Canon HF20 / HF200 Official Owner's Thread - Page 12

Heres a video I shot of my son just playing in his gym. Here I just took the original MTS file and uploaded to Youtube. Im still getting a feel for the camera and dont have alot of time but I think Im starting to get it.

Like I said I uploaded the original MTS file but I still dont see any option under HD button that says 780 or 1080? Also the video doesnt seem as crisp when I play the original file oppose to the Youtube upload. Any help on what I could be doing wrong would be appreciated.

Now after embedding the video HD option doesnt even show up.

After getting burned on a Mode 10 card... I contacted Canon support, and here is their answer.....

Dear Jan:

Thank you for your inquiry. We value you as a Canon customer and
appreciate the opportunity to assist you.

I'm sorry to hear that you are having problems with the card in your
camcorder.

The Class 10 card came out after our camcorder, and unfortunately, the
camcorder does not take a class 10 card.

Canon has not, at this time, released any information for a future
firmware update.

I apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.

We hope this information is helpful to you. Please let us know if we
can be of any further assistance with your Canon Vixia HF200.

Thank you for choosing Canon.

Sincerely,

Colleen
Technical Support Representative

Hey everyone,

I got an HF20 for Christmas and love it. This thread is truly a great resource for owners, love the videos interspersed through the thread. I did not bother with the Pixela software at first, tried installing it later just to make sure I wasn't missing out on any features, and uninstalled when I started having issues with it.

No problems playing or editing the videos, but my computer was built with this type of work in mind (quad-core AMD Phenom II PC). Have tried recording a high school basketball game with pretty nice results, as well as a fireworks show on the fireworks setting that looked pretty spectacular even without a tripod.

I bought this 8 GB SD card mainly to store any photos I take as well as making it easier to copy over videos if I want to easily stick it in a card reader at a friend or relative's house or something. Not the cheapest out there, but it really was a Class 6: newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820208293 (I can't post a URL just yet )

Also, I bought a cheap set of filters and teleconverter/wide angle off eBay, should be coming later this week. I know you get what you pay for, but I don't have the pocket change for the official Canon converters at this point.

I'm at work right now and can't view anything Youtube, but Youtube has a bug right now where you can't watch your own videos in 1080p. If you log out and then link to your video, the 720p/1080p menu will pop-up. It takes quite a bit of bandwidth to stream the 1080p and quite a bit of computing muscle to play it though. Also, if you press play on the embedded player, does the button then show up? It usually doesn't show until you start playing in embeds.

Wow ok logging out did help thanks so much.

iresq...
Yes...camera is plugged into A/C power.
Win7...from my experience of it not working on Win7, and this page ww.pixela.co.jp/oem/canon/e/win7_specifications/index.html on the Pixela site posted early December led me to believe maybe it was not ok in Win7, but given that it suffers the same issue in WinXP I guess we can rule that out....cheers

stever2...
1. Thanks for the explanation
3. This was a very good suggestion which I didn't think of. Strangely enough the camera does NOT show up in computer management...but this led me to try something else....previously I had the USB cable plugged into the front port on the computer, so I thought I would give it a go in one of the rear slots where it goes straight into the motherboard....and what do you know, it found the camera :-) ;-)
4. I was thinking that I should see it in device manager or somewhere alike...
...thanks for your suggestions, they got me over the line....

Now one further question, what's the best way to download the still images off the camera..? Is it fair to say that I have to do this separately using Zoombrowser, or can it be done at the same time as the videos..?

Now one further question, what's the best way to download the still images off the camera..? Is it fair to say that I have to do this separately using Zoombrowser, or can it be done at the same time as the videos..?

I use Nikon's Picture Project just because I happen to have a Nikon dig. camera but I would think that any other software will do the trick. Or just move them from the camera to whatever folder you are using to organize pictures using explorer.

I had problems with Windows 7 and the software, it created a conflict with native thumbnail creation and I got some windows crashing, that might only happen if your setup was exactly like mine at the time though, it may work fine otherwise.

Since the camera didn't show up in the front USB ports, maybe you should try and find those ports in your Device Manager and reinstall their drivers (if any of that made sense). Glad you got it working. The still images are in the DCIM folder if you go into the camera filesystem, you should be able to access them simultaneously. I've found that when I connect to PC in Photo Playback mode on the camera I have access to less FYI. Alternatively, you could use an SD card to store the photos and get to them with a card reader the same way. Personally, I'd say skip the software that came with it.

olo567...
Thanks for the additional info. I will take a look in device manager just for interest sake to see if there is any difference between the setup of the different ports.
You suggest to leave the bundled software alone (not the first time I have heard this), but I like the functionality that it transfers files into date folders. Can you suggest some alternative software which may be more practical/user friendly and still include this simple functionality...?? I know software is a very "personal prefernce" kind of thing, but I am happy to listen to any suggestions re: software titles...
Thanks again...

