Canon HF100 and FCE

I just bought the HF100 and need to get a new computer to handle the avchd video. Can someone give me the workflow for editing avchd with FCE or point me to the right place? I have read that imovie and FEC transcode to AIC during log and transfer and drastically increases the file size. I want to do the following:
1. Record in highest quality on hf100.
2. transfer to computer in a reasonable amount of time.
3. edit by adding fades and effects, titles, menus and music
4. burn about 30 minutes to a one sided standard dvd in SD and another copy to standard dvd in hd to play back on my ps3 without losing any quality on the dvd for my ps3.
5. What minimum macbook or imac is needed to edit hd efficiently?

To edit AVCHD, you need an intel mac and FCE 4.0. The way that you would do your workflow is as follows:
1. Make sure you have the right easy setup preset to match your footage
2. Connect the camera to your computer, boot up FCE, open the log and transfer window
3. Select the clips or portions of clips to upload, and wait for FCE to ingest the media (this will take maybe a little longer than actual playback of the file. Also, since Apple transcodes to AIC, 10 minutes of video on 1920x1080i60 footage for me on my AVCHD camcorder took up about 15GB of memory. Be prepared to deal with these large file sizes. I suggest having a separate media drive to which you set your capture scratch, so as not to be running both the program and your media from the same drive. I use a 250GB external for my media)
4. Edit your footage into a movie. If you chose the right Easy Setup preset, no additional rendering should be required unless you add something like a filter or motion. The fades are under transitions, filters under video filters, etc. in the effects tab of the viewer. Titles can be made nicely using the Boris 3D or Boris Crawl generators in the generator pop-up. Music can be added as long as it is DRM free. If you want to use a song that has digital rights management on it (for example, an old song from iTunes) for non-commercial use, follow this link's instructions:
http://fcpbook.com/Audio4.html
5. Export to either quicktime movie or using quicktime conversion
6. Import this movie into iDVD or other DVD authoring software
7. Burn it to a DVD for watching on your ps3
As I said, only an Intel mac will be able to edit AVCHD. This Mac also has to be running at least Mac OS X 4.11 to use AVCHD. Make sure to have plenty of room on your hard drive (or external) for storage of the files from the capture scratch folder. I would also recommend at least 2GB of RAM for efficient rendering. As long as you meet these requirements when purchasing your computer, you should be fine. I use the new Macbook aluminum 13", which I have often been told is not a good choice for editing, but it fits my needs very well, and edits AVCHD perfectly.
Hope I was of assistance,
-skalicki
Message was edited by: skalicki`

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Canon HF100 and SDHC Card

Does anyone use this camera in the FXP mode. If so, what SDHC card are you using successfully? I can not find one that will write at 17mb/sec. I continuously get buffer overwrite errors.

PNY 16GB class 6 card solved all my problems. Good quality card with write speed of 20Mb/sec. FCE and iMovie recognize it everytime. Here is the link to the card:
http://www.amazon.com/16GB-Sdhc-Class-6-Card/dp/B00151A2ME/ref=pdbbs_sr3?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1221317010&sr=8-3

Problems with Canon HF100 (NTSC) importing into imovie

I know this question has been asked, but nothing I have tried has worked. I have a Canon HF100 and when I try to import my files (mts) into imovie 08 I get a message that says, "There was a problem with - out of - of your clips. Check your clips." or something to this affect. While it looks like they've imported, they are nowhere to be found in the event. What am I doing wrong? I have VoltaicHD which worked for the first clips but now everything I try to convert "fails". Please help.

hey there tomaswk, welcom to Discussions.
1) when importing HDV, iMovie/FCE HD converts it on the fly to A.I.C.-Apple Intermediate Codec. you'll need @ least 2 GB of RAM to approach realtime ingest to your MBP. i have 2.5 GB on my DP G5.
2) the conversion also results in file sizes about 4 times the size of SD video. plenty of RAM is a necessity for HDV in iMovie or FCE HD. sounds like the partition could be the culprit. maybe get an external FireWire HDD for your HDV iMovies.
good luck.
Message was edited by: Donna Jones1

