Downloading clips to computer

[mwsing]

I am having problems downloading clips to my computer. I successfully connect the camera to the USB port and can see it in Windows Explorer. The camera is a Canon Legria HFR 16E. The software that came with the camera(Pixela) does not respond because it can't read the clips (something to do with streaming, I think). I tried to read in with Video Studio and received the message " Either no video capture driver is installed in this system, or no device is connected". I did successfully download clips earlier in the year but did have this same problem a couple of years ago. This was because the USB Connection Type was not set to "Computer/Printer" I reset this and then the problem was solved. However, this time I have checked the camera and the USB connection type is definitely set to "Computer/Printer" so I cannot think what is causing the problem. Does anyone have any ideas?

[BrianCee]

Well first something is obviously not right somewhere if the software supplied with the camera can not read the videos into your hard drive - the whole point of the manufacturer supplying software is to allow you to transfer videos to your computer.

You cannot use VideoStudio to transfer videos from a hard drive camera to your computer - it does not work like that.

You say you can see the camera in Windows Explorer - that's where you should be transferring your videos - in explorer open up the camera folder and delve down until you find the videos - possibly in a "stream" folder - then you just drag and drop from camera to a folder on your hard drive - THEN open VideoStudio and use the Insert or Import options to get your videos into the timeline for editing.

If your computer has an SD card reader on it then try taking the SD card out of your camera and put it in the reader then use Windows Explorer to transfer as above.

What is the extension on your video files - is it .mov or .mts or what - camera manufacturers and reviewers seem to be very coy about what extensions they use - but if we know what yours are we can possibly move you forward.

[mwsing]

Brian - thank you for your helpful response. I have been doing a lot of experimenting and am pleased to report:
1. I successfully managed to copy across the clips from Windows Explorer - the problem had been that, although photos were obviously available, I needed to drill down into a folder named "Private" to find where the video clips were. Not sure why I didn't do this before but it certainly wasn't self evident that this is where they would be.
2. I also managed the same process by inserting the SD card directly into the computer. Likewise, I do not know why I hadn't thought of this before.
3. I also managed to import them by Importing from Digital Media in Video Studio - I had, in fact, done this before some months ago, but had forgotten that this was how to do it and that you couldn't capture direct from the camera
3. I did manage to do the import with the manufacturer supplied software, after uninstalling and re-installing the software. However, it still sat for a long time with Task Manager telling me that the software was not responding. I assume that it was analysing the clips because it eventually imported them

[mwsing]

Further to my last post, I have been trying to see if I can download clips from the SD card and enable timecode retrieval. I don't know if I am doing something wrong, but it doesn't seem to work. In step 2, I do not see a thumbnail of any video files, but select the file from a list of all my files and tick this. If I then clip "Start" it puts all of the clips onto the next screen, but I do not get an "Import Settings" screen to be able to select the Import Destination and Add video date information? What am I missing?

[BrianCee]

You are selecting the wrong option to import your videos - from you description it sounds as though you are choosing import from Digital media - that is NOT what you want with an SD card.

Instead either use use Windows explorer again to drag and drop from your 'private' file on the card into a folder of your choice on your hard drive if you then set the folders options to show details you will see the recording date and time for each video

OR if you want to organise your videos into a VS library - open the library pane (or make yourself a new one) and up in the top left corner is a small folder - clicking on that will open the import options where you can again select and import your videos while seeing the time and date.

You select the folder which the files are imported TO in "Settings >> Preferences" and near the top of the dialogue box you set the 'Working Folder' - you can choose any folder you wish and whatever folder you choose will be used for all videos and "saves" until you change it again

you should be able to view the files as in my image below where you can see date of recording and time of recording along with other useful information.

click on the image to enlarge it