Canon HV20 import/video quality

Don't flame me please, I did some searching but didn't find too much... here's my question/problem:
I have a Canon HV20 Mini/DV camcorder, and I connect it directly to my MacBook Pro by FireWire. iMovie finds the camcorder and imports my video. I then create a project, throw it over to iDVD, then create a DVD.
The process runs fine, I get no errors, but what I do find is the video quality degrades quite a bit. If I connect the camcorder directly to my TV via HDMI, the video looks awesome. The DVD looks junky.
I import the video from my camcorder in the "large" size, and do the media share at the largest size. Is there something I'm missing here??? I'm new to iMovie, and have a LOT of DV tapes to import.
Thanks in advance....
Ken

In working on an update to my DV workflow, I too found the when iDVD burned discs were played on an ordinary DVD player into an ordinary TV -- the results were VERY good.
HDTVs reveal all the MPEG-2 crap iDVD seems to add to SD video even when you use the "pro" setting. So the old rule -- the maximum size TV to view NTSC is about 27" seems very appropriate. Even when the source is HD.
Another issue is the quality of the DVD players up-converter.

Similar Messages

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.

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

Canon HV20 imports footage as a single clip

I have a Canon HV20 and am trying to import my footage as separate clips based on when I pressed the record / pause button. Currently, when I import the footage automatically the footage is imported as a single clip and therefore one large .MOV file. From what I've read and heard, it's supposed to create a new clip for every start / stop on the tape. Does anyone have a fix for this?

I've only tried it on Auto. I'll have to give it a show in Manual. Is this to say you have to manually start and stop the import to create different clips? or is putting it in Manual mode a way to get it to recognize the timecode breaks?
Also, I'm capturing the full frame of 1920 x 1080 (if that helps).
Thanks.

Canon HV20 Importing

Trying to import from Canon HV20, not getting the sound as I import and importing at 1/4 to 3/4 speed. What the heck is that? Is there something wrong or what am I'm doing wrong.
G4 Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Yes--It is as simple as you ou might thinkt---take 4pin Firewire--connect to camera---take 6pin end and plug in MAC. very straight-forward---or one would think--and iMovie does control the camera. you just dont get sound and I had the failure and iMovie hang after 30 min of importing. I have yet to try a new Firewire cable as suggest in the one link. I have used a Pinnnacle Systems Movie DV box in the past to take my old 8mm tapes to the MAC w/o exception (even snagged a American idol episode for the DVR Box) But no luck with this device yet

Canon Powershot sx50 video quality problems

I'm relatively new at working with video editing. I use Adobe Premiere Elements 9, and when I record with my Canon Powershot sx50 HS I get fuzz or fog when playing it on my computer. It's odd because when I put the video on my Samsung S4 and convert it into MP4 format the quality looks way better than on my computer. If I could get someone's email also I can hit up about general questions that would be awsome. I basically want to get the best quality out of the camera as possible. My lighting in my room is good so I don't understand why I get fog on my computer but not on my phone. As for my settings I use the DSLR-1080p DSLR-1080p24 then MPEG - Preset H.264 1920X1080i 30 which is Widescreen 16:9 Profile: High - Level: 4.0 - VBR,1 Pass Target Bitrate 20 Mbps Max Bitrate 21 Mbps Framerate 29.97 fps I'm wondering if my settings are wrong? What are the best Premiere Elements settings for a Cannon sx50?

I found a solution that works for me and since there are no other suggestions I'll pass it along in case others have this same problem. What I ended up doing is installing CineForm and using it to convert AVCHD to HD. It handles the 24p inside a 60i container issue and the converted files, when imported into PP CS4, look perfect. The only drawback is that CineForm is not freeware but the price was more than worth the aggrevation it eliminated.
Bill

Canon FS100 import and quality issues

I have a imac (lastest model) and imovie 11. I have a canon camcorder. Flash memory one. I movie cannot read the mod files form camcorder or if I make them mpg's they still cannot be read.
If I try to import them via usb into imovie there is alot of image degradation. If I do this on a windows computer, the image quality is perfect.
What can I do to fix this problem on a mac?
Michael Zwibel

see my posts in another thread on issue of S50 and RAW and iPhoto and Preview.
submit feedback via iPhoto to Apple and request support script...Apple messed up.

Canon Vixia HFM40 video quality issues in Premiere Elements 10

Hi,
I am trying to edit video from a Canon Vixia HFM40 camcorder in Adobe Premiere Elements 10 on a Mac, but the video playback and the exported video has quality issues. Playback is not smooth when there is a lot of movement in the picture. It looks similar to interlacing issues, but there are no horizontal lines when the video is paused. Any ideas on how to solve that would be be much appreciated.
Here are the specs:
Video Format (Canon's XFP mode):
- AVCDH MPEG-4 AVC/H.264
- Resolution: 1,920 x 1080
- Bitrate: 17 Mbps
- Frame rate: 60i or 30p (problem occurs in both instances)
- File extension: MTS
Workstation:
- Fall 2010 27" iMac, quad core 2.93 GHz Intel Core i7
- Mac OS X Lion 10.7.2
- 12 GB RAM
- Adobe Premiere Elements 10.0
Project Preset: AVCHD Full HD 1080i 30 (several other presets had the same result).
Thanks.
Ralph

