash memory or hard drive storage device for HDV format video storage, expect to pay more.
You did not mention what mics you require (shotgun mics, handheld dynamic mics, clip-on wireless lavaliere mics - there are many to choose from). You did not mention if an external audio record will be available/used or if only camcorder captured audio will be available. Synchronizing the audio is not dfficult if captured properly, but you will probably want a video editor that can deal with multiple audio tracks (like Final Cut or Adobe Premiere).
You did not mention which MacBook Pro you are using. If your plan is merely for cuts and cross fades between sequences and adding basic titles, the iMovie is fine - it is not designed to be used for multi-camera editing, but it is possible to do (very challenging). Final Cut (and Premiere) is much more multi-camera friendly as it supports multiple, simultaneous, video and audio tracks. There is a learning curve to all of these.
You did not tell us which version iMovie. This is important when dealing with AVCHD-compressed files. And some Macs do not have a firewire port (older MacBook Pros do) required for miniDV tape camcorders - and USB won't work (neither do USB-to-firewire adapters), but if your Mac has a ThunderBolt port (newer MacBook Pros do), then using a Thunderbolt to firewire adapter works great. If the videographer uses flash memory cards and hands them to you - and you need to convert the AVCHD compressed MTS files for the video editor to deal with them, then MPEG StreamClip from www.squared5.com works well...
If your videographer plans to use a dSLR to capture video, you need to know that dSLRs usually overheat and shut down after about 15 minutes of video capture (and take longer to cool down and return to use), so just a heads up.
Congratulations on your nuptials!
How do you make YouTube videos with the Canon Vixia HF G20?
Mike Walte
I recently bought a Canon Vixia HF G20. I want to make YouTube videos with it. According to the camera's manual, in order to make the files editable, you have to convert them to standard definition. Then once, going through the WMM editing process, and being cropped so it isn't surrounded by black lines, the video's quality is far less than one of a $1100 camera. I would just like to know what is the best way to make/edit youtube videos with this camera. Is there a specific file converter or editing software I should use? Is there another way to edit the files without converting them to standard definition? If anyone knows you would be a world of help to me. Thanks.
Answer
You spent $1,100 on a decent camcorder but are not using a video editor capable of dealing with AVCHD-compressed video - does not make sense to me. I've read the manual several times for the HF G20. There is nowhere that instructs the user to convert the MTS files to standard definition video in order to edit. If you actually do that, you will never be able to have high definition video again... Once the high def video is downsampled to standard def, that is the best it will be... there is no "upsampling". The video data has been discarded.
We don't know anything about your computer (manufacturer or operating system version) other than you are running some version of Windows, but the common video editors that can deal with AVCHD compressed video are Sony Vegas and Adobe Premiere for Windows and Final Cut and iMovie (assuming a relatively new Mac) for Mac OSX.
Typically, the camcorder is connected to the computer with a USB port and put into Computer mode. Launch the video editor and import or capture or Log and Transfer the video (it depends on the video editing application doing the importing. This pulls the high definition video in to the editor at high definition for editing. After editing, adding transitions, effects, titles, etc, the video editor render the final project to a media file (h.264 is good for AVI or MOV). It is best to stay at high quality. It will be a big file.
Use this file as the "source" for the other files you need... for example, then you can use a transcoder (like HandBrake from www.handbrake.fr) to create a very compressed MP4 for a personal media player and a DVD authoring application like WinDVD or iDVD to create a standard definition DVD that can be player in a regular DVD player (because the authoring app will create the required VOB file format) or as a "medium quality MOV, AVI or MP4 for uploading to any video sharing site like YouTube or Vimeo... or even Facebook.
