Canon HV20 compatibility

Sorry...I would seach the forum with this question but the "search" feature is down due to iPhone overload. I'm getting ready to move from standard def to High Def with the purchase of a new camcorder. I'm looking at the Canon HV20 and was wondering how well it works with iMovie. Any feedback anyone?

I might not be much help... but anyway, I bought the Canon HV20 just a few days ago.. and right now I'm truly playing around with it. Thing about the HV20 is that it doesn't come with a firewire cable. I had to buy it today "6 PIN to 4 PIN Cable." From what I can tell the HV20 works well with iMovie.. You can record HD Video from the camcorder right on to iMovie... (I think) I put in a blank tape into the camcorder.. put it on camera mode.. and I pressed import on iMovie. It's laggy... but the quality is still great. I'm not sure if it's laggy due to how big the HD file is.. or if I just don't have it right... Nevertheless, the Canon HV20 is a great buy! (I haven't recorded something on the tape and imported the video yet... but I don't see why I would have trouble with it)

Similar Messages

Canon HV20 Compatibility with Final Cut Express

I cannot get the latest version of Final Cut Express to work with my new Canon HV20 video camera. I can get the video into iMovie 08, but nothing I try can get Final Cut Express to recognize the camera. I cannot import the imovie file either. It gives me an error. I can drag the video from the Hard Disk to Final Cut Express to import it, but that is cumbersome.

Start here:
http://www.fcpbook.com/Video10.html
Then come back and do this:
Please give your full system specifications, what computer, what drives, what camera or deck, how everything's connected, what settings are on the media, what settings you're using in FCE, and finally what version of the software, of the OS, and of QT are you using?

PE7 unable to recognize Canon HV20 as High Definition

Hello Everyone:
Unfortunately like some of you that probably want to try your hand at high definition editing, I just bought PE7 a couple of days before the announcement for PE8. For some reason I find that PE7 (and my previous PE3) cannot recognize my Canon HV20 as the high definition camera that it is.
I can easily import regular dv-avi from this Canon but when trying to import the files as HDV, it does not recognize the camera.
The camera is connected via firewire and is recognized as 'DV' Camcorder but not as an 'HDV' camcorder. The footage has been recorded in High defintion 1080.
I hope that one of you with this type of camera can help.
On another note, is it possible to record into PE7 with HDMI?
Thanks,
Lucio
email: [email protected]
my computer: HP m9077c, Intel core 2 Quad core Q6600, 32 bit, 3G Ram, service pack 1 with all the current microsoft updates, 400G internal HD and 1T external HD

Lucio,
Perhaps a different capture card is needed or Vista Ultimate (instead of the Home Premium that I have).
A FireWire connection should be all that you will need. No "capture card" would be involved.
There don't seem to be many setting available for transferring beside an 'AV-DV' on-off (which I keep on).
Because my Canon is an SD-only unit, I can't really check its manual to help you. This line puzzles me a bit. What happens if you set this to OFF? Considering the number of menu options and switches that I have on my SD camera, I'd have expected your HD/SD unit to have more possible settings, but maybe I'm wrong and Canon has simplified things a lot.
Good luck,
Hunt

Final Cut Studio 2 and Canon hv20

I'm currently working on Final Cut Studio 2 and I'm looking at buying a Canon HV20. I've looked into some threads on this one and it seems that people are having trouble with this camera on FC Studio 2. Is there anyone out there that can attest to smooth and efficient workflow with this set up? A major selling point for me is the 24p, tell me it works well, please tell me it works well.
thank you,
t r e y v o n

HV20 works perfectly at 24p in FCP 6.0.2.
Added advantage is that you can capture uncompressed (with HDMI card and fast drive/RAID) at much higher quality and resolution than HDV.
Quality is so good, you can create great 1920 x 1080 24p green screen shots (using 4:2:2 color space from HDMI) and dvMatte Pro 3.
The next step up to get better quality at 24p is around $5K-$6K range (I think?).
Here's a small image of a 24p frame shot on green screen with the HV20:
http://www.ecophones.com/embed/printplace.jpg

What are the settings for capturing video from Canon HV20

Hi All,
I want to capture video from Canon HV20 with Premiere Elements 11. What kind of settings should I use to capture the video with full information?
Here is what I did:
1) According the manual, I went to Capture settings panel (Edit > Project Settings > Capture) and selected HDV as capture format, because my video is at high definition.
2) In addition, I checked "Capture to Timeline" and "Split Scenes by cotent".
Are these settings enough?
Thanks.