Can not import clips from Canon HF100 to iMovie '08 & '09 using iMac

Hi Everyone,
Have a strange problem.
I have a Canon HF100 and iMovie '08 (before) & '09 (now) on both our machines
(MacPro & iMac).
When importing clips using the "import from Camera" we get an error message on the iMac but works great on the MacPro. Both system are using 10.5 and we tried it with iMovie '08 and '09.
When importing from other camera (not AVCHD) but AVI or motion JPEG it work ok.
Any Ideas?
Could it be the graphic cards?
BTW: we did a new reinstall on the iMac.
Thanks for the feedback and support - Mac user discussions are the best !!!
Jack

Hello All,
I have been attacking this problem for a few hours and I have found that if you turn off and or make all network items inactive the camera will immediately be recognized by iMovie.
Took a long time to figure this out. Not sure why this is happening but it has fixed my problem.
Before this fix I would intermently get the camera and its memory sticks in the usb slot to recognize in iMovie.
Now all is well and works every time as long as I turn off or make things inactive
Hope this works for you!

Interlaced or Progressive settings in FCE for Canon HF100 (pf25)?

1. I'm filming with a Canon HF100 in the pf25 setting. This is a progressive setting I believe.
    >> Is the Canon HF100 pf25 setting a progressive one?
2. I heard that for full quality therefore I have to change the settings of my clips and sequence when they are imported in FCE.
     My clips are transformed from AVCHD to apple intermediac codec full HD.
    I change the settings in FCE by going to the browser, choose sequence/ clips
    with the rightmouse touch and choose Fielddomminance. Then I change it from upper odd to none.
     I have to do this with each single clip I use.
    >>>Isn't there a quicker workaround for changing the interlaced to progressive settings?

I give my own answer
>> Is the Canon HF100 pf25 setting a progressive one?
Its progressive
>>>Isn't there a quicker workaround for changing the interlaced to progressive settings?
Yes there is. Select everything with control a and then change .

Canon FS10 and importing into FCE

I have a Canon FS10 and want to import the footage but can't figure out which Easy Setup setting to use. I can import in iMovie 08 easily, but do not want to go through the hassle of two programs.
Has anyone used any of the Canon FS line with FCE?
Please help.
Brett

I bought the Canon HF10 - loved it and then was only able to download into iMovie. Being a fan and active user of FCE, I bit the bullet and upgraded from 3.0 to 4.0. Went to the Caymans came home to download using 4.0 and the Log and Transfer function failed to capture the clips as promised. Then I read that I needed to install the update to FCE 4.0.1. I did the update and wallah the import using the Log and Transfer worked. But a few cautions - its slow transfer, I miss firewire. Second, you have to wakeup the camera connection to the Mac, I found command+8, woke it up and the clips showed up in the window. I ignored all the error messages about the directory structure.

Moving Events and archiving videos directly from Canon HF100 to External HD

Hello,
After purchasing my Macbook and my canon HF100 camcorder I got too carried away and excitedly imported too many videos to Imovie. When the Macbook had no more space to import new movies, without reading instructions ( NOW I KNOW... ALWAYS to read instructions first) I archived the videos directly onto an external HD ( 500 gb FAT 32 format).
Now in order to free up some space I tried to move the existing events and projects from macbook to the same hard drive , but the HD icon has a yellow exclamation mark, which I now know means that it has to be formatted to MAC OS. and MAcbook will not allow moving of any events or projects to the hard drive..
My problem as below:
1- If I format my external HD now, it would loose all the previous data etc which I do not want. Since the directly archived videos are stored in FAT 32, does that mean they are now unusable for I Movie import? What should I do next in order to store the currently archived movies properly that Mac recognizes and reads the data correctly?
2-I need to free up space on my macbook as soon as possible as the startup disk is totally full. I do not want to buy another external HD to move my data but i do already possess an I book external hard drive which is also Fat 32 format and has photos etc.. which I do not want to loose by formatting it.
Can I copy all the files from my external HD ( where I archived the movies) to the I book ( where there are other movies and photos from windows computer) which is FAT 32 format and then format it to MAC OS and re transfer the archived movies back. Will Macbook recognize the files then?
All the videos and photos are very precious to me and I do not want to lose them. Any help with my problem is highly appreciated. I wait eagerly for an answer. Many thanks in advance.

