Choosing a camcorder

I need a camcorder that has a decent zoom, image stabilization, high rate of frames per second, has to be decent in low light, decent battery life, internal hard drive with sd card slots, and it has to work with a macbook. We will be using the camcorder for our high school softball program,
in the store i was steered towards the Cannon HFR21 HD i was okay with that b/c it had mac copright info on the bottom of the box, but i see a review online says that it isn't compatible with the mac.

A few questions and concerns....
what do you call " high rate of frames per second"? Some like 24, average is 30, some can do 60..... there are cameras that can go higher. Are you trying to do slo-motion?
decent battery life? I prefer to get an extended battery that can double or triple battery life
why do you need an interal hard drive when you have SD slots. Internal hard drives means shock concerns and a shorter battery life.
what do you plan to use for video editing?
have you considered a fluid tripod with minimize relying on the image stabilization?
I had a look at the entry model you selected.... where does the battery load? Not from the back.... it's likely at the bottom. Bottom loading batteries means you cannot get an extended battery as it would interfer with the tripod mount. With 20-30 minutes of battery life, you will need additional batteries. I hate frequent battery changes because the batteries go down during inconvenient times. I love Canon HD camdorders for the high bit rates. I hate bottom loading batteries. This model is on my DO NOT BUY list.
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Canon+-+VIXIA+HF+R21+32GB+HD+Flash+Memory+Camcorder+-+Black/2088317.p?id...

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Choosing a camcorder to interface well with ilife

I have many Hi 8 tapes and I am looking for a camcorder that will play these tapes AND connect to my mac via fire wire. Any suggestions

Hi guys, I append to this question also Canon HV10 camcorder.
Up to me, using iMovie is very important feature in order to choose right camcorder.
thanks
firo
PowerBook G4 17 1.67GHz - 1GB RAM - 7200rpm/100GB HD Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Attempt to get media from DV Camcorder crashes every time.

Dell E6500 Laptop
Intel Core Duo CPU P8600 @ 2.40GHZ 2.40GHz
4GB of RAM (3.45 GB usable)
Windows 7 Professsional SP1 32bit
Travelstar 7K500 7200rpm SATA II Main Drive
The following error occurs every single time I try to load a movie off of my DV Camera via USB. Windows Movie stuff workes fine. Other software can access it fine. Any ideas on how to resolve this?
Premiere Elements 9.0, Ninja
Open a new project. Settings NTSC-DV-Widescreen 48kHz
DV Cam is connected and powered on and connected via USB 2.0
Choose Get Media
Choose DV Camcorder
New window opens the a dialog opens with the name "Premiere Elements Debug Event"
Contains the text:
Premiere Elements has encountered an error.
[..\..\Src\Static.cpp-88]
with the only option available continue
Dialog goes away, new dialog displays:
Premiere Elements
Sorry, a serious error has occurred that requires Adobe Premiere Elements to shut down. We will attempt to save your current project.
Click o.k. and then the windows message that Adobe Premiere Elements 9 has stopped working with the option to Debug or Close program.

Also, for Win7 read...
Legacy Driver and Capture http://forums.adobe.com/thread/869277?tstart=0
- And a Picture http://forums.adobe.com/thread/727755?tstart=0

Which Camcorder to Buy?

Hi - just bought a Panasonic SDR-H18 (30gb hd and SD card slot) - burns in mpg-1), only to find that I can't import the files into i-movie or i-dvd. Just talked to Apple tech who advised that purchasing i-life8 won't solve the problem. I can take it back, but before getting a replacement does anyone have any suggestions on which camcorders work best with i-movie or i-dvd? Not stuck on Panasonic, but like the hard-drive concept....
Your help is appreciated!
Nico

Antony, I agree with you that you can use MPEG Streamclip (very good tool!) for converting MPEG1 and MPEG2 and other formats to the native FCE/P formats, but I would not use it as part of a standard workflow, mainly if you may still choose your camcorder: compressing/decompressing doesn't improve quality (...) and takes time and disk space.
In any case, to prepare a FC-ready file with MPEG Streamclip you should Export to QuickTime (cmd-E - NOT Export to DV!) with Compression: Apple DV-PAL (or Apple DV-DVCPRO/NTSC), Quality: 100%, fps: 25 for PAL or 29,97 for NTSC, Audio: uncompressed, Stereo, 48 KHz.
When imported to FC, the resulting .mov will not require audio rendering.
Piero

