Canon HF M500 video conversion help?

You used the third best recording format which might have been 1440x1080. FXP and the better MXP are 1920x1080. Unless you really, really need the extra space, you should stick with MXP no matter what for the best video quality possible.

Here's the site that I'm reading off.
http://www.usa.canon.com/cusa/consumer/products/camcorders/consumer_camcorders/vixia_hf_m500#Specifications

I'm not sure if it'll make much difference exporting that file to eighter 1440 or 1920 but for future shootings in which you use the higher video settings, you should export to 1920.

The TV is basically "stretching" the 1440 resolution to fit the 1920 width. That might not be the best word to use but you get the idea.

OK, my post decided to show up twice.

It's basically 30 full frames a second. 60i is 60 interlaced frames a second. Basically the odd lines in 1 scan and the even lines in the other scan.

It makes it even more confusing knowing that it's 60 different half pictures a second. Anyway, the interlaced recording method was made to match the older TVs. Now that the new TVs are all progressive, 60i will start to fade away.

1) 1440x1080 uses non-square pixels, like most video formats before 1280x720 and 1920x1080 came along. For example both 4:3 and widescreen DVD movies have the same frame size in pixels: 720x480 (sometimes 704x480). The difference is in pixel aspect ratio (PAR).

2) I don't think MediaInfo says 30p for the Canon output, it likely says "Frame rate: 29.97 fps", and then in scanning method it says "interlaced".
It is 16:9 display aspect ratio (DAR), but can have different PARs. Depends what you want to do with it. If you want to put it on YouTube then you need to deinterlace interlaced video either into 60p or into 30p. Depending on deinterlacing method you will get different results. 30i and 60i are the same thing, just different notation. One is frame-based (30 frames per second, interlaced) another is field-based (60 fields per second). The result is the same. Also, "30" usually means "29.97" or even "30 * 1000 / 1001".

30i (or 60i, whatever you prefer) records 60 different images per second. 30p, on the other hand, records 30 different images per second. To confuse you more, Canon camcorders record 30p within 30i stream, this is called progressive segmented frame (search Wikipedia). Don't even get me started on PF24.

For smooth motion, for viewing on DVD and Blu-ray use interlaced, because Canon camcorders cannot do 60p.
For primarily YouTube videos use PF30 because it is easier to edit and offers full vertical resolution. But motion will be less smooth.

I don't think you will get what you want without buying a Non Linear Editor or "NLE". The favorites seem to be made by Apple, Sony and Adobe but there are around 30 on the market and prices range widely. Both Sony and Adobe make a "pro" version and "consumer" version for much less money.

The newest version 11 of Adobe Premier Elements has a new feature they call "Time Remapping" as well as the old "Time Stretch" tool. You can read about it here: http://helpx.adobe.com/premiere-elements/using/whats-new.html#id_30446

I got a little bit lucky with a Hawk a couple days ago. I was not lucky enough to have the best camcorder handy, so I shot with a Sony point-n-shoot set beyond it's best zoom capability. The resulting video is fuzzy from the excessive zoom, but I got something I liked.

For an example of what the new Time Remapping does, Ignore that it is fuzzy and watch the bird preparing to take off at around 1:04 . By 1:11 the bird is air born. I copied that section as an instant replay and used the "Time Remapping" tool on the replay to increase the play back to about 48 seconds at 1:14, or about a 7x slowdown.

The first version is silent: https://vimeo.com/56171499

I adjusted the contrast a little and added music for the second version: https://vimeo.com/56173164

(Please don't tell me it is fuzzy. The Hawk did not wait for me to get a better camera!)

In many other posts Ungerman has been helping me try to understand frames, fields, pull down, interlacing, deinterlacing, etc. I may never fully understand it. Software like Premier Elements goes a long way towards keeping you from having to connect all those dots. The two Vimeos were started in an AVCHD format,were massaged,then tweaked to Vimeo specifications and uploaded without leaving the program.

If you want software for slow motion, download the 30 day trial of Premier Elements 11 and try it.

Bill

If you are on a PC, try this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Es1WICFrIw. If you are on a Mac, try this: http://www.maclife.com/article/howtos/how_create_slow_motion_videos_imovie

Both are free.

Bill