HV20user
Sounds reasonable, using Add Media/HDV Camcorder, but....
Have you reviewed the Adobe write up on Premiere Elements 11 DV and HDV capture firewire into it.
http://help.adobe.com/fr_FR/premiereelements/using/WS5CDA0F91-60F1-4b79-ABF6-E9E75F498DB2. html#WS2AF26FB5-4C63-4c46-9DB3-7249558F6528
The mention of Get Media instead of Add Media makes me wonder if the video's instructor was demo'ing from Premiere Elements 10, but...
Major factors have always included having Premiere Elements project preset set correctly to correspond to your camera settings...For HDV data capture firewire...
NTSC HDV HDV 1080p30 or PAL HDV HDV 1080p25 depending on if you are targeting a NTSC or PAL area where frame rates are typically a consideration.
I had not done any DV or HDV data capture firewire into Premiere Elements. But, Premiere Elements 11's take over of the project preset setting would encourage me to encourage you to verify your project settings before the capture.
There are probably many more, but the following is online discussion of one Canon HV20 issue
http://forum.videohelp.com/threads/316970-video-capture-problems-HV20-camcorder-is-control led-but-no-video-capture
If you experience difficulty with the HDV capture fireware into Premiere Elements 11, you might consider what some others have done in this regard, that is, use HDVSplit for the capture firewire and then import the split (.m2t) clips "Add Media" into Premiere Elements 11 with the appropriate HDV HDV 1080p (1440 x 1080 HD anamorphic 16:9) project preset.
Please update us on your progress when you get a chance.
Thanks.
ATR

Canon HV20 In Photo Mode Does Not Appear On Desktop ?

I can't think where else to post this and it is connected with an iMac!
Normally when I connect a digital still camera to my iMac via USB I get a "No Name" Hard Drive type icon on my desktop. The camera is basically just another HD. I can then open the icon and drag out the files.
However, when I connect my Canon HV20 HDV camera to the desktop, no icon appears.
The camera is set in Photo Mode and has an SD memory card so it is to all intents and purposes a digital still camera.
I can download my photos via iPhoto or Image Capture so it is no great problem but I feel convinced that the camera's icon should appear on the desktop just like any other still camera.
Has anyone had a similar experience or found a solution?

Thanks again Terence - you've done quite well out of this question!
Thanks for the confirmation den.thed. I normally use a reader but often with the HV20 I only have a handful of photos at a time to download and I don't want to wear out the contacts with overuse!

Video out to Canon HV20

I am using an Imac 20" Intel with 2G Ram, a 500 GB Lacie External drive for my media and a Canon HV20 Camcorder for material.
I was able to capture my HD footage with no problem to FCE 4.0, edited my footage and created a DVD with IDVD with no problem. Want to delete the media and start a new project. However, I read somewhere that it is a good idea to save your completed sequence back to MiniDV to keep a backup of the highest quality video for use to create HD DVDs in the future.
This is where my problems start. As I said, I have no problem capturing but for whatever reason it will not record back to my camcorder (which based on the info in my Canon manual and a check with Cannon support) I am doing everything right on the camcorder end. Camera gives error when I start the recording process of "Check the HDV/DV input" and I don't see the footage on my camcorder.
I have tried Print to Video and recording via the timeline and neither will work. Spent 2 hours on phone with Technical support yesterday and then even went to the Apple store with some footage, my camera and my firewire cable only to be told that they could only help if I brought that and my computer and my external hard drive (and then they would only try to figure something out for 20 minutes)
I am sure there is some setting that is frustrating the camera but can't figure it out....any help would be appreciated.

Hi,
I had similar trouble and came accross your post. I have since got mine to work (see below).
What is the format of the sequence you are trying to export? Is it 1080i, 720p, or something else?
My workflow involved importing clips from the Canon HV20 using iMovie at the 540p import setting (960 x 540 pixels). I would then edit in FCE 4, and my sequence settings would adjust automatically to my clips, i.e. 540p. When I tried to "print to tape" FCE would begin to export and I would hit OK on the computer screen, but the camera would not start recording.
I did some troubleshooting. What I had to do was create a new sequence 1080i and then copy/paste my edits from the 540p sequence into the 1080i sequence (and correct some incorrect motion on still images, because the resolution of the sequences were different). Now, when I "print to tape" the 1080i sequence, FCE actually does a HDV transcoding step (which takes a while on my iMac) and then the Canon HV20 records the sequence no problem. Of course, when viewed on the Canon HV20 miniDV tape to my HDTV the quality is a bit less than the original because of the down sampling to 540p. But anyway, I have an archived copy of my work. I have also had successfull "print to tape", with the HDV transcoding, using a 720p sequence.
The Lesson Learned: Import at full 1080i, or 720p, and make sure sequences match your import settings. Otherwise, you will end up mucking around with a bunch of conversion issues.
If there is another way to get non-1080i material to print to the HV20?? I'd love to hear about it since I have a couple of other very complicated sequences in 540p. I will be buying a bigger external hard disk to go 100% 1080i in the future. Live and learn.
Hope this helped,
Mace

Which firewire cable for new MacBook Pro and Canon HV20?