Do I need to create a seperate folder for the RAW archived files which are yet to be processed by I >movie?
In general, you want to be able to move it back exactly as it was, you can drag it over to the iBook, then drag it back. If it helps to put everything under one folder to do this, that is OK. When you move it back, make sure it looks like it looked before you moved it.
Can the RAW files be transferred to a FAT 32 HD without formatting to MAC OS.. will this not >corrupt the data?
Probably. I'm guessing you are using an 8GB SDHC card or similar with your Canon. If you put your card in a card reader on your Mac you should see it in the Finder (or you can connect your camera directly). If you see it in the Finder, do a right-click/Get Info. I would bet that your SDHC is formatted as FAT32. So if the original camera is Fat32, you know that FAT32 is fine for the archive.
Here is why. FAT32 has an architectural limitation for file sizes. Files cannot be more than 4GB (minus one byte) - or 3.999999999 GB.
The files on the camera are highly compressed AVCHD. Further, you would typically press record and stop several times while shooting, so no one clip is going to be bigger than 3.999999999GB. The only way you would exceed this is if you recorded a 2 hour event by pressing the record button once and letting it run without stopping. Even then, Canon probably has a workaround where they divide it up into 2 files that are each smaller than 3.999999999GB.
So if the camera can accept FAT32, why can't iMovie? The reason is that on import, iMOvie converts the highly compressed AVCHD into full frames of Apple Intermediate Codec. The file size will typically increase by a factor of 8 to 10. So now it is quite possible to have a clip that exceeds the 4GB limitation. So iMovie does not allow FAT32 as a valid file structure.

Importing and editing from Canon HF100

I am looking at buying a camcorder, and particularly an HF100. My main uses will be personal - I have a new baby coming so I want to capture those moments, and my wife and I travel a lot and like to take a camera with us.
I'm running a MacBook 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo, and I have iMovie 08. Can my computer handle inputing and editing the footage? I like the idea of flash memory but am not sure if I'd be better off with old school tape.
Any ideas?

I probably am not the most qualified to answer this post but wanted to weigh in on this. I have done an enormous amount of research prior to purchasing my Canon HF100. First I got the camera but did not purchase the sd card at the same time so I sat there like a kid at christmas with a new toy and no batteries. Finally the card arrived 2 days ago. I wanted this camera because I needed better quality video over the JVC HDD. With everything pointing to AVCHD and everyone touting the quality and speed I thought this was my best move. 30 minutes of FXP video takes over 1 hour to import into iMovie08. I am not impressed with the video quality and do not know at this moment why the video, not the audio, freezes on playback in Quicktime or iMovie. If I could go back to the old school tape I would. Maybe I will change my mind in the next couple of days and if I do I will post it back here.

Output quality from AVCHD 1080/25p source? (Canon HF100 PAL)

Hi,
Background: I am interesting in FCPX but read so much negative about it. I am a consumer that today use FCE. I moved from iMovie to FCE to easy get good ouput quality. Then I compressed it to h264 using QuickTime 7 Pro and x264 codec. I have a canon HF100 (PAL)
Is now FCPX as good as FCE to produce a good output? What you put in you get out? No damaging the source material? No missunderstanding of interlaced/progressive (iMovie problem with Canon AVCHD cameras)?
VERY intersting of experience prior buying..
Thanks
Olof

Hi,
Background: I am interesting in FCPX but read so much negative about it. I am a consumer that today use FCE. I moved from iMovie to FCE to easy get good ouput quality. Then I compressed it to h264 using QuickTime 7 Pro and x264 codec. I have a canon HF100 (PAL)
Is now FCPX as good as FCE to produce a good output? What you put in you get out? No damaging the source material? No missunderstanding of interlaced/progressive (iMovie problem with Canon AVCHD cameras)?
VERY intersting of experience prior buying..
Thanks
Olof

Canon HF100 or Canon HFS100

Im about to buy my first HD camcorder. Ive heard alot of good things about the HF100 and I had my mind made up to get it until the Canon vixia HFS100 came out. Now Im thinking of getting that one.Money isnt really the issue I just want to make sure whichever one I get its compatible with FCE.
I know theres not much info on the HFS100 yet but it look like it may do the trick. Right now Im just doing home movies but I will start taking video production classes this summer.
Any I can get aome experiences with either camera it would be appreciated.

