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Footage Import Problems
Ok This may be a bitch to explain without showing, but I shall try.
I brought a GZ-HD7 camcorder a few months ago.
Its a japanese import with japanese writing on the buttons, but I downloaded the english manual so that wasn’t a problem.
When transfered from the camera to the computer, the files are .TOD files.., I’m using a program that came with the camera, PowerCinema NE to transfer to the PC.
PowerCinema transfers the TOD file from the camera to the computer, Theres only a few programs that I’ve found that allow TOD files, and the one I use for that is PowerDirector Express, but it converts the TOD file to mpg automatically..as we all know, mpg doesn’t work well in AE, but I’ve searched in all the options to see if I can change that, but it seems not 🙁
Anyway, I THEN have to convert the mpg to avi in the same program.
But when it FINALLY done, and I put it in AE, I get a jittery up and down motion thing going on.
I’ve tried a variety of things with different results.
Making the comp Pal & NTSC
Changing the Fields, turning off the fields, changing the pixel ratio, etc
Anyone have any ideas? -
4 Replies
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can you view the footage in power director? if so, how does it look there prior to converting to avi?
if it looks good in power director, then seems like the conversion from mpg to avi is causing the problem… what codec are you using when converting to avi (dv, uncompressed, cinepack…)? i would try uncompressed avi.
lastly, what is the frame size of the avi footage when you get it into ae? if you select the clip in the project window, it should give frame size and frame rate and such at the top of the window, by the thumbnail. does it seem like an appropriate frame size, frame rate, etc. for what your camera was set for? it may be that power director scaled the footage on exprt, which could cause some issues…
Kevin Camp
Senior Designer
KCPQ, KMYQ & KRCW -
The footage does appear to look fine in PowerDirector, put the output option seem to be very limited.
Theres nothing in the preferences to let you change the output codec or anything.
You just click produce movie
then it takes you to a screen with the following options:Create a file – Produce a DV-AVI, Windows-AVI, MPEG-1 or MPEG-2
Create a Streaming File – WMV or Realvideo for streaming on Net
Create a File (GZ-HD Series) – For putting back on my camera
Make a Disc – Make a dvd of footageSo I always choose Create a file
Which gives me the following options:AVI
MPEG1
MPEG2
DIVXNow since MPEG & DIVX don’t work in AE, I choose AVI
It gives two options in a section called Profile Type
DV-AVI or Windows AVI
If I choose Windows AVI, I get the following message:Warning,..This profile does not support wide screen
So I end up choosing DV-AVI
Thats all the options that are given,..seems a bit crappy really.
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Oh right, it all makes sense now.
The footage is fine and looks great in PowerDirector.
Then looks crappy once put into After Effects, and your solution is buy a better camera? -
it would seem that the main problem is power director… i did a quick search and turned up this:
https://www.convertmod.com/en/iverio/video-converter/overview.htmli don’t know anything about this software, but it seems designed just for conversion of various file types (tod included) to more common media types, and they have a free demo.
one potential issue you may have is that japan has a different digital video standard than the us… i’m really not sure how different. i know the only analog difference was the black point (0 ire vs 7.5 ire), but there may be some other differences for digital that may be leading to some of your problem.
Kevin Camp
Senior Designer
KCPQ, KMYQ & KRCW
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