OK, I've been doing some more research and I think I found the problem. The choppy picture is due to Premiere Elements and VLCs inability to properly de-interlace the 60i video. It gets played back in 30p, which does not create horizontal lines, but it is a lot more choppy than the native 60i, especially when there is a lot of movement in the picture.
I verified this theory by installing the latest VLC beta (from http://nightlies.videolan.org/) and playing back my source MTS file with De-Interlacing set to "On" and De-Interlacing Mode set to "yadif (2x)". Those settings did not work with the current official relase of VLC (1.1.12). The 1.2 VLC beta is not fully functional yet and I am not getting consistent results, but when I play that video several times, then after about 3 or 4 tries it plays back perfectly smooth, just like it is when playing back the native file from the camcorder connected to the HDTV via HDMI.
That also works with video exported from Premiere Elements 10 with preset AVCHD M2T - H264 1920 x 1080i 30.
The video is still choppy when played back in Premiere, but that does not really matter, since the output file produced by Premiere can be played back with VLC (assuming that the final build of VLC 1.2 can handle the files correctly).
-> Hunt: thank you again for your help.
Ralph

Imported video quality vs. original DV tape

Just curious...
I have noticed that the quality of the video from the original DV tape (camcorder hooked directly to TV) is better quality than the DVD I created iMovie and iDVD. Is that normal? For example, when shooting pictures of the ocean or a pool, the water movement is clear and sharp on the original DV tape but on the DVD that I create the water movement can sometimes appear pixelated.
I import the raw video to iMovie, complete some basic editing and save the movie. Then I create an iDVD project and create a disk image. I have the highest quality setting in iDVD. Am I missing something or is this normal to have some reduction of quality from the original DV tape?

the quality of the video from the original DV tape (camcorder hooked directly to TV) is better quality than the DVD I created iMovie and iDVD
The MPEG2 on a DVD is much more compressed than DV (on the original tape AND in the iMovie project), so the quality will always be worse on a DVD.
Dimly lit scenes, high action scenes, water, etc are difficult to compress to a DVD so that a human eye doesn't see the inevitable degradation in quality.
iDVD's Best Performance setting yields slightly better quality than its Best Quality setting, so you may want to use BP if you want the best quality iDVD can give. If you must use Best Quality, then try to keep the project length below 75-90 minutes because after that even easy scenes might get blocky (i.e. you start to see the MPEG artifacts).
There are better quality encoders than iDVD. Toast's encoder is somewhat better and more serious users might also consider MainConcept MPEG Encoder (AFAIK the same engine as in Toast), BitVice, Digigami MegaPEG.X, Compressor etc, or some hardware MPEG encoder.

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

Problems importing Std Def videos from Canon HV20

I recently tried to import some standard def footage from my Canon HV20 and ended up with a garbled mess. All the HD video I have imported looks great, but I have a few clips that are SD that I would like to import. I have tried every setting I can and nothing seems to help the picture quality. It looks the same when previewed on iMovie 08, but it looks fine on my TV and camera. Any idea what's going wrong? I would really like to use this footage.
Thanks for the help.
Matthew

I think you have to try and SAVE the movie clip onto Movies and then put import them onto iMovie HD.. I dunno the rest I need help on stuff too xD
Shang

Importing video form Canon HV20

My question is, how do I get my video imported?
I have connected the camera true an firewire cable to my mac book pro.
It seams that Imovie 08 don´t sense my camera.
I have tested to import to Imovie 07 and it´s working fine.
What am I doing wrong?

Sorry to wander from the topic here, but I couldn't help but notice your user name. I'm involved in kart racing and much of my home video revolves around our karting events. I assume you are involved in car racing and that your top speeds are higher than ours, but whilst our karts barely achieve 100 mph, I suspect I can get much nearer the action than you, indeed at private meetings I often get to film whilst stood (or lay) on the track itself.
I have a Sony HDR-SR8 which I purchased a few months ago but am rather disappointed with (for filming karting) as I find the shots a little jerky, I've also purchased a tripod with controls on the handle to try to get over this and whilst there is a dramatic improvement it still isn't perfect and I often find myself using my old Canon X-M2 which is miniDV and a whole lot bulkier. I was wondering how you found your Canon HV20 for high speed filming.

I'm using a Canon HV20 video camera that uses digital tape. After importing to my Events Library in Final Cut X, there are some timecode breaks between clips resulting also in gaps between the clips. Is there a way to avoid this?

I'm using a Canon HV20 video camera that uses digital tape. After importing to my Events Library in Final Cut X, there are some timecode breaks between clips resulting also in gaps between the clips. Is there a way to avoid this?

Thanks Russ. I'm a beginner but Lynda.com has a video on making an archive, so I'll follow her video to try this method.

Import HD video with my Canon HV20

Hi, I have a Canon HV20 which is a High Def camera. I bought a firecable at the Apple Store, but now I'm trying to import it into Final Cut. I used the Log and Capture, then went and imported it as HV NTSC 48 Khz. When I burn it with DVD Studio Pro it doesn't look like it is HD. So what is a correct preset that Final Cut will recognize it because when I select like one of the DVDPRO options he won't recognize it. Thank you and much obliged for any help.

Thanks for your reply. I still can't find it in the list, attached is a screen shot. Thank you for your help!
Message was edited by: EBechStein

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

Canon HV20 import/video quality

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for