Error src/timecode.cpp995

Premier Elements 7....when I choose DV Camcorder I get this error src/timecode.cpp995. It is followed with this: Runtime error adobe premier element.exe. Folowed with this: the exception unknown software exception (0xc000000d) occured in the application at location 0x78138aa0.
I am using the trial program and have tried it on another machine which is almost a duplicate of the one where the error is occuring and the program works pretty well. Locks up the pc now and then, but at least it runs. Naturally I want to use the program on the one which has the error.
Any help will be appreciated.
Thanks

I am having the same problem, but my computer is a Dell 8400 with 3 GB RAM, and oodles of hard drive space, running Windows XP SP-3 with all the latest updates installed. I have a Panasonic PV-GS500. It connects via USB 2.0 to my computer. I previously used PE 4 and then 6 and was able to capture video from the camcorder via USB. PE 7 runs fine, for all other purposes, but when I try to capture video from the camcorder, as soon as I click on the DV Camcorder icon, the frame of the capture window appears but before I immediately get the message: "Premiere Elements Debug Event -- Premiere Elements has encountered an error [..\..\Src\Timecode.cpp-995]." This is followed by an MS Visual C++ Runtime error, and Premiere Elements closes all windows and shuts down. I've tried following most of the suggested troubleshooting articles. I even uninstalled PE 7 and reinstalled it. Nothing has helped. I've had to resort to using the software that came with the Panasonic (MotionDV Studio) to capture my video, then import it into PE 7. That works, of course, but this is NOT how Premiere Elements is supposed to work and definitely not what I paid for. It's advertised as working with USB, but they seem to have second thoughts about that AFTER you buy it and are then told it works better with Firewire. Hmmm...I'm frustrated, as you can tell. Anyone out there have a clue?

Import doesn't make a clip (iMovie HD, Canon ZR10, macbookpro) Video Newbie

Hi All
I've never done video before and have a Canon ZR10 and I think iMovie HD (about says 6.0.3 (267.2)).
The problem is that when I import from the camera it doesn't create the clip.
iMovie is able to control the camera fine. The import button works, but no clip shows up.
I also get the same results on a imac with iMove 3.x
Any ideas?
Thanks for your time.
J Sadler

Hello, jsadler,
Welcome to the discussions.
Are you following these directions for importing from your camcorder?
+Importing video from your camcorder+
+One of the first steps in creating a movie is copying the video from your camcorder to your computer. This process is called "capturing" or "importing."+
+Note: You can also have iMovie HD import and compose a movie automatically using the Magic iMovie feature.+
+To import video from your camcorder:+
+Turn on your camcorder, and set the camcorder to VTR mode (some camcorders call this Play or VCR).+
+Connect your camcorder to your computer using a FireWire cable. If you need help with this, see Related Topics below or refer to the documentation that came with your camera.+
+In iMovie HD, click the mode switch to set iMovie HD to camera mode (shown above).+
+If you have more than one camcorder, or a camcorder and iSight are connected, choose your camcorder from the pop-up menu that appears when you press the camera icon.+
+Use the capture controls (shown below) to review your tape in the iMovie monitor.+
+Rewind the tape to a few seconds before the point where you want to start importing.+
+Click Play.+
+When you see the frame where you want to begin importing, click the Import button in the iMovie monitor or press the Space bar.+
+Your imported video appears in the Clips pane or timeline viewer, depending upon how you set your Import preferences. iMovie HD automatically creates a new clip at each scene break (wherever the recording was interrupted as the camera was set to standby). For information on how to turn off this feature, see Related Topics below.+
+Click Import again or press the Space bar when you want to stop importing.+

MOVED: TV@Anywhere Plus Trying To Capture

This topic has been moved to TV Tuner products.
https://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?topic=127031.0

Quote from: Stu on 13-May-09, 01:40:10
You mean 'RCA' (phono) cables?
What software are you using? Have you set capture settings correctly? (should be composite-in)
That correct RCA cable, I'm using TV@Anywhere Plus software, it has 6 icons and red for a background. I can't find the capture settings. My options are Convert DC to AVI, FM, Watch and Record TV Programs, Edit MPG/DVD files, Burn to DVD, Video (which only ask for video source and sound source), Photo. I try to choose the camcorder but I don't see it in the system. It's hook up via RCA cables so I don't know.

