How do you select multiple video clips

[jparnold]

First time creating a project and capturing digital (.mts) clips from digital media. I used to have a MiniDV camera which I found easy to 'capture' from.
I recorded to SDHC memory card which I then copied (all folders and files) to a hard drive.
I am using VS X6
Method I used -
Click on CAPTURE > IMPORT FROM DIGITAL MEDIA
Navigate to the folder where all the digital video clips are (PRIVATE/AVCHD/BDMV/STREAM
Click START
It takes a very long time for all video clips to be 'read' and 'thumbnails' displayed.
Now comes the problem.
I want to select the FIRST 100 clips.
I note that to select as clip to import I need to click the top left corner of a clip (and a tick appears) BUT I don't want to have to click on 900 thumbnails.
I tried clicking on the first thumbnail then holding down the SHIFT key then clicking on the last thumbnail - didn't work.
Tried the same holding down the CTRL key - didn't work.
Nothing in the user manual to explain how to do it.

Could someone please explain how? Or is there a better way?

[BrianCee]

the way I always do it John is to take the SD card out of the camera and put it in the card reader on my PC - - or you can connect by USB if you prefer.

Then open Windows Explorer and create a new folder on my HDD in a suitable place giving it the name of my project - now go to the folder on the SD card - click on the first file - navigate to the last file (or the 100th if thats all you need )and hold down "Shift" while selecting it - all files should now be selected - drag and drop the whole lot from SD card to HDD folder - transfer occurs.

Now open VideoStudio and create a new library for just that project - In the library pane use the "Import Media files" option to browse to the project folder - click on the first - navigate to the last and hold down "Shift" while selecting it - click OK and the thumbnails appear in the library ready to use.

Or if you only want odd clips in the library then hold down 'ctrl' while selecting clips at random throughout your folders.

drag clips from library to timeline as required.

[lata]

Hi John

Unlike Brian I do not have a SD Card reader.

I simply connect the Pana 900 to the pc using USB connection.
Switch on the camera and the camera shows PC on the screen, click that.

The PC recognises the camera as being connected
Auto Play window opens—I choose Open Folder to View Files.
I navigate the Private folder to find the Stream folder where the MTS files reside.
Shift + Click to select files
Keyboard Ctrl+ C to copy

Create a destination folder on the hard drive – Ctrl + V to paste.

Or use Mouse Right Click for Copy Paste options.

The cameras files will also show from
Start – Computer- I see CAM SD as a Removable Disc
To disconnect I right click CAM SD and eject before removing cable

Once I have the files on the PC I import to VS in the normal way

[jparnold]

Thanks Brian and lata for your quick replies,
Why didn't I think of that? Must be because it is months since I last started a project and imported clips into a library.
Yes of course "create a library and then select the video clips I want to add to the library by selecting that library then clicking on "Import Media Files" then navigating to the folder where the clips are and selecting which ones?
The "import from digital media" is (I imagine) for actually importing from another external source such as a DVD etc.

Yes (again) that (selecting files to add to a library) works a treat. The only problem I now notice is trying to locate the 'end clip' to ad to the library as the preview window (when selecting a file) is very very small. I ended up going to the files on hard drive (or could be from the SD card itself) and checking the properties to see that date recorded and the thumbnails displayed by windows were a little larger as well.

Is this method the preferable method when wanting to edit the video taken with a HD digital video camera ie copy files to hard disk, then add those to a VS 'library' to later drag onto the timeline rather than importing the video using "import from digital media" which I imagine will copy the files to the hard drive like it does when you import video from DVDs etc?

Thanks again.

[BrianCee]

it is certainly my preferred method - but like many things there are alternatives and as long as the end result is what we wanted then the preferred method is what suits you.

But when selecting clips in a windows explorer window you can set "Extra large icons" which I find more than adequate - in fact I usually just stick with Medium icons.

Extra large gives you something like this :-

click on the image to enlarge it

[jparnold]

Thanks Brian

[jparnold]

Just rereading lata's reply.


When I attempt to capture VS states that there is NO VIDEO CAPTURE DRIVER INSTALLED.
Is this because because digital cameras record files to memory cards that capture is not possible unlike video cameras which record files to tape.
When I connected my camera to my PC via USB cable my PC detected 'new hardware' but installed a usb driver for a 'hard drive'.
Thanks
John

[BrianCee]

Yes John - you do not - infact can not - "Capture" from a modern digital camera - you just plug the camera in via USB and it appears as an external hard drive and you then just drag and drop - or copy and paste - or whatever - from camera to your hard drive.