I just bought a new MacBook Pro and want to transfer video from my Canon HV20 camcorder (using FinalCut Express). The Canon instructions say to use a "DV cable" and I've learned that the MacBook Pro only has an "800 fire wire" port. Can someone give me the exact type of cable that I should get (even my local Apple Store couldn't help me).
Thanks!

I'm surprised that the folks at the Apple Store couldn't guide you. You just need a firewire cable with the proper fw400 connector on one end and a fw800 connector on the other. Here's one source for both cables and adapters:
http://www.pccables.com/cgi-bin/orders6.cgi?id=ID7468267&rsite=google.comsearc&r code=&action=Cat&search=FIREWIRE

Live capture with FCE 4 and Canon HV20 - End of Tape when capture in HD

I have a Canon HV20 HiDef video camera that was given to me to record an event. I want to try and avoid using the tapes if possible and capture the video directly into my MacBook Pro using FCE 4.
If I try and capture video when the camera is set to HD output, the capture screen comes up, I can see the image from the camera on the FCE4 screen for a split second, then I get a message indicating the end of tape has been encountered. (The tape isn't even being used and is no where near the end anyway).
If I change the camera to DV output, I can change the FCE4 Easy Setup to simple DV control and it works fine to capture live, except that it is no longer in HD. I get no error message about the tape end being hit.
I am unable to find any Easy Setup configuration that will allow me to record live. Any suggestions?
Thanks.

Play your tape forward to a position where there is continuous Timecode and try again.
As Ian suggests the correct _AIC Easy Setup_ is the only way to get HDV in to your Mac via FCE.
Note: Your camera must be set to output HDV assuming it recorded HDV.
Al

FireWire is the only way to import Canon HV20 Camcorder videos into iMovie?

As a followup to my last post a moment ago tonight 1/30/08:
Is it true that I need a FireWire cable to import Canon HV20 Camcorder videos into iMovie?
If so, the Apple salesperson is wrong.
He told me last Monday that purchasing the new iLife 2008 (that contains iMovie 2008) would allow me to use my current USB cable.
Given I see NO FireWire port on my new MacBook Pro (bought in 8/2006), I don't see a solution.
Note the camera, an HD camcorder (the Canon HV20) did NOT come with a FireWire cable; it only came with a USB male plug on one side of the cable and the other is a small square-like male plug that connects to a female port on the Canon HV20.
Solution?
Thanks for any suggestions, Daniel

The USB cable is for importing still photographs. Not video.
The firewire 400 cable you need is one that goes from the 6 pin full size male connector to the small 4 pin form used for DV.
The cable plugs into the camera in a socket behind a plastic flap near the eyepiece. Its marked HDV/DV. The other end plugs into the MBP on the right-hand side. 4th from the back.

Recording to iMovie from Canon HV20

Hi,
I have IMovie 10.0.2 and Canon HV20 connected through the Firewire. I can control the camera in "Play" mode (Start|Stop|Revind) but I cannot control it in "Camera" mode. The Record button is absent and a message "Camera Not Controllable" appears. I want to Start|Stop recording. Is it possible?

Just did some testing with my HV20.
Doesn't seem to be possible to actually record directly into iMovie 10. I tried to use the "import" button. The camera starts running but nothing is really imported.
The only way I managed is to use Quictime 10 to record from the camera (that will work). It will give you a h264 .mov video, that you can import into iMovie.
Ben

FME freezes when connecting Canon HV20 via firewire

Hoping someone can help me out. I'm using a Canon HV20 camera
as a live video stream via FME and every time I try FME will freeze
and my laptop will freeze and I have to restart. My camera settings
are DV standard and it should work.
The necessary drivers for the Canon HV20 are installed and
I'm using a firewire card in my PC laptop that to connect the
camera feed. Restarting several times still results in the same
problems.
Is there something I should modify/check on my system to
ensure it's working correctly?

Some more troubleshooting tips.
Cheers
Eddie
Forum FAQ
Premiere Pro Wiki
- Over 250 frequently answered questions
- Over 100 free tutorials
- Maintained by editors like
you

How to import to iMovie '08 from Canon HV20 HD Video Camcorder

Pretty simple problem statement: I've got a Canon HV20, a USB cable, and a new iMac with Leopard and iMovie '08. I plug in the camera, and iMovie does not seem to recognize it -- the only camera it wants to import from is the built-in iSight.
Help? And thanks a bunch.

