The Official Panasonic HDC-HS/SD/TM700 Owners thread - Page 51

Thanks for the response...
After checking things out I decided to go with Aunsoft's Final Mate.
http://www.aunsoft.com/final-mate/

Offers a few more features and just easier to use.

For some time now I've been trying to get the media off my camera as in "Copy to PC". All attempts have failed. The camera is full of video of my newborn baby so I'm not a happy camper.

Unless I missed something severly the HD writer software refuses to see images or video's from this camcorder.

In the copy to PC program it see's the camcorder, shows the green image of memory and will show that the disc is full when you refresh the window.
But the next screen shows "No pictures can be displayed" and "There are no 1080/60p videos that can be displayed".

Through the camera I can view the movies no problem. I just cannot get them off the camera!

What's most frustrating is I really have little hours behind this camera if in fact this isn't user error :\\

Any help out there?

Just after I wrote this email it occured to me that maybe I can strip these files off the TM700 through explorer which I can thank God. I should then, be able to reformat the internal disc and see what happens.

Possibly you're using the program to look for 60p and the videos are 60i? It's been a long time since I've used HD Writer so just a thought.

No, I actually have it look for anything it could find. Nothing shows up in HD Writer and nothing shows up in Power Diector 9!

So, I've formatted the onboard memory. We'll see what happens after the next shoot.

Hi NoFlyZone,
I do use HD Writer on a weekly if not daily occurrence.
Mine has always ran perfectly....
Meaning, I plug in my TM-700 and the HD Writer opens up to the "Simple Copy" page, there is also another option available below that but I never use it.
Tried it once and just like "Simple Copy" Best so I click on Simple Copy and a second page opens up as it scans the Internal Memory..
I usually never shoot to the Internal Memory so after it returns with 0 Pictures and 0 Scenes, I then click on the External Card and it scans and shows what I have to download.
I then click "Execute" and HD Writer does it's thing, when done the regular program opens up and I can see my Pics and Vids.

I do have an external Hard drive (WD My Book 2TB) so usually at this point I close out HD Writer and open "Windows Explorer" under "Library" on my Windows 7 64bit OS,
I go to "Video" and click the arrow next to it and then the arrow again on the next "My Videos" folder..
At this point all of my HD Writer Folders drop down..I simply go to the latest Folder by Date and right click on it "Copy" I then go to my External HDD "My Book"
and in that HDD I made a New Folder and named it "My Videos" I right click that folder and then click "Paste" the latest folder from my HD Writer now gets copied into my External HDD.
The folder is an exact replica of my HD Writer Folder, so technically, if my main Computer ever crashed, I could reload HD Writer
and then do the opposite and Copy and Paste from my External to my computers "My Videos" folder.
Then the HD Writer software should now see these Videos and Pics.

In my second Computer upstairs, I do not use HD Writer, I just connect my 700 via USB, after it is seen as a additional drive I go to the Storage Card or Internal Memory
(They both show up as additional drives) and then choose DCIM for Pictures.."Copy and Paste" the Picture Folder to my Internal and External My Book 2 TB with that computer as well,
and then go to the BDMV folder and then the "Stream" folder and do the same "Copy and Paste for my new Videos.

These of course populate into "My Video" folder as MTS Files, which I can play with Cyberlinks PowerDVD 10 and I can also Join the files together with Aunsoft's "Final Mate"!

About Aunsoft's "Final Mate"...
I just purchased Aunsofts "Final Mate" last weekend and I have already used it a lot.
In Rochester we just had a week long Jazz Festival and my TM-700 got a lot of usage!
I videoed a lot of Bands..(HINT: Go into setup and turn AGS off and then set the Audio Level in some cases to -30dB so the Audio is not distorted, save (press Enter)
and Exit back to the regular screen. In the Display's lower right hand corner on the screen you will see a moving volume level indicator..
you want to see it hit Red occasionally on loud spikes..The playback Audio has been perfect after recording many Bands.)
I recorder some Bands full performances of 60 to 90 minutes continuously, of course the TM -700 will always cut the scene when it gets to the 4GB limit due to it's FAT 32 Format,
however after downloading the video to my computer I joined the MTS Files back together using Aunsofts "Final Mate!" They came out perfect with no splice noticeable at all!
Choose Create "Lossless Movie" and it will join the files with exact Audio and Video even 1080/60P in the States and 1080/50P elsewhere.

Now a note on Aunsoft's Lossless joining..
if you shoot some video as AGS Auto and 5.1 Surround and then some other Video Manual with AGS Off and you actually set the Audio as mentioned above to a negative dB i.e. -30dB.
Aunsoft will not join these files together, because it now sees them as different and no longer lossles to each other, at least in their Software.
It will join all of the ones with AGS on Auto (no problems) and the ones where you set the 700 into Manual Mode and shot (no Problems)..it will just not mix the two together!
It sees their "Lossless" as different. I think that you get my drift. It would be nice if in the future it could do that but I get it..I made them into two separate entity's and not truly the Same!