If you like the file transferring system, then by all means stick with it. I never used it so I just manually make folders for each date or event that I shoot. I would suggest using other software to convert the files and make AVCHD DVDs if you wish. I have a ton of freeware video tools that I use, but not a lot of them are especially user friendly.

I use the included software for download. It's not bad. It does what it is supposed to do.

For editing, I am a Vegas fan but you will find fans for just about every option out there. Just about all have free trials. I think Vegas is full function for 30 days.

Same with Premiere Pro. I've used Premiere for several of its past generations, easy enough to play around with, but I've used Vegas a bit and it's just as good.

You can cheat a bit with Vegas. Use the Platinum edition for the first 30 days, then use the Pro edition for the next 30 days. The first trial will familiarize you with the environment, and the second trial will give you time to learn all the bells & whistles of the Pro edition, and if it's worth the $400 premium over the Platinum edition.

How does the HF200 compare video quality to a HV20? I use to shoot a lot and I have some power Mac equipment but didn't like how long it takes to transfer footage. But I must say the video quality on the HV20 has been excellent. What does make me mad is a lot of the attachments won't work on any of the newer Canons. Thanks for any input

Many reviews say that the HF200 has improved resolution (not just frame size, but actual definition and sharpness) but slightly lesser low light performance. If you follow the suggestions on this thread you can get very good low light results in my opinion, so the tradeoff is worth it.

It is nice to be able to transfer the videos much faster than real time, but HDV is an easier format to edit, so if you are planning on editing a lot of footage, be prepared for the extra time on that side of things instead, and for the disk space that will be used up if the AVCHD gets converted to Apple ProRes. I don't have a Mac, just going on what people have said on here and elsewhere, but that's going to be the deal with any ACVHD camera.

Thanks for the quick response. I am using Final Cut Pro and Final Cut Express, so I am use to editing times being long. I was just looking for a decent ACVHD camera so I can transfer files faster. Some say you can even play back the .MTS file on a PS3 with no problems. Thanks again!

Yes, you can play it back no problem on PS3. I can even plug my camera into A/C power and plug the USB from my camera into the PS3 and play it right from there.

Quick (and simple) question. Where do I find the 'night mode' on the HF200? I can see all the other modes (cloudy, daylight, shade, etc...) but I don't see any night mode.

Hi everyone, I just bought a hf200 off Amazon.com and received it today. I love the way it looks but I am having problems already. When ever I am in movie or dual shot mode, none of the buttons except for the camera to preview buttons work. Also, I am unable to navigate through the videos or pictures that I record in my camcorder. If I put the SD card into my computer I can view them fine, but it seems like the buttons are frozen when I am using the camcorder. Would resetting the device help? If so, how do I reset the device? Thanks for any and all your help.

Those are the white balance presets you're mentioning. When you go into the menu, the option that let's you select between P (programmed), Tv (shutter-select), Af (aperture-select), Cinema, and the last option is the special presets. Select it and find the moon, that's night mode. The default icon there will be portrait, but once you click it you'll see all the options.


Interesting issues. Dual Shot mode does lock out most of the option buttons, so that would make sense. You can't access the main menu while you are recording, but if you are always having the issue, that's not good. What speed is the SD card? It must be fast enough if the camera doesn't refuse to record to it, but I'd try another one to see if playback works on that. Otherwise, contact Amazon.com for a replacement, this is a great camera and I wouldn't let one bad one keep you away from using it.

Yes I agree,

I love the camcorder but editing the footage is proving to be a nightmare, I have wasted so much time trying out different packages and so far all have had problems of one sort or another. Personally I can live with the odd operational quirk here and there but instability drives me nuts, if it crashes I don't want it no matter how pretty it is.

What's seems daft is that a lot of us newbies appear to all be doing the same thing, testing software and getting frustrated with the results, I wonder if there is a better way for us to somehow document the results of all this testing we are doing to at least help the next wave of poor unsuspecting AVCHD victims!


Anyhow, that's my rant out of the way!

As far as Power directorr is concerned I have been playing with it for the last few weeks and so far I have yet to have it crash on me, although I have discovered a couple of minor irritants which may or may not be related to either the trial version I am using or down to my low spec laptop, but in general it seems to have worked ok for me.