Lip sync audio without clapper-board - is this possible?

Is it possible to film an interview with a mobile phone or digital camera, record separate audio (with a Zoom recorder) at the same time, without a clapper-board at the beginning and end of the sequence, and then edit the two together in iMovie 09 so that they remain in perfect sync?
The reason for this? Very discreet and informal documentary filming with low-end cameras, discreet quality sound recording.
Am I dreaming here?

You say "..I know how to do this in QuickTime pro.."
But in QT Pro it's absolutely simple. As you say, you can "..use this ... for stretching or shrinking the off-camera audio recording."
In QT Pro, open the video and trim it to the length you want ..in other words cut out any extra beyond the end of the interview. Then open the audio in a separate QT Pro player window. Trim it to match the ending point of the video. Then Select all the (trimmed) audio and use ⌘+C to Copy all that audio.
Switch to the other, video, QT player window, and choose Edit and then Add to Selection & Scale (..or press AltShift+⌘V..)
That will add the audio to the video, and will scale the audio to match exactly the duration of the video. If the audio was off by half a second, it'll now exactly match the length of the video, so it'll be in sync at the start, in sync at the end, and halfway through it may be off by about a quarter of a second. The pitch will - probably unnoticeably - shift very slightly up or down if the audio is thus speeded up or slowed down slightly to match the duration of the video.
"..I’m trying to shoot very simple interviews while on photo assignments, either with an LX3 or a mobile phone and I’m looking fora way to improve the sound quality.."
It sounds like you're really just creating problems for yourself. The LX3 is a nice little camera ..but you're carrying two devices: a Panasonic LX3 camera and a Zoom H2 which is nearly twice the size of the LX3.
What you should do is choose a small camcorder - something like a little JVC miniDV-tape camcorder, or a Sony TRV-14 or similar (..tape-based cameras are very cheap now, or get a small Panasonic AVCHD camcorder..) - and plug a small directional 'zoom' mic on top of it. The size of camera and mic will be smaller than your combined LX3 + Zoom H2 recorder, and you won't need extra hands to handle two devices.
Choose a camcorder which also takes still shots ..instead of using a stills camera which also shoots moving pictures.
With that all-in-one setup of a camcorder with a zoom mic on top you just press the button to start shooting, and press again to stop. Everything will be in sync - always.
With your LX3 - or mobile phone - plus Zoom H2 scenario, you've got to switch on the camera/phone, then switch on the H2 ..and in the rush to do it right you'll make a mistake, or won't set the H2's recording volume high enough, or will choose the wrong audio setting (Mono/90-degree stereo/120-degree stereo/front only/front & back), you'll have two batteries to worry about, you may not be sure that the H2 is recording ..and then you've got to stitch together the separate recordings afterwards.
You want something foolproof, with one Start/Stop switch, nothing to worry about, but which gives good sound in-sync with the picture.
Get a little camcorder.

I bought a new Panasonic camcorder to edit in iMovie 10.0.3. I need to choose between the AVCHD choices and the ALL MP4/iframe choices. I don't have a clue as to which to use. I just want to burn video to DVD to have and share. Thanks for any help.

I bought a new Panasonic camcorder to edit in iMovie 10.0.3. I need to choose between the AVCHD choices and the ALL MP4/iframe choices. I don't have a clue as to which to use. I just want to burn video to DVD to have and share. Thanks for any help.

It sounds like you have assigned the primary click on the trackpad to something else, perhaps a gesture.
Use your mouse, login and then open the Trackpad preference pane and see how you have the interface configured.
Oh and you can have both the Magic Mouse and Magic Trackpad powered up and working at the same time. No need to keep moving batteries around.
Tom

Help me choose a mini dv camcorder

I've been trying to decide between the Kodak Zi6 and the Canon ZR900. I've never used a camcorder before but want to be able to edit frame by frame I have a brand new iMac and am enrolled in the one to one program so I will be able to learn how to use iMovie. The canon costs $100 more.
Any thoughts?