I have just taken a look at the article in question and there appear to be some anomalies.
My HV20 which has pretty good low-light performance has a CMOS sensor size of between a half and a third of an inch (with over 2 million effective pixels), which is quite big for a consumer camera ....... most are a sixth.
According to the HFS-100 review, it has a ONE inch CMOS sensor (with over 8 million pixels). These figures sound incredibly/impossibly large to me and if true, should produce fantastic indoor performance.
A couple more things to be wary of in reviews are that the results of lab tests don't automatically equate to real life filming and reviewers can exaggerate tiny differences.
My first DV camera was a case in point.
The first tests showed that it had twice as much jitter as the best of the rest. Subsequent reviewers clutched at these figures and included warnings of potentially unstable pictures in their reviews.
However, the truth of the matter was that the amounts of jitter being measured (on these new-fangled DV cameras) were incredibly miniscule and my camera could have had figures 20 times worse and would still have produced beautifully smooth transport through the camera.

Export Canon HF100 HD Movie

Hi
Im really a completly newbie in video.
I have a Canon HF100 AVCHD cam and the cam makes really nice pictures.
i want to export the movies with IMovie HD or FCE 4. I recored the movie with 1440. which should work with the software.
I want to export it for my HD TV (PS3) or DVD to show it to my friends. the movies are not large so i dont think i need BR.?!
I tried to export it with MPEG-4 but it doesnt look good. i entered the datarate to 15mb/s.
What im not 100% sure is about the recording it self, because the cam can make 25p or/and picturerate to 50i or PF25?!?! so im not sure.
the last movie i tried today is PF25 and NOT 25p.
maybe someone can help me.
regards
Bernhard

it seems that the quality with PF25 is better than with 50i.... what ever that mean =;-)
i exported with mpeg4 and quicktime looks really better.

IMovie won't read all my Canon HF100 files.

I have a Canon HF100 camcorder. I record in FXP or 1080 HD video mode, 60 frames. My PC reads and imports the video just fine.
I have a brand new Macbook Pro 15" intel cpu machine with iMovie 09. When I use one of the memory cards to import video it works fine. When I use the other memory card to import video it doesn't even see the camera. It will import pics from it into iPhoto and mounts the camera so you can see the files but iMovie won't even recognize it.
The cards are both formatted fat 32, all video on both is recorded in the same format, both cards had pictures on them as well as the video. I have tried everything I can to get iMovie to read the files, everything suggested on the forums and researched the heck out of this. It won't recognize one of my cards, even though everything else on the mac will. I have 14 gig of HD video to import and am running out of options. I don't have the money to buy another program just to get THIS program to read the files. iMovie 09 was supposed to be HD compatible....why doesn't it have native .mts file support? these cameras have been out for over a year or two and are some of the more popular ones around now. Please help if you can!!!!

