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Can someone reply with the recommended Project Settings for VS 11.5 Plus when capturing and recoding back to a Sony HDR-HC9 (mini DV recording) High Definition camcorder.

High Definition HDV settings:
Start VS and stay will an empty timeline:
Goto Preferences (F6 HotKey) and make ¡§Re-sampling Quality = BEST¡¨

Then change your ¡§Project Settings¡¨ to standard HDV:
Project Settings <ALT+ENTER> or via VS Menus

First goto the ¡§Compression Tab¡¨ and change the top drop-down box to ¡§MPEG2¡¨.
This activates the General tab to provide the High Definition Frame Sizes.

Compression Tab:
Format Drop Down Box (On Top of Page) = MPEG2
Quality = 100%
Vidio_Bit_Rate = Constant 25,000kbs
(Single Pass)
Audio:
Mpeg Audio = Stereo
Data Rate = 384kbs

General Tab:
Frame_Size = 1440x1080
Fielding = Upper_Field_First
Aspect Ratio = 16:9
FrameRate = 25.00 (PAL) / 29.97 (NTSC)
¡§Non-Square Pixel Rendering¡¨ = ON

When your finished editing export to a new file by:
"Share -> Create Video File -> Same_As_Project Settings"

To 'recode back to the camera', use the above properties given by etech, and with the project still in the timeline, you choose Share > HDV recording. You have your camera connected via Firewire and switched on. The project will be processed into the correct transport stream high definition mpeg-2, which will be stored in your working folder, and when it is prepared, will be transmitted to the camera.

Thanks to you both. Ken, I assume you meant that there is a two step process for exporting the finished project back to tape on the camcorder:
Step 1, export to a new file by:
"Share -> Create Video File -> Same_As_Project Settings", This creates a Video File.

Step two, open a new project, insert the video file created in step one, and then, Share > HDV recording etc.

I have found one change that may be unique to the Sony HDR-HC9 camcorder: In BOTH steps, I have to change the Project Settings' Video Bit Rate to "Variable, 8000 kbs" before I start the Share function. If I don't, the steps execute, but the tapre created just shows a blue screen when I play it on the camcorder. Another indication ib BOTH steps, when the files are being rendered, the preview screen is black during the entire rendering process. With the bit rate set as Variable, 8000 kbs, the project is visible on the preview screen during both renderings, and when the tape is recorded, I can play it and view it on the camcorder.

By the way, when I hook up the camcorder to my High Def TV via an HDMI cable, the results are excellent - I can't tell the difference between the orginal recorded clips and the rendered finished product. The camcorder is my poor man's blu-ray player.

No, I did not mean the two step process you described. I meant that you have your high def video in the timeline, you do your editing and go straight to Share > HDV Recording. This is one step though in practice it is in fact two, but it is initiated with just that one command. The final step that etech included is just to produce a new HDV file, and is not needed for export back to camera, as the latter produces a new file anyway.

Using my suggested workflow, the project is first converted by VS to a transport stream high definition mpeg-2 with the exact properties of the original high def from the camera. This is what it is all about. You are asked to give the file a name. But after you do that, you go away and have lunch or dinner as the conversion usually takes a while. The new file is created, and if you have your camera attached, then VS moves seamlessly on to sending the new file to the camera. Otherwise you get a warning window saying that no camera was detected. That's OK too as you then have a high definition file which has all the correct properties and you can use it for other purposes. In fact this is the way I produce my high-definition mpeg-2s knowing that they have exactly the right properties!

What you do NOT do is precisely what you did. Changing the bitrate to 8000 kbps makes the resulting mpeg-2 a standard definition one i.e. you are reducing the quality of it. It also presumes that, when choosing 'Same as Project Properties' that the project properties you have set are exactly as etech set them out. This requires manual intervention because in practice I have found that when dealing with HDV, the default project properties are for standard definition video, and will often even be lower field first, rather than the required upper field first.

Using your workflow, if you first produce what sounds like a standard definition mpeg-2, and you do the second step of Share > HDV recording, it will, yes, produce a file which can be sent to the camera, but it will again, through yet another compression/re-encoding of the file up to HDV standards, result in further loss of quality.

Try it exactly as I described and let us know what happens...

Ken, I followed your method exactly as described and it worked. I guess my only question is: what is the purpose of the step described by etech6355? What is the purpose of this "Video File"?

I also noticed that as soon as you insert a captured clip into the timeline of a Project, the project properties atomatically assume the properties of that clip. The only place I needed to make a change was in the Create Disc window. I had to make a change to Upper Field First.

The video file created in the workflow suggested by etech, and the one created in my workflow, essentially can be used for the same purposes (other than export to the camera). I won't speak for etech, though I know he does some of the same things as me. I use those HDV edited files in their existing state for display on my MDTV. I have a Sony PlayStation 3 which is connected via HDMI to my HDTV and also networked to my computer. I use Windows Media Player or Nero Media Home as network server, and this allows me to play my edited HDV direct from my computer via the PS3 on my HDTV. It's phenomenal. I can also copy those files to a USB stick or external hard drive, and connect those to the PS3 and play them that way (though the files need to be under 4 GB since the PS3 can only see drives formatted with FAT32 which imposes that size limit). Or I can burn slightly larger files as HDV archives (not a video disc) to a standard DVD and play those directly in the PS3. All three options are excellent high definition quality.

Another is to convert that HDV file to AVCHD and burn is to what is called a hybrid disc i.e. AVCHD high definition burned in a Blu-Ray structure on a standard definition DVD. Again, the quality is superb, though to keep the highest quality standards, you can only burn a little over 20 minutes to a 4.3 GB DVD. But at least they are a lot cheaper than Blu-Ray discs.

Finally, if you are lucky enough to have a Blu-Ray burner, then you can burn the HDV files to a proper Blu-Ray disc for playback on a Blu-Ray player on your HDTV.

Lots of possibilities! It really is a new video world out there!!