If your computer is not built to deal with AVCHD-compressed video (CPU not fast enough, not enough physical RAM, not enough available hard drive space), expect editing and playback if high definition video - especially AVCHD-compressed video - to be jumpy or "laggy" (audio plays fine, video skips a lot). A CPU from within the last couple of years, 4-8 gig of RAM (more is better) and use of external drives for the video project files - and a start-up drive with at least 50% available space will likely be sufficient. Laptop drive spin at 5400 rpm. Normal drives for towers spin at 7600 rpm. Media drives spin at 10,000 rpm... you don't need these, but if you are convinced a laptop with a physical electronic hard drive will work, please don't be surprised when you hit problems. The 5400 rpm drives have enough work to do dealing with the operating system memory swap files - the least you can do is offload the video files onto external drives (hopefully spinning at 7600 rpm or faster). Thunderbolt external drive connectivity would be best, firewire next... and USB can work...
And I dumped the HF G20 for a HF S100. Since I already have a HDR-HC1, HDR-FX1 and HDR-FX1000, I did not need another medium sized camcorder (the HC1 does a fine job anbd has infrared night vision). The AVCHD compression is the same as the HF S100 and the S100 is way smaller. The HF G20 can capture great video - but the camcorder is just one part of a system of stuff that needs to work together for best results. Including the video editor... and mics, lights, steadying devices and understanding the capabilities and limitations of the equipment available for use...
You spent $1,100 on a decent camcorder but are not using a video editor capable of dealing with AVCHD-compressed video - does not make sense to me. I've read the manual several times for the HF G20. There is nowhere that instructs the user to convert the MTS files to standard definition video in order to edit. If you actually do that, you will never be able to have high definition video again... Once the high def video is downsampled to standard def, that is the best it will be... there is no "upsampling". The video data has been discarded.
We don't know anything about your computer (manufacturer or operating system version) other than you are running some version of Windows, but the common video editors that can deal with AVCHD compressed video are Sony Vegas and Adobe Premiere for Windows and Final Cut and iMovie (assuming a relatively new Mac) for Mac OSX.
Typically, the camcorder is connected to the computer with a USB port and put into Computer mode. Launch the video editor and import or capture or Log and Transfer the video (it depends on the video editing application doing the importing. This pulls the high definition video in to the editor at high definition for editing. After editing, adding transitions, effects, titles, etc, the video editor render the final project to a media file (h.264 is good for AVI or MOV). It is best to stay at high quality. It will be a big file.
Use this file as the "source" for the other files you need... for example, then you can use a transcoder (like HandBrake from www.handbrake.fr) to create a very compressed MP4 for a personal media player and a DVD authoring application like WinDVD or iDVD to create a standard definition DVD that can be player in a regular DVD player (because the authoring app will create the required VOB file format) or as a "medium quality MOV, AVI or MP4 for uploading to any video sharing site like YouTube or Vimeo... or even Facebook.
If your computer is not built to deal with AVCHD-compressed video (CPU not fast enough, not enough physical RAM, not enough available hard drive space), expect editing and playback if high definition video - especially AVCHD-compressed video - to be jumpy or "laggy" (audio plays fine, video skips a lot). A CPU from within the last couple of years, 4-8 gig of RAM (more is better) and use of external drives for the video project files - and a start-up drive with at least 50% available space will likely be sufficient. Laptop drive spin at 5400 rpm. Normal drives for towers spin at 7600 rpm. Media drives spin at 10,000 rpm... you don't need these, but if you are convinced a laptop with a physical electronic hard drive will work, please don't be surprised when you hit problems. The 5400 rpm drives have enough work to do dealing with the operating system memory swap files - the least you can do is offload the video files onto external drives (hopefully spinning at 7600 rpm or faster). Thunderbolt external drive connectivity would be best, firewire next... and USB can work...
And I dumped the HF G20 for a HF S100. Since I already have a HDR-HC1, HDR-FX1 and HDR-FX1000, I did not need another medium sized camcorder (the HC1 does a fine job anbd has infrared night vision). The AVCHD compression is the same as the HF S100 and the S100 is way smaller. The HF G20 can capture great video - but the camcorder is just one part of a system of stuff that needs to work together for best results. Including the video editor... and mics, lights, steadying devices and understanding the capabilities and limitations of the equipment available for use...
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