I just got a Canon HF-S11, now on sale here in Japan. I want to know the best workflow to get videos out of the camera and onto YouTube or other video-sharing sites.

I'm recording AVCHD format at 1080i 60, converted in the camera to 1080p 30, saved to an SD memory card. Once I get the video files onto my computer, what software should I use to edit them, and what format/settings should I use to save them for playback when uploaded to YouTube?

Thanks for any advice.

The brand new Windows Live Movie Maker does a good job. It requires Vista or Windows 7.

The brand new Windows Live Movie Maker does a good job. It requires Vista or Windows 7.

Movie Maker? I have Vista, but its Movie Maker can not encode flv. Could you please tell me which version of Movie Maker are you using?

Your video editor doesn't need to encode to .flv in order for your video to be seen on youtube. My standard youtube HD encode is 720p (1280x720 @ 5mbit). I'll save the file as a mpeg, mp4 or wmv and let youtube do the flv conversion.

Almost any modern video editor will do the job but some editors may not recognize AVCHD. Sony Vegas, Pinnacle Studio, Cyberlink Powerdirector, Ulead VideoStudio and Adobe Premiere are just a few examples of consumer grade video editors that will get the job done. As the previous poster mentioned Windows Live Movie Maker on Win7 will also work.

Movie Maker? I have Vista, but its Movie Maker can not encode flv. Could you please tell me which version of Movie Maker are you using?
Vista Movie Maker has nothing to do with this version. It is a free part of the Windows Live suite and just came out about a month ago: http://download.live.com/moviemaker

Vista Movie Maker has nothing to do with this version. It is a free part of the Windows Live suite and just came out about a month ago: http://download.live.com/moviemaker

When I downloaded from that URL, the installer wouldn't run. But when I downloaded from this one, it worked:

http://download.cnet.com/Windows-Live-Movie-Maker/3000-13631_4-10965753.html?tag=mncol

Just downloaded the window live movie maker. Looks like a decent editing program but can view my m2ts file. Any way to get around this problem?

Thanks

You might want to also take a look at Microsoft Expression Encoder:
http://www.microsoft.com/expression/products/Encoder_Overview.aspx

The "Trial" version never expires and is free. Works on XP, Vista and Win7. If you have the codecs registered from the software that came with your camcorder (Pixela?), you should be able to import them in Encoder and encode using the YouTube preset. If you have a codec problem, simply install one/all of these:
- Haali Media Splitter
- Divx H.264 decoder
- AC3Filter

Note that it's not an editor, so the editing capabilities are limited. But it provides a whole lot more encoding options than MovieMaker. The full version (available soon as a standalone) adds H.264 MP4 export amongst other things.