D. Thomas Lamourine wrote:
well, it seems that the card is bad from what you say. Are you plugging the camera directly to the mac? or using a card reader? what type of card? (guessing MMC/SD card?) how big is the card? if you can get it to show on the desktop then make a folder and manually drag the files off the card and into the folder a few at a time. You will probably find one or 2 corrupt and wont move over so don't try and do them all at once because it'll just bog down. do the smaller ones first!!
you may also find that very large files SEEM to be not seen but it's just the USB/Firewire/system need a LOT of time to transport and convert the file into mac.. (not really what it's doing but give you and idea)
As was stated you may need to reformat the card because its got bad data areas/blocks. From what you are stating it's more than likely the card, not the computer/software.
I have had issues with a friends camera importing to Imovie. My camera and his both record in AVI format but mine I can import directly where his I have to run it through Quicktime Pro and convert to MOV files.. why? no clue but it works.
I would love it if it was just a bad card but check this out. The files are all perfectly fine. They can be copied to my mac no problem. I imported them all to my Windows PC and they play / edit just fine. I'm working with a free file converter to change them into what, mpeg4? I really really don't want to buy VoltaicHD just for a memory card worth (albeit 16 gig of video) of video. I DID find this on Canon's website....
+Issue: What is the Mac compatibility of my camcorder?+
+Solution: The digital video solutions disk is compatible with Mac OS 10.2 up to 10.4 for stills only. No video related software is provided.+
+The video connectivity of the Canon DVD and Hard Disc Drive camcorders provided by the software bundled with them is designed for use with Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2 and Microsoft Windows Vista only. The Sonic Roxio My DVD software included with some models is only compatible with the Windows XP SP2 operating system when combined with a computer supporting the USB 2.0 specification.+
+Macintosh OS10.4.3 and up users may be able to view the contents of a finalized disk or files recorded onto the hard drive (for hard disc drive models) on the computer when it is connected to a USB port on the computer. With a finalized disk loaded into the camcorder the camera should show up on the desktop as a mounted drive and files may be copied (dragged) from the disk using normal procedures. Any desired editing, playback or other features may require additional third party software.+
+Note: Proper operation is not guaranteed.+
Now I already have reformatted the card and put the files back on it, still no dice. I've tried everything I can think of, I have no other codecs on my machine but QT native codecs. From what Ive read on the forums and such it seems that iMovie and the lack of support by Apple for .mts and .m2ts file formats in general is the main problem. It seems people have random problems with HD camcorders. Some people it works fine for and some it doesn't..I am one of the unlucky ones with intermittent compatibility. Fun. I have spent SO much time on this problem I almost took my mac back. This is my first Mac and while I love it to death, I am getting real tired of the unsupported crap and having to download other programs to get it to work right when it was supposed to do so in the beginning. I'm not trying to rant, just really frustrated at all the extra expense after having paid 2400$ for what was supposed to do it by itself. From what Canon said on their website, apparently there ARE issues with mac compatibility and it may or may not work. yay. Oh well, I guess I'm stuck paying for more 3rd party software.
Also, yea, I cannot import AVI files into iMovie even after I installed divx...good stuff.
Message was edited by: Stormborn

1080p pour export quality for 25p material from Canon HF100 PAL

Hi
I have now tested iMovie 11 with a Canon HF100 PAL version. Shooting in progressive.
The AIC import has good quality.
New 1080p export gives same pour quality as before when using QuickTime 7 for h.264 export.
AIC export provides good quality.
So still nu easy way for export from iMovie. Is this common or is it a camera compatibility issue?
Thanks
Olof

I just posted this for another user with the same problem.
I have a Sony VG10 camcorder that shoots 30p and records it as 1080i60. iMovie sees this as interlaced video and deinterlaces it IF I use most FX.
So I did a bit of googling and found there is a simple solution. I bought Steve Mullens newest version (09 and 11) of his "Ins and Outs of iMovie." With it I got a free copy of his iMakeFullHD utility. So after importing AVCHD I run the utility on the folder of clips and in a few seconds all the clips are now marked as progressive. Which is actually what they are! iMovie now treats them as 1080p30 -- exactly as it should.
When reading about the utility I remember skipping the stuff on PAL HD camcorders. So I just reread it and it's no big deal eitherl.
If you shoot 1080i50, the video is marked as 1080p25. This is exactly the reverse of what my camera does. So while I need to use iMakeFullHD, PAL users do not.
If you shoot 1080p25, the video is marked as 1080i50. This is exactly like my camera. So you have to use iMakeFullHD to remark it is as progressive -- which is what it is.
Now Ive no idea why Sony or Canon did what they did, but they did. After buying a $2000 camcorder, buying the book was by far the simpler solution.
I know he has a section on 1080p50 and 1080p60 from the tms700. Didn't apply to me so i skimmed it. Also, having had imovie 09 i was surprised to read that 11 now supports real 1080p24. There's also a section on removing 2-3 pulldown from 1080i60 to get 1080p24. Again i just skimmed this in case sony were to release a firmware update so I could shoot 24fps.
One more thing I learned. Because my video really is progressive, I can use all FX. They'll always look perfect.
But, if you shoot 1080i50 -- which imovie sees as 1080p25 -- the good news is that imovie will never deinterlace the clips causing a loss of resolution. But, the clips realy are interlace. this means that sometimes you may see combing during the FX. There are very clear pix of what this looks like in the ebook. But, the solution is so simple -- only shoot 1080p25!
Most of us want to shoot progresssive anyway!
The nice thing is i followed the instrictions on burning 1080 avchd video to DVDs and they play in HD on my BD player. And, i didn't have to buy a BD burner.

