Sony Hard Drive Cam and VS-10+

[tscandal]

Hello Guys, do you have a minute for a newbie? Hope so because I can tell that you guys can solve my problem.
here is the questions:

I have a brand new Sony DCR-SR80 Hard Drive camcorder that records and saves video on the camcorder's hard drive already in MPEG-2 format. I am a total newbie to VS-10+ but trying to learn and my first goal is to import the MPEG-2 files to VS-10+, edit and string a number of them together for burning to a disc and/or making a "clip" for internet posting. Can you obviously intelligent and much more experienced people give me the recommended "BEST SETTINGS" (or I guess capture properties) to get started with since I will already be dealing with MPEG-2 files fom the camcorder? Any issues with capturing audio from this camera?

Also a direction on any capture procedures for this camera and then editing procedures or tips would be greatly appeciated. Again I am a newbie to all of this and I would NOT take offense at being lead around by the hand

Please remember I am a "VIDEO VIRGIN"

[Trevor Andrew]

Hi

Welcome to the forum
We have lots of minutes, enjoy them all.

If the camera has a hard drive to store the footage then you should be able to transfer / copy the files to the PC¡¦s hard drive without using Video Studio.
Read your cameras manual regarding ¡¥saving to pc¡¦

Once you have the files on the PC you import them to the timeline within VS

There should be no need to use the capture process within Video Studio.

The project properties should reflect the imported file properties.

So the first priority is to get the files onto the PC.

Regards

Trevor

[Black Lab]

Have a look at this tutorial: http://phpbb.ulead.com.tw/EN/viewtopic.php?t=13421

[jchunter]

There is a review of the SR80 at http://www.camcorderinfo.com/content/So ... Review.htm
It has a USB2 port on its "docking station" rather than the camcorder body. It does record directly in DVD-compliant Mpeg2, interlaced, at a video data rate of 9000Kbps. Therefore, you should try to copy the video file directly into your PC, using the Windows Explorer, which should be able to view the camcorder hard drive as an external hard drive.

After the Mpeg2 video file is in your PC, the fun begins and you may have to experiment a bit to find out if the video file has a "normal" .mpg file extension or something else. If .mpg, editing is straightforward and you should follow the Recommended Procedure (link below). Load the mpg file into the EDIT Timeline let Video Studio set your project properties to match. Maintain these exact properties throughout the edit process for best results.

[Ken Berry]

And given that you are new to this, to act as a reminder, within VS, go to File > Preferences > General and tick the box beside "Show message when inserting first video" (or something like that). That way, when you go to insert your first clip from the camera, the program will put up a message asking if you want the project properties to match those of the clip. And of course you click OK in response...

[heinz-oz]

And if, at the end of it all you go to Share > cretate video file >DVD and make sure DVD compliant files are not recoded, you may end up with a DVD compliant mpeg2 file that can be authored to DVD disk but may not play in all players because the bitrate is a bit on the high side.

I personally wouldn't worry too much about that aspect yet but as soon as possible would create a test project and burn that to a DVD RW disk to try it in my player. If it plays well, great, go for it. If it doesnt play well throughout or the player doesn't accept the disk nothing is lost yet. The player might not like your media brand and/or might not want to play RW disks. I would burn the same project to different media if it doesn't play well first and if that doesn't fix it, lower the bitrate a bit during the rendering stage.

If it doesn't play at all, ie. your DVD player telling you there is no disk or something to that effect, you will need to sacrifice (possibly) a normal DVD + or -R disk. I would try -R first because it is the more widely accepted format.

Hope it all goes well, if not, feel free to come back here with the relevant details of what you did and how and we should be able to sort it out.

Have fun.

[tscandal]

Guys Please allow me to Thank You.
Being as I am totally new at this, any and I mean ANY, instructions, tips and or tricks would assist me greatly.

The info you have given me here helps me a lot as a beginner. I will remain vigilant here in this community and it's my goal to one day become skilled enough to actually participate in the postings and conversations that you have going on here. I'm sure that I'll need MORE HELP as time goes by, but looks like I've found a place where even a total video virgin like myself might be able to get an answer or two.

THANKS........................... Tony