Error when trying to capture video from my Sony SR11 HD cam.

[us_matrix]

Hi,

I am running VS 11.5 plus with the update power pack and hotfix. I am able to import AVCHD (m2ts file) from my hard drive to VS 11plus. However, when I tried to capture AVCHD video from my Sony SR11 camorder i got an error message... something like "Either No device driver found or not installed" It looked like VS 11 .5 plus did not see my camorder. The Sony SR11 is connected to the PC with USB cable and I could capture video from the supplied Sony software but not VS 11.5.

Anyone knows what am i missing?

Thanks.

[rguthrie]

us_matrix,

I'm not that familiar with AVCHD, but isn't it stored on a memory card? If so, just use your card reader and capture that way.

[skier-hughes]

The sony sr11 has a hard drive which it records to, so treat it like any other hard drive and import from it, not capture.

[us_matrix]

Yes, it is hard drive base. Are you saying I have to perform TWO steps process in order to get the video to VS 11.5 for editing?

1. Use Sony's supplied software to import video to PC first and then launch VS 11.5 to import video for editing?

Any other choice?

[rguthrie]

Select the Insert Media Files icon (looks like an open folder with a down arrow on it), then select Insert DVD/DVD-VR or AVCHD... and choose your AVCHD hard drive.

[us_matrix]

I will try that

Thanks.

[Ken Berry]

us_matrix -- you say:

I am able to import AVCHD (m2ts file) from my hard drive to VS 11plus.

Well what exactly do you need to do more than that (apart from editing)??? If you have imported AVCHD from the camera, then it is in effect already 'captured'. It is just a confusion in terminology. VS sees the camera just as another external hard disk and you transfer files from it like you would from a normal external hard drive. Then merely open it in VS for editing...

Good luck with the AVCHD format, though. I trust you have a powerful enough computer to enable smooth editing and even smooth playback. If it is not powerful enough, then you can edit with VS11.5+'s SmartProxy feature. But you may find that the edited AVCHD will not play back smoothly. The general opinion is that you need at least a Core 2 Duo or Quad.

In that regard, please fill in your System specifications in the Profile button at the top of the Board page.

[us_matrix]

Hi,

I think the import is what I need to do for editing and I just have the confusion of capture at the begining when I was trying to import hard drive base camorder.

Regarding my PC, Yes... It is very painful of doing editing and playback in AVCHD format. Becasue I am runing P4 2.4Ghz w/1GB ram. Everything become in slow motion . But good to know that there is a feature "SMART PROXY" to speed up the process. I am going to enable that and try it out.

Thanks.

[Ken Berry]

I am afraid your computer will just not play back the AVCHD properly. You may be able to edit it using SmartProxy, though that will be verrrrrry slow! But you won't be able to tell that the editing has been done correctly once it is applied to the AVCHD originals because they won't play back properly on your computer. It is really the most demanding of all the video formats, requiring the type of computer I described.

I am assuming you don't have a Blu-Ray burner or discs... Apart from that, the only way I can think of that you can check your projects is to actually complete them and burn a hybrid discs which burns high definition AVCHD in its original format to a standard DVD disc. But for this, you need a Blu-Ray rated player, which includes the Sony PlayStation 3. For best results, such a player should also be connected via HDMI cable to a high definition TV. (If you happen to have a PlayStation 3, you can also copy the edited files to a USB stick or external hard drive, as long as these are formatted using the FAT32 filing system rather than XP and Vista's NTFS. This means, though, that the files cannot be bigger than 4 GB as that is the limit of file sizes for FAT32. You can also burn an edited video to a DVD as an archive disc and PlayStation will recognise it and play it.)

[us_matrix]

Thanks for all the tips.

I have a PS3 and will use that to playback all my AVCHD files and discs.

The reasons why I use VS 11.5 editing software is that the HD camorder create file inidivually everytime when I stop/rec. Therefore, I like to use VS 11.5 to link all these file together or do some trimming of the movie if necessary, and then use VS 11.5 output as a DVD format disc (DVD-R) for my family and realtive since they don't have PS3 or Blue-Ray player. But for myself, I will just output it as single movie in AVCHD format file and stream them to my PS3 for playback.

I was wondering if I choose output as AVCHD format in VS 11.5 but save it in DVD single or dual layer disc instead of Blu-ray disc, do I still get full HD quality just as buring on Blu-ray disc? Does media disc affect video quality between DVD and Blu-ray other than large capacity?

Thanks.

[Ken Berry]

First, downconverting your edited AVCHD to burn a SD DVD for your family and friends, will produce an excellent quality standard def DVD. To me, they are visibly better quality than even my best DVDs produced from my SD mini DV camera, which are remarkably clear anyway!

Next, the hybrid discs I described record in true high def AVCHD on the standard DVD and play back in true high def on the PS3 or other Blu-Ray player. In fact, when you look at the hybrid disc file structure on a computer, you will see it has a tree which resembles a Blu-Ray structure.

Because high def uses a much high bitrate than SD video, this means, though, that you can burn less video to a standard DVD. Using a high quality AVCHD bitrate of 16,800 kbps, for example, you will only be able to burn a maximum of around 40 minutes (probably a little less) to a single layer standard DVD (4.3 GB). One advantage of burning such a disc using VS11.5+, you can even prepare a menu just like the one use for SD DVDs. It's a nice touch and one which many other editing programs seem to lack for the moment.

One thing you need to look out for, though, is that VS's default AVCHD setting is VBR 15000 kbps, which means in practice an average of around 12,000 kbps. To me, this bitrate, while still much better than SD video, is at the lower end of what is acceptable for HD. A shortcoming of VS seems to be that you can't make your own AVCHD template using Make Movie Manager as you do with other formats. And you can't vary those settings if you use Share > Create Video File > AVCHD to re-encode your edited project to a final AVCHD disc if you no longer have one of your original clips as first video (which would at least allow you to re-encode using 'Same as first clip).

Instead, I leave my edited video in project form in the timeline. Then I select Share > Create Disc > AVCHD. The burning module opens and your project file is inserted into the burning timeline. As a project file, it will be finally re-encoded in the burning process. But the advantage of that is that in the second icon in the bottom left of screen you can set the burning properties for that re-encoding. I use a CBR of 168000 kbps for this.

[us_matrix]

Thanks and which mean that burning AVCHD (m2ts) files onto Blu-ray or SD DVD media provide the same results if bitrate setting is the same in VS (Video quality) and the only difference would be capacity.

[Ken Berry]

That's correct -- plus the fact that the hybrid disc uses AVCHD format, while a Blu-Ray burner and disc can use that plus, of course, true Blu-Ray format...