The only real problems I have encountered so far is that I could only use the audio sliders in pause mode, as soon as you hit play button the sliders lock up and the only way to adjust/mix the sound levels appears to be to drag the level line up or down on the audio track timeline, not great but it sort of works.

The other issue was that on two occasions it got stuck in rendering, once at 64% and the other 95% complete, and on both occasions I had to cancel the render and disable SVRT to get it to finish.

I really liked this package for two reasons, first it seemed easier to learn that the other packages I and also it was, until recently the only package that would work at all on my low spec laptop with the canon 24Mbps files, but I just can't get away from all the complaints I keep reading about it's stability from this and other forums and I am now having to rethink going with PD.

But I am now leaning towards Sony Vegas, Like you I originally found Vegas to be hard work and not very intuitive, I couldn't even figure out how to do a simple cut? I have since figured that you just need to hit the s key (for split I guess?) but at the time I gave up in frustration before I even found this out as it just seemed to complicated and there was little point in learning how to use it if didn't work with the HF20 files on my laptop, but since then I have tried editing some SD footage in Vegas and I am now starting to warm to it. The only thing stopping me going with Vegas was the thought that I would have to spend twice the price I paid for the camcorder on a new PC powerful enough to be able to edit AVCHD with Vegas, but then I downloaded Cineform Neoscene trial and can't believe my luck, Vegas appears to work perfectly on my current laptop and the final quality looks great (to my eyes at least).


If anyone has opinions on the Vegas/Neoscene combination before I go down that path I would appreciate any comments either way.


BTW, I have found a pretty good player for viewing these .MTS files is Mirillis Splash Light http://www.mirillis.com/splash.html

Ya, I think I just received a bad model...Thanks for the help.

I got my a month or 2 ago, and LOVE IT, I have used it many times and cant be anything more then impressed with it. I have a Canon Wide Angle lens (newest version) and a DM-100 mic.

I will mainly be using it for automotive videography, and I love it

Can people explain the 90/120 degree mode on the shotgun mic? Then shotgun mode? And what would be best for when I am at races, or recording the sound of an engine of a car driving by.

I don't have the mic, but just from knowledge of how they work, 90 degrees is just like it sounds, it picks up sounds in the area 45 degrees to the left and to the right of where the direction is pointed (a little wider than 11 and 1 on a clock) and 120 is wider (wider than 10 and 2), while shotgun is probably as close to 180 as possible (9 and 3 on clock). If you're watching the car go by from the side of the track, shotgun might be best, or 120 if there's crowd noise behind you that you want to avoid more. As always, experiment and see what you prefer.

I can't believe for the kind of money Canon charges, they can't include simple instructions.

These settings refer to the focus of the mic. Shotgun is for sounds immediately in front of the mic, 90 and 120 refer to degrees. 90 degrees would give you 45 on each side. 120 would be a little wider at 60.

I figured shotgun would be the widest "spray," my mistake, I'll defer to you.

Hey guys,

Can some of you please share your HF20 workflows? And more specifically- what do you to perform the inverse telecine (IVTC) to extract "lossless 24p" from 24p footage that is recorded in 60i. I've tried using Adobe After Effects for the IVTC step with some success, but I'm looking for a batch (almost command line-like) solution.

If you don't know what I'm talking about, take a close look at your exported video. Even if it's exported at 24p, you're going to get minor interlacing artifacts, or a "shimmer", on straight lines (such as lines on a football field) without an IVTC step in your flow. Most of you probably won't care, but it drives me up the wall.

As a side note, I just saw the new batch of Vixia designs coming from Canon, and the new HFS20, 21, etc. are shooting AND recording in 24p. I wish they'd release a firmware upgrade for the HF20/200 to allow us to do this.

While it certainly is not a batch operation, here is how I do it:

Import video into NLE, render as 1080 - 60 .avi

Run video through virtual dub, selecting IVTC filter under video, export stripped AVI.

Edit as usual.

If you've heard of Avisynth, you can do it with that, and I believe there is a way to batch process with it, but you'll need to use the script in an encoder which means recompressing. I've used it to do single files, by weaving the fields back together creating 30p (which you can do for the 30p shots of course) and then using a command line to select only every 1st and 4th frame, effectively an inverse telecine.

It's not native like some other camcorders, but at the same time it's much better than trying to convert material actually shot in 60i to 24p, just takes a bit of work.

What is NLE?