JVC GZHD5 – Capture Video for editing?

[Anonymous]

I recently got a JVC GZ HD5 (HDD HD video camera). I have Sony Vegas (6) and Adobe Premiere CS3 – but neither of them seem to be able to communicate with my camera. I have both USB and 1394 connections on the camera. Both recognise the 1394 device – but don’t allow me to play or record from the camera.

This is my first Hard Drive based camera, so I guess things work a little differently. How can I capture the video direct into either Sony and Adobe? Or do I need 3rd party pacthes – or even a different application all together?

[Anonymous]

I also use Vegas 6.0 and I think your problem is your NLE’s don’t support HD editing. Now I’m able to use HD video in Vegas, but it has to be cropped or shrunken using the track adjustment controls (on the entire track or just selected video events.) I have used HD stock footage on several occasions without any problem. But I don’t have to capture the footage, it arrives as a file.

What you want to do is get the video from the hard drive on your camcorder onto the hard drive of your computer. If you can’t open the camera by double clicking on it and then dragging & dropping your files (or using the CopyTo or MoveTo Windows buttons.) Then use your USB connection to have the camcorder recognized as an external hard drive, then transfer the files. Frequently connecting the camcorder through the USB port requires you to select what function you want. The HD camcorder can be, at least, recognized as a webcam or as a hard drive. You have to select the function in the camcorder’s menu before connecting it via the USB port.

You may need to refer to your manual to locate the menu settings. Just check the index (at the back) for USB connection. Good luck. And if for some reason you still have problems, come back here.

[Anonymous]

Shucks, I forgot to mention that if you upgrade to Vegas Home Studio Platinum Edition you should have no problem capturing HD video. Although I don’t see the point in capturing video when it is already in a computer file format (usually imported through the USB port.) But more importantly, by upgrading to Platinum you’ll be able to edit your HD video as HD video. And get a number of NewBlue plug-ins along with additional effects.

[Anonymous]

are you using the internal capture or external capture of vegas? the external capture utility is for dv and the internal is for hdv go to your preferences on the video tab and make sure the check box is unchecked for use external capture. you may have to go into the capture utility and uncheck enable dv device control. if that doesn’t work, download hdvsplit and go from there. hope this helps.

John

[Anonymous]

Thanks guys.

I can copy the files onto my PC no problems.

They come on in some strange format: *.TOD

I read that I can just rename it to *.MPG, and that worked. I was able to view the video in Media Player. But I can’t get them into Vegas. It won’t recognise .TOD files… When I say, ‘File->Import->..’ and select one of the MPG files, it says ‘File unsupported’. I can’t select .TOD files.

How do I get the files into Vegas? (6.0d)

[Anonymous]

The simple answer is that you can’t. Not into Vegas 6.0d anyway. There is a very detailed post on the *.TOD files and how to use them in NLE’s. The boiled down version is pretty straightforward. The files you download are similar to MPG compression, but they are not. Unless you have the proper codecs available in your NLE, the files will cause errors and fail to convert the video. So you are left with two options, upgrade your NLE to Vegas Home Studio Platinum or you will have to have the *.TOD converted by another program. (Perhaps you might be able to use the camcorder to put out an MPG file you can use.)

In terms of a conversion program, I don’t know of one myself. But you might find options in converters at http://www.download.com (part of the c-Net network.) I found a killer MP4 converter (using H.264 codecs) that has multiple pass encoding that delivers excellent quality. And it is freeware! But anyway, the *.TOD format is a variant of MPG encoding. If you can find the proper codecs to install, you may be able to get Vegas 6.0 to recognize them. But I wouldn’t count on it.

Good luck, don’t forget you can get a free month of use in the trial version of the Platinum update. I’d recommend giving it a shot before you get too frustrated.

[Author]

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