You need a Firewire cable for video. The USB is only good for the still camera mode; to transfer still images from a card, if you have one.
Rick

Premiere Pro 1.5.1 HDV VIDEO CAPTURE - Canon HV20

Hi,
For the life of me I cannot get my camera to capture in HDV. I can switch over to DV and it will capture everything just fine. The settings I recorded in are HDV standard, Widescreen 29fps. Not the 24. But it just tells me the device is ofline no matter what I try. I grabbed a stand alone CineForm HDLink and that doesn't detect it either. Any help would be greatly appreciated. The Client wants HD, not DV.
Premiere Pro 1.5.1 HDV VIDEO CAPTURE - Canon HV20 firewire
Thanks in advance!

Ok, I spoke to soon. I kept searching and searching. Finally found this..
http://www.hv20.com/showthread.php?t=12131
My camera was locked in DV mode. So I had to switch it to HDV/DV
"b) As many have said you need to be sure that the camera is set ot output in HDV, and not DV locked. Because I am a bit of a dunce I found it difficult to locate that, even with the manual so here are some foolproof instructions on how to get there:
in "Play" Mode > FUNC > MENU > PLAY/OUT SETUP2 > DV OUTPUT [set this to HDV/DV]"
That did it.

Removing Pulldown from Canon HV20 shot at 24P

Hello,
I have been trying to understand this whole situation particularly with the Canon HV20 and the 1080p24 mode that the camera offers. It is my understanding that when this video is stored to HDV it is shot onto a 1080i60 timeline, thus when capturing the video capture the video at 1080i60.
Okay, that I can do without a problem. However now I want to remove the pulldown using Cinema Tools to get the video into the proper 1080p24 mode so that it can be edited on a 1080p24 timeline.
I have read two main posts regarding this:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=4287943&#4287943
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=89642&highlight=fcp
The user was kind enough to provide the following information:
p-p-i-i-p - aa
p-i-i-p-p - bb
i-p-p-p-i - bc
p-p-p-i-i - cd
However, I understand that this implies the sequencing of the Interlaced and Progressive frames.
With that said, I have no clue how this applies to the options available in Cinema tools. I have zero experience with Cinema Tools other than, "Hey, that looks interesting." just to fiddle around with it for a minute get bored and move on.
Thanks any help would be greatly appreciated and I am sure that there will be other HV20 owners soon popping up with the same question....
PowerMac G5 Quad / MacBook Pro 2.0GHz / PowerMac G4 Cube 1.8GHz Mac OS X (10.4.9) Final Cut Studio - Shake 4.1 - Adobe CS2

If someone can explain how this works or point to
someplace I can learn some more I would appreciate
it.
My apologies in advance for the long winded post.
I’ve seen this question several times but I haven’t yet seen a good answer for this. So I did a little digging and here’s what I can tell you. Any of you experts out there can correct me if need be.
First off, let’s look at how the HV20 actually stores the 24p frames in a 60i format. And let’s ignore the 23.98/29.97fps thing for a while. Remember that for 60i there are 60 interlaced fields every second, each containing half the video lines necessary to make up a complete frame of data. So in order to get a complete frame, it requires 2 fields. This means that 60i really only has 30 frames worth of video every second. Fairly basic stuff… I hope nothing new.
Now let’s break this down a little further, the most basic repeating pattern for this format is 4 progressive frames being fit into 10 interlaced fields (divide both 24 and 60 by 6, don’t ask me why, it’s just the way they did it because it fits.). These 4 progressive frames are referred to as A – B – C – D. What the HV20 (and other cameras) do is convert this to interlaced fields so that it fits inside the 60i data fields. This gives us something like Au – Al – Bu – Bl – Cu – Cl – Du – Dl. Where the “u” and “l” refer to the upper or lower field of video. To make a complete frame you have to reassemble an upper field with a lower field. Now it you’re keeping track, you’ll notice that this only adds up to 8 fields and 10 would be what is needed. So they duplicate 2 fields to get 10 in this fashion: Au – Al – Bu – Bl – Bl – Cu – Cl – Du - Du – Dl. Since it takes 2 sequential fields to make a frame, this sequence normally gets referred to as AA – BB – BC – CD – DD. It shouldn’t be that big of a leap now to see that this can also be referred to as p-p-i-i-p when looked at from a frame (two consecutive fields) perspective, ie: AA is considered progressive, BB is considered progressive, BC is considered interleaved, etc.
FCP uses the AA – BB – BC – CD – DD nomenclature to designate how the cadence of a clip starts.
p-p-i-i-p -> AA – BB – BC – CD – DD -> referred to as AA
p-i-i-p-p -> BB – BC – CD – DD – AA -> referred to as BB
i-i-p-p-p -> BC – CD – DD - AA – BB -> referred to as BC
i-p-p-p-i -> CD – DD - AA – BB – BC -> referred to as CD
p-p-p-i-i -> DD - AA – BB – BC – CD -> referred to as DD
As mentioned before, the easiest way to do this in Cinema Tools is to place the first of 3 p frames in the viewer and the set the cadence to DD.
Hope this helps.
Mark

Canon HV20 compatibility

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for