My personal preference is to take the SD card out of my camera - put it in a card slot on my PC and copy the files straight over to a folder on the HDD

[lata]

Just rereading lata's reply.


When I attempt to capture VS states that there is NO VIDEO CAPTURE DRIVER INSTALLED.
Is this because because digital cameras record files to memory cards that capture is not possible unlike video cameras which record files to tape.
When I connected my camera to my PC via USB cable my PC detected 'new hardware' but installed a usb driver for a 'hard drive'.
Thanks
John

Yes that is correct

After connecting the camera view Start-Computer-the list will show a Cam_SD as a Removable Disc
Double click this drive and you will see several folders, your video files are within the Private folder structure
Open these folders PRIVATE\AVCHD\BDMV\STREAM
You will see MTS files within the Stream folder, these are your video files.

Ctrl+A will select all
Ctrl+C will copy
Ctrl+V will paste, paste the files to a new folder to hold the video files.

Open Video Studio and right click timeline - Insert Video

At least that's how I do it

I do not have a SD Card slot on my desktop pc, when using the laptop I would probably use the card slot as I don't need to power the camera.

[jparnold]

Thanks Brian and Trevor.

I got confused by a recent request ("what to t....") to "t..." CAPTURE COMPATIBILITY with any of the following devices -
a.
b.
c.
d.
e. AVCHD or BD camcorders I assumed that AVCHD camcorders were digital camcorders, or aren't they all?

John

[canuck]

Yes, AVCHD camcorder are digital camcorders.
I believe most digital camcorders now record to SD cards, hard drives or discs and you can treat them the same as digital cameras when transferring video to your hard drive. Very few still record to tape.

[lata]

Hi John

Digital is the way the video data is saved to a particular media.

All video on your pc is digital because computers work with digital data.

Your older Mini DV type camcorder recorded digital video, the data being saved to tape in a digital stream, DV = Digital Video.
To get the video to the pc you used a firewire, that transferred the digital data to the pc the process played the tape in real time to extract the data, there was no conversion, what you have on the tape is what you get on the pc “Digital Video” packed into a AVI wrapper aka DV-AVI.
-------------------------
Analogue camcorder, TV tuner, transfer VHS, all the older stuff was analogue.
Transferring this to the pc is true Capture.
The process not only plays in real time but converts the analogue video stream to a digital format, (trans-coding) we select the Capture Properties, generally DVD Mpeg2 would be suitable. That is capture in the true sense of the word.
-------------------------
Photographic Image Camera
Obviously these are digital, the most common format being Jpeg, images being saved the cameras memory card, SD Card seems the most common.
To get the images onto the pc we simply Copy and Paste.
We can either connect the camera and use as a removable drive, or insert the SD Card to a card reader.
I am sure you will have used that method to insert the images to the pc.
------------------------
Then HD video was developed AVCHD---Advanced Video Coding High Definition
Your video files are recorded/saved to the cameras memory card in the same way as the photograph above. We use the same process to get the files to the pc as for images, they are a little larger and take longer to transfer other than that they are just a data file, the image uses *****.jpg whereas your video uses ******.MTS.
Getting them onto the pc is the same process.
------------------------
Once we have transferred the files we insert them to the timeline, now that process was automatic when using the Mini DV camcorder.
But now we have to Right Click the timeline or library and choose insert video.
------------------------
Having said all that there is a method using Video Studio to transfer the video from camera or SD Card
Go to File - Insert Media File to Timeline – Insert Digital Media
Click the option Select Import Source Folders
This opens a File browser tree----navigate to the Cam_SD to find the MTS files within the Stream folder
From the Import from Digital Media press start, your files should show as thumbnails there is an option top right ish to select all clips, a tick appears top left of the thumbnail.
Choose a working folder to hold the files then Start Import
Files are loaded to the pc, then populate the timeline
------------------------

A lot going on here, hope I have explained correctly?

[jparnold]

Thanks Trevor - a lot of typing there.

Yes MiniDV is recorded digitally and video 'capture' is the way to get it onto the PC via IEEE1394 cable.

I had already copied all the files recorded on memory cards to my PC so that was no problem.

I just got confused when I was asked to test "capture from camcorder"

I am not thinking too straight lately.

All good now.

John