Best Settings using the new Canon HV30 and Final Cut Express HD v3.5.1?

My wife presents programs at schools and uses digital movies that we make and edit as one of her media materials. We want to present higher quality videos that look more film-like. I am hoping that the combination I described above will enable this improvement. In the past we used a Canon ZR20 and iMovie HD and put these on DVD's that were then played on a MacBook Pro with with QuickTime or iDVD hooked up to an Epson PowerLite projector.
I am now the proud owner of a new Canon HV30 and Final Cut Express HD3.5.1 (had FCE for a while so know how to use it). From my research, though, it looks like FCE will not be able to handle CINE MODE recording in combination with 24fps progressive frame rate [HDV(PF24)] which would allow the enhanced effect of the Cinema Mode. I can't justify the cost of Final Cut Studio 2 so I am hoping that the new [HDV(PF30)] will allow me to more easily edit in FCE.
Does anyone know if this is true and if so can please tell me the settings that I need both on the camera and in FCE to get the best quality movie that can played directly from my MacPro using QuickTime or iDVD or from a DVD in the MacPro using the iDVD player. I won't have the opportunity to always play the videos directly from the camera to an HDTV because of the school setting and the need to use a projector.
I know this is a lot to ask for, but I am sure that it will come up again and again as more people purchase this new camera. Thanks for your time.
Sincerely,
Lou Hosta

Without totally repeating myself with my post to MaccyLeopard, I haven't shot any footage yet. After doing a lot of reading I think I confused myself more than helped myself as far as settings go. So if you remember from my initial post I am asking for advice and guidance primarily on camera settings with the HV30 that will be used in a classroom (artroom) setting and then edited using FCE HD v3.5.1. I wish I was the type of person that could jump right into using a new piece of equipment but I like to get the advice of others beforehand. That way I'm not always questioning myself as to 'whether or not is this the best I can get'. I also am wondering if the 30fps frame mode would be the best to use in the classroom setting? From my reading, this mode should allow more light onto the tape allowing me to shoot in conditions with lower light levels that are typically found inside? Finally, is FCE HD able to edit this new 30 fps frame mode of the HD30? I've heard that FCE HD can't handle the 20 fps frame mode.
Thanks for taking the time to help me out.
Sincerely,
Lou Hosta

Canon HF100 Premiere Pro CS6

Hello there. We're a Media and Film department in a UK school, and, having just upgraded to Premiere Pro CS6 from Final Cut Express, we are experiencing difficulties importing footage from our Canon HF100 cameras. We are using OSX 10.8.5. If there is a specific preset that needs to be used, or if the answer is elsewhere on these forums, we'd really appreciate a pointer!
We can work around this using iSkySoft, but it would obviously be more convenient to be able to import directly from the cameras.
It would also be useful to know which cameras other folk are using, for when we need to replace our hardware.
Cheers,
Glyn Evans,
St Bartholomew's School, Newbury

Glyn.R.Evans,
Welcome to Adobe forums. Please check the below link to clarify your doubts.
http://help.adobe.com/en_US/premierepro/cs/using/WS3E67AF4C-B2A2-4f04-90B4-F8CCFB74B144.ht ml#WSd79b3ca3b623cac941d41a681247d1f35a4-7fff
Regards,
Vinay

Canon HF100 and FCE

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