If you are looking specifically at mini-DV camcorders, you will see that individual makes / models are not listed on the "iMovie '09 Camcorder Support" page.
There is only the generic statement:
"+iMovie '09 works with most Mini DV tape-based camcorders that use a FireWire cable (also known as IEEE 1394 or i.Link) to transfer data. iMovie works with DV (standard definition) or HDV (high definition) formats.+"
So, it sounds to me like you better get one with a Firewire port, and then take a gamble that it will work with iMovie '09. Perhaps a thorough web-search can answer the question.
I am fairly sure I will be buying iLife '09 soon. My Canon Elura 100 (mini-DV) camcorder works flawlessly with iMovie HD ('06), so I have my fingers crossed regarding '09.

Choosing a Cheap Camcorder

I'm looking to get a new camcorder for some amateurish projects (student films, etc) and really like the Sony HDR-HC1... but it is a little out of my price range.
I'm wondering if anyone has suggestions on similar cameras that may be older models or just cheaper in general. The one I've found so far that looks alright (but obviously no HD) is the Canon Optura XI.
What I like about the Sony:
Widescreen LCD
HD... I know nothing cheaper will have it
3CCD
Zoom/Focus ring
Size (compact but not tiny)
Accessory expandability
Thanks for any suggestions!

I use the SONY HDR FX1
It's a little older than the SONY model you describe, but probably won't be much cheaper.
I also used the original JVC JY-HD10U single chip 720p30 camera. You could probably get one much cheaper. If you can control the lighting (contrast range), the single chip camera will do better than you think. Also with a progressive camera you don't have to deal with interlace artifacts.
the SONY FX1 is pretty big, but I love the way it operates. The big back/front lit LCD panel swivels and has controls that make it easy to use right next to the ground. It's really great! I have the wide angle lens adapter which I use all the time. It makes it possible to do "steady cam" well "a little steadyer cam" stuff which is a lot of fun.
3CCDs are not the magic bullet(s). If you have a really wide contrast range the video still looks like X%$*@. Those fabulous rich HDTV video scenes you want have rich texture and carefully controlled lighting.
Also I have never figured out how to export a 1080i HDV movie from FCP that doesn't have unacceptable interlace (Venetian Blind) motion artifacts.
I have made a lot of DVDs where I throw away one field which eliminates the interlace problem, but doesn't exploit the full resolution of the camera.

Capture video from a USB camcorder?

I've happily used iMovie since 2003, but now I have a new Canon Vixia HF S100 camcorder and a new quad-core Mac Pro (and new Snow Leopard). I tried to use iMovie '09 but it drove me up the wall. When I read that iMovie '09 converts 1080p to 1080i (i.e., it throws away every other horizontal line) I bought Final Cut Express 4. Now I'm plowing my way through the manual. I've reached page 175, "Capturing Your Footage to Disk."
When I connect the camcorder to the computer and then in Final Cut Express choose "File > Capture" I get this error message: "Unable to initialize HDV deck. Please make sure a deck is connected and try again." Apparently Final Cut Express isn't communicating with the camcorder. When I connect the camcorder to the computer iPhoto automatically opens, so the camcorder is communicating with the computer. I successfully connected the camcorder to iMovie and downloaded videos. So the problem is with Final Cut Express.
I believe that the problem is that in "Easy Setup" I chose "HDV-Apple Intermediate Codec 1080i60." I chose this because the camcorder's manual says that its Recording System is AVCHD (MPEG-4 AVC/H.264); and its Television System is 1080/60i.
However, in "Easy Setup" it specifies "Device Control Preset: HDV FireWire NTSC." My camcorder doesn't have FireWire, it has USB. I looked through the User Preferences and System Settings but couldn't find any option for connecting via USB instead of FireWire. I looked at the other Easy Setup options and I only saw FireWire connections, no USB.
Is Final Cut Express unable to communicate with USB camcorders?
I tried using Canon ImageBrowser 6.2.0.1, it downloads photos from the camcorder but I can't get it to download videos. If I could get it to download the videos maybe I could import them into Final Cut Express.
I could download the videos into iMovie and then import them into Final Cut Express, but if iMovie throws away every other horizontal line when it downloads videos this will result in lower quality videos (i.e., that's why I bought Final Cut Express).
What should I do?