If you do want to mix and match like that you can use
http://sites.google.com/site/mtsfilejoiner/

The problem that I found with the above "File Joiner" (hoping it would save me from buying Aunsoft) was that if it is a Large file, after completion of the joining process
and while viewing the result in PowerDVD, you will see a blue progress bar all the way across the bottom and it does play the file fine,
but if you try and advance forward manually, the video will shut down!
The Aunsoft Final Mate will join any size (I have joined 30GB files so far) and while playing back the joined file, you can advance Forward and Backwards as needed to find a specific Scene.
Hence that is why I got the Aunsoft program!
But let's be real here, how many times do you really go back and forth with your settings...except for Bands I always have the AGS on and Auto selected with the Camcorder.
And you can join the perspective files amongst themselves to 1080/60P just don't mix and match! Seems simple enough!

I hope that helps...
If you still have problems with HD Writer, I would try and re-Install HD Writer, rather than look at your TM-700.
You say that your TM-700 works just fine and you can View and Download but just not with HD Writer..so why assume that it is the TM-700 and not the HD Writer Software with the glitch?
Also even Panasonic stated that the HD Writer Software did not work on ALL Computers the same..it does need a newer and more robust computer and OS for the program to function correctly.
Is your Computer up to the task?

Good Luck,
Bud B
PS. I also have PowerDirector 9 but I have never used it to extract files from my 700, I have always just used my already downloaded MTS Files.
I say that for reference only as I just can't duplicate your problem with PD9. Does your PD9 software work fine with your MTS files that you downloaded via "Windows Explorer"?

I bought my TM-700 a little more than a year ago and decided to "wait" awhile for the software to catch up with the technology...

I tried the Photoshop CS5, but found that it is too complicated and much more than I need.
What is the easiest to use/best editing software for editing 1080p60 files?
I would like something easier/simpler to use than Photoshop CS5, I'm curious what others have found to work best for them?

Also, has there been any change in being able to save these 1080p60 files to blue-ray disc?

Thanks...

Rick

I use Premiere Element 9. The software doesn't import native 1080P60 for editing but it is editable on the software folder. As for the export option "sharing" I use "Mobile Phone & Player" sharing where it is the only place where you can export MP4 at full 1080P60 which is quite odd for a place.

It's a very good software when you consider the option & retail price. I'm quite happy for my purchase.

Here the result with the TM700

Sony Vegas Pro works the best that I've found so far and it's not perfect the way it renders. But it's better than most others, and it's easy to use.

Hello,

I know this is here somewhere, and I tried searching but couldn't find it. I also first looked in the owners manual, as I thought it was there and again, couldn't find it.

I would like to re-load video files that I have erased from my TM700, back to the TM700 from my PC.

Can someone point me to where the steps are to do this, it is very very much appreciated!

As long as they're the unedited .mts files, just connect the tm700 via usb and it should mount as a drive. Go to Computer/Cam_Mem/AVCHD/BDMV/STREAM and paste them in that stream folder.

The instructions for this are in a .pdf for "HD Writer" that on the disk with your camcorder.

Panasonic 700/900 series camcorders create four files for every clip: .mt2s, .cont, .pmpd and .tmd. No editing software, playback software, BD player or media player cares about anything but the primary .mt2s file so many do not keep the three little auxiliary files. I have not found any explanations of what the extra files actually do.

My experience is that if you want to put video back on the camcorder from your PC you have to use "HD Writer" to first copy it to your PC. Since it does keep track of all four related files, it will put them back on the camcorder so your videos are playable.

I would prefer to be wrong, but if you have copied, renamed or edited your video files with anything other than "HD Writer" I don't think your camcorder will recognize them as playable.

Update: I tried using Windows to copy some files to the camcorder, I put them in the 'stream' folder and they were not recognized. I reformatted and took a short video. The file extensions I listed above are apparently what HD Writer creates on the PC. The extra files on the camcorder all have different extensions and are located in various folders. I think, if you want to use the camcorder as a player for videos you've moved to your computer, you have to use Panasonic's software.

Can you tell me what page this is on. I cannot seem to locate the instructions to dump videos from PC to the camcorder.

I have an SDT-750 and version 2.6 of the software so I probably don't have the same page numbers.

Look for "Copy to Media". If your camcorder is hooked up with a USB cord and on, one of the choices of 'media' will be the camcorder.

Do I have to have a memory card installed?
When I try this, I get a message in red letters: "media is not inserted"

Tried that...not sure how your pasting, as I haven't figured out how to do that? Drag and drop doesn't work either...

Does anyone use a neck strap for their TM700? I'm looking to purchase a nice hand and neck strap...any recommendations?

