Sony Movie Studio project won’t open

[Graham Bernard]

Thanks Robert. Yes, exactly.

[Jeff David] “I use a firewire to get the footage from my camcorder into my computer. I did not know it could be used for editing. “

When I expanded my first setup, I was working off of a Dell Laptop, an Inspiron, and I needed some form of external storage. The Dell has a PCMCIA Card slot and I purchased a 3-port FireWire PCMCIA Card. I was made up! To this I applied one and then three daisy-chained extra external FireWire drives. I was also able to capture directly from my Canon XM2 DV Cam straight into Vegas. I had my laptop Screen Up and on level with a second, Pixel missing SONY LCD screen I got from an exhibition for 1/2 Price! Great, loadsa real estate. I loved that setup. And if I need, or have too, I can rely on my FW drives to work to come into one of the Towers. These are now old and of little value – but they’ll work if needed to.

I don’t know ???? if your setup could withstand this type of FW expansion, but you may want to explore the possibilities.

Finally, you sound like you have got a setup that works for you – good ????!

* Grazie

Video Content Creator and Potter
PC 7 64-bit 16gb * Intel® Core™i7-2600k Quad Core 3.40GHz * 2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 560 Ti
Cameras: Canon XF300 + PowerShot SX50HS Bridge

[John Rofrano]

[Jeff David] “I see now that the USB3.0 is inferior to the extensive set-up you have but for us mere mortals and paupers – it is better than ethernet so I will have to use it for now.”

Let’s get the facts straight. USB 3.0 is NOT inferior to the eSATA setup that Graham has. I have an external RAID 5 enclosure which supports both USB 3.0 and eSATA and I’ve done the measurements with Blackmagic’s Disk Speed Test and the throughput of both USB 3.0 and eSATA is about the same! (in fact, USB 3.0 is slightly faster) This is why I recommended USB 3.0 to you. I do all of my editing on a MacBook Pro with external WD Passport 1TB USB 3.0 drives and I have no problems with my HD projects.

Here are the results of my disk speed tests:

CineRaid5 + eSATA:

CineRaid5 + USB 3.0:

As you can see they are very close in throughput so there is no advantage to using eSATA over USB 3.0. Having said that, I am doing these tests on a Mac but the results on Windows should be very similar.

Maybe the answer lies on what type of files you have in your project. What type of media are we talking about?

What file format (AVI, MP4, WMV)?

What codec (DV, HDV, AVC/H.264)?

What resolution (SD, HD, 2K, 4K)?

How many tracks of video at once?

Your drives need to be able to stream all of the video needed at the same time. One or two tracks of HD should not impact USB 3.0 at all. 4 tracks of 4K will probably cause lag. What are you using?

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasstsoftware.com

[Graham Bernard]

Thanks John. Good work. It’s good to see some real science behind this.

* Grazie

Video Content Creator and Potter
PC 7 64-bit 16gb * Intel® Core™i7-2600k Quad Core 3.40GHz * 2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 560 Ti
Cameras: Canon XF300 + PowerShot SX50HS Bridge

[Jeff David]

OK thanks. I looked at my manual for my computer and it says I have a “pci express mini card slot for wireless wan card or mSata solid state drive.

So then I can connect the external drive I bought (usb 3.0 – Seagate Backup Plus) drive to my computer via a special Sata cable?

Lenovo quad core i7 16gb of ram, Windows 8.1 MS 13 64 bit Thumbnail is view out of the Olde North Church window where the signal lanterns were hung, as in, \”1 if by land 2 if by sea\” looking across the Charles River to the Charlestown Naval Yard where rebels awaited the signal April 18th, 1775.

[Jeff David]

I’m trying to have a professional video on an amateur, shoe string budget. Oh yea – plus I have virtually no tech skills except what people taught me here.

I’m struggling to understand all this stuff. Rome was not built in a day.

When I get more money, I’ll upgrade my setup

Lenovo quad core i7 16gb of ram, Windows 8.1 MS 13 64 bit Thumbnail is view out of the Olde North Church window where the signal lanterns were hung, as in, \”1 if by land 2 if by sea\” looking across the Charles River to the Charlestown Naval Yard where rebels awaited the signal April 18th, 1775.

[Jeff David]

I should not have used the “inferior” word. Sorry. I always trust what you tell me because obviously you know your stuff. I am happy with the usb 3.0 that I bought and am now using. There’s no problem editing now and the files open up quicker. I transferred all of my clips from the Seagate, cloud drive and now have them on the USB 3.0.

File formats are MPEG-2 and JPG.
Codec HDV
Resolution HD
Video tracks – 2
1 track for titles/graphics
2 tracks for sound – sound track and voice over

I’m progressing with no real problems.

Like you suggested – I bought a Lavalier mic today.

Not sure if it’s very good – It was only $50 at Best Buy. I am sure it’s not the best.

https://www.insigniaproducts.com/pdp/NS-DLMIC10P/4779600

I have not tried it yet but I’ll see how it sounds and if it’s ok I’ll use it.

I was able to re-arrange the Audio Technica usb 2020 and that is working well too so if the lavalier is not good enough I’ll continue using the Audio Technica usb.

Thanks for the impressive empirical test data and all the help! Very impressive!

Lenovo quad core i7 16gb of ram, Windows 8.1 MS 13 64 bit Thumbnail is view out of the Olde North Church window where the signal lanterns were hung, as in, \”1 if by land 2 if by sea\” looking across the Charles River to the Charlestown Naval Yard where rebels awaited the signal April 18th, 1775.

[Jeff David]

Looks like the verdict is in. USB 3.0 is just fine. That’s good news!

Lenovo quad core i7 16gb of ram, Windows 8.1 MS 13 64 bit Thumbnail is view out of the Olde North Church window where the signal lanterns were hung, as in, \”1 if by land 2 if by sea\” looking across the Charles River to the Charlestown Naval Yard where rebels awaited the signal April 18th, 1775.

[John Rofrano]

That mic will probably be fine. It’s a dynamic mic (not condenser) so it will need to be turned up but having it close to your mouth is the main thing to avoid room tone.

It looks like you’re editing HDV which I edit all the time on USB 3.0 drives so that shouldn’t be an issue. Do you have your project set up for HDV as well? Having you project properties match your media properties will ensure smooth playback.

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasstsoftware.com

[Jeff David]

Thanks for the feedback on the mic John. I could only afford $50 so I figured it would be lousy but maybe not. What you said is encouraging. I haven’t tried the mic out yet. I know $50 is not much when investing in a microphone. The plan is to see how it sounds. The reviews were good but not sure if the people writing the reviews were amateurs or pros. Prob amateurs. I know you are a pro so your advice is encouraging in that it might be ok.

I told the rep at Best Buy that I was trying to have a professional video on an amateur budget.

Thanks for the reminder about project properties. Yes – I did learn about the project properties and always make sure to set them correctly. Never hurts to double check though.

Lenovo quad core i7 16gb of ram, Windows 8.1 MS 13 64 bit Thumbnail is view out of the Olde North Church window where the signal lanterns were hung, as in, \”1 if by land 2 if by sea\” looking across the Charles River to the Charlestown Naval Yard where rebels awaited the signal April 18th, 1775.

[John Rofrano]

The recommendation that we always give people is that, “it is better to have a $50 mic close to the subject than a $1,000 mic far away” Placement is everything in getting good sound. Place it at the sternum of your chest (around the 2nd button on a shirt). This is the thickest bone in your chest and will give the best bass response for your voice.

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasstsoftware.com