Well the help seemed straightforward, but....
Do I use "capture" to get to view my video on the FCExpress screen, or "Import"?
Whatever I use I just get an image from the inbuilt camera on the mac....not what I am after.
I used to work for Sony and Canon and I can tell you I wrote instructions that were understandable. All I get on my screen with the Final Cut Express is:
Capture Preset must have a video or an audio digitizer set to capture. Please change to desired present in the Audio/ Video Settings.
<OK>
Well that is not OK since they don't directly send you there to make the changes and after searching for 30 minutes you wonder WHY it should be made such a mystery. WHY not just tell us what to do and lead us there? We are not interested in reprograming like the windows boys - that is why we use APPLE but Apple have left us with the "searching forums" option. You have better things to do with your time rather than write the Apple instructions. But there is NO other option, rather than try combination after combination after combination after combination until you have no more time and look for something which has a chance of success - like stopping the river flowing outside past the house. Managed to do this four times in the last month - why is this easier than connecting the camera to the computer? Because you can see what is going on.
Your help is as ever greatly appreciated and will rescue the Apple from joining the fish;-)

Is it possible to transfer Full-HD videos (from a Full-HD camcorder) from iMovie 11 to compressor 4 and create there a AVCHD DVD which can be played in HD quality at a PS/3?

Is it possible to transfer Full-HD videos (from a Full-HD camcorder) from iMovie 11 to compressor 4 and create there a AVCHD DVD which can be played in HD quality at a PS/3?

Yes.
In iMovie use SHARE/Export Movie.
http://help.apple.com/imovie/#mov3a9e5615
Choose 1920x1080 (or size of your choice.
Give it a name and location.
You can drag this file into Compressor.
In Compressor, use "Create BluRay Disk"
That should work fine.
There is another alternative, where you could skip the DVD and Compressor.
Just SHARE/EXPORT USING QUICKTIME
Choose Movie to MP4
In Options, choose h.264 as the Codec.
Choose a bit rate of 16000 or less.
Create the movie.
You can then put it on a USB thumb drive and play it on the PS3.

Selecting/importing more than one clip from camcorder using check boxes

Hi.
I've just bought a new camcorder (SD Card) based. I used to use Mini DV tapes.
Now when I import into iMovie9 I am able to select which clips I import. I always choose manual import because I like to save different clips into different topics.
I am able to uncheck all the clips and individually select each one I want to import but I'm baffled about how to select more than one clip at a time and then check the import box. e.g. select clips 3 to 15 and then having to check the box once instead of checking ever box for each clip. There must be something like hold shift down while selecting but I've not managed to work it out yet!
Any help is appreciated.
Thanks
Paul

Hi Paul,
I import clips as you do - by manually ticking the box in each clip. Like you, I haven't figured out a way to select a group of clips in one go - that would be very handy! Sorry I can't help - I'll be interested to see what answers you get.
John

IMovie Lion = camcorder no longer works

iMovie 09 (8.0.6) + Snow Leopard worked fine. I upgrade to Lion (10.7.1) and my camcorder no longer is recognized.
Anything I can do to correct this? Where do I start?
Thanks, Jim

Something that's likely to be easy to start with is run Disk Utility to Repair Permissions. It's located in Applications>Utilities>Disk Utility and probably won't take that long to run it, then power down the Mac. Hookup the camera using the power adapter that came with it, put it into VCR/Playback mode. Once that's set, start up your Mac. Launch iMovie and see if it can detect the camera this time.
If that fails go to the Desktop and go to the Menu Bar> Go Menu (hold down the Option key) and choose Library. Inside the Library folder, find Preferences folder>com.apple.iMovie8.plist
Drag that .plist file to the trash, restart iMovie and see if it can detect your camera. If that fails, work on it from the camera side as well. Unplug the camera, remove the battery, remove any watch battery that might also be in the camera to hold the Date/Time. Wait about 5 minutes or so, and put the watch battery back in and the bigger main battery, put the camera into Camera/record mode and check the Date/Time. Reset that to the current date and time through the menus on your camera. Put the camera in VCR/playback mode. And also plug it into the electrical power adapter which should still be plugged into the wall.
Shutdown the Mac, and hook the camera up to Mac, and start it up. Launch iMovie and see if it can detect the camera.
One of these is bound to shake loose whatever is preventing the camera from talking to your Mac.

Choosing a camcorder

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