Hi,

as a user from the SD-700 for a year now, filming in highest quality, I'm now starting to use the benefit of HD. I bought a HD LED television and with the camera connected with the TV true HDMI it gives magnificant view.
But now I'm wondering if there is a way to view 1080/50p on my television after some editing on a pc. Must I burn it on a Blue Ray or something else?

I tried to find it, but can't find a significant answer.

Thanx in advance.

Ronald

Even Bluray doesn't officially support 1080p50 although newer BD players can play it. I suggest you go down the media player route, keeping your files on a local HDD. Plenty to choose from but not all do 1080p50 well. PS3 can also do 1080p50 with latest firmware (but I cannot confirm this not having PS3). I have a Dune and it is fantastic for playing back 1080p60 even at 32Mbps over network!

I have a PS3 and the variable bitrate from the TM900 will choke it. The Dune is a superior choice from what I have read. The PS3 will play the files but when the bitrate spikes it will drop from a peak of 40Mbps down to 7-8Mbps and it will stay there until you stop and restart the file.
Which Dune are you using the Smart D1?

I am still debating between a media player versus a didicated htpc rig. Anyone have a good recommendation for media player. Looks like WDTV has some good units.

While I don't have one of these yet. They are worth looking into as they have the ability to handle very high bitrates. There are forums on AVA that discuss the Dune media players in great detail.

My wife has already told me I'll be getting the Dune Smart D1 for Christmas!

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1270503


Here is the link to their homepage

http://store.duneplayer.com/shop/

Hi


For info newer Sony Blu-ray players now have a firmware update to support AVCHD 2.0. The rule seems to be if the Blu-ray player has a chip powerful enough to offer 3D, it can in turn be updated to AVCHD 2.0, that is can, the manufacturer needs to be willing.

The peaks greater than 28Mbits/sec will be due to the encoder working on the basis the playback device has a buffer. DVD and Blu-Ray and AVCHD devices all have a buffer of a certain size. The actual bit-rate on the media isn't exceeding 28Mbits/sec in the case of Panasonic camcorders, it is when it is read into the buffer, then streamed from the buffer that causes the peaks. Devices like the PS3 can fall over as their decoder can't decode the higher peaks fast enough, or they haven't allocated a buffer large enough.

Regards

Phil

Hi


The Dune media player on that link uses a Sigma 8642 LSI and this does not support H264 Level 4.2 (which is what 1080/60p is), it barely supports Level 4.1 required for Blu-ray, i.e. it only supports Blu-ray files at Level 4.1 as an exception rather than the rule.

If it is playing 1080/50/60p files are people sure they are not being downgraded to 1080i?

Regards

Phil

I'm using a "WDTV Live Plus" that cost about $90 at Best Buy. It works fine on the 1080p files I've fed to a 55 inch Sony with an HDMI connection. The 1080p files were created on a Pansonic SDT-750 and are huge!

The externial HDD that is plugged into it shows up on my wifi connectd laptop as a networked drive. So to put video on it I create a directory then cut and paste. Very easy!

There are two USB ports and no SD card slot. My HDD is plugged into the USB port on the back. I can use the easy to access side USB port for either thumb drives or a cheapy Trancsend SD card reader. I can take the SD card straight from the camcorder, put it in the SD card reader and play videos clips. I have not tried plugging the camcorder directly to it.

There were some less than the best reviews at first. But, with it wired to my internet box it easily downloads firmware as appropiate. With current firmware it gives good performance and gets good reviews.

Also, some of the reviews are negative because of early streaming performance, like for Netflix. I don't use it for that so it does not matter to me. Current firmware seems to have fixed that too.

I considered buying the "WDTV Live" minus the "Plus" since I didn't want to stream movies. But, it is harder to find and apparantly has a lesser processor in it.

Hi


The WD Live Plus again doesn't support Level 4.2 for 1080/50/60p playback, check the specifications. The chips in these media players are several years old and just don't have the CPU power. It is likely it's downgrading it to interlaced or progressive at 30 fps as has been reported elsewhere.

Regards

Phil

The Sony N100 media player works great with the Panasonic 1080p files!

I no longer have access to the WDTV Live. I purchased it a year ago and returned it. I could have sworn it played raw HD camcorder files that were tru 1080 / 60p and even post produced 1080 60p mp4 files. Or I could be imagining it all, it's been so long.

I ditched the WDTV Live for a notebook with XBMC. Much better interface. But now I need a more family friendly player! lol Go figure.

The company says it will play them. So if it doesn't I guess you could send it back. From what I have read it is supposed to play them and supports a high bitrate.
I don't own the unit but I will be getting one for Christmas, however if a new chip is on the way I haven't read of a release date.

Hi


Indeed this is the problem, they do play them, but are they being down graded in order to play them back?

Be interesting to hear how you get with yours at Xmas.

Regards

Phil