[Scott Francis]

I am using 35MPS MP4, I also use MP4 for my Panasonic GH4

Xavier (Scott) Francis
Mind’s Eye Audio/Video Productions

[Scott Francis]

Hey guys,

Device explorer will not see my SD chip. It is from a Canon Vixia HF 30. Tried to insert the chip prior to opening Vegas as well as afterwards. Says no device connected. Also, I can explore in Device Explorer open up the SD card and even get down to the file level but my “Open” button is greyed out the entire way…any ideas?

Thanks

Xavier (Scott) Francis
Mind’s Eye Audio/Video Productions

[Scott Francis]

Hi John,
That is similar to what I do John, only I have some drives that are client specific. I shoot sometimes up to 15 camera angles, so my storage needs can be almost a TB for one project (also my Atomos files are HUGE but they look and work OH SO nice!!!.) Therein lies my issue with chips, but if I understand you correctly in using the “Device Explorer” will Vegas see the files as one clip? If so, does it join the split video clip (meaning one “scene: if you will that is cut into multiple files due to file size)? This is important because I will often have interns and such search the file for specific times that I need and they are not using Vegas (they will use their video player of choice).

My MAIN need is, if I shoot a 2 hour clip I need to be able to access THAT clip (scene) as a WHOLE file in multiple places, I do this as, I said before with the software called “Data Import Utility” that comes with my Canon cameras and it works really nice. I pop in my chip, open that software and import all the footage I have shot from a certain date. It joins all the individual clips (from one “scene”) as it imports them to my HD. I am hoping that I can find something that will do this for my new Panasonic GH4 and make all this hassle disappear.

Appreciate your input as always…

Best

Xavier (Scott) Francis
Mind’s Eye Audio/Video Productions

[Scott Francis]

Thanks John,

I will try the cmd prompt method.

I would state, however, that I am aware that Macs want the entire file structure, apparently now my NLE does too!!

Your comparison to a tape is odd that the one of the points of a non-linear format is to not have to deal with “keeping things in one place.” I often have back to back to back shoots and don’t have the ability to move files to a HD until all of them are done. Not being able to put them in separate client and file folders or even separate HD’s is very frustrating and annoying let alone confusing. I don’t have $75-$100 to have a chip for each client. Back in the days of $5-8 tapes it was easy to have separate client tapes. Also, once they where “flown in” I could name and put them where I needed to….Now, chips are awesome and so much easier to use, except in this case.

I appreciate all your help and will hopefully make out with the CMD method….

Best….

Xavier (Scott) Francis
Mind’s Eye Audio/Video Productions

[Scott Francis]

Hi John,

I move the files off of the card onto a HD, so nothing comes up under device explorer.
It would be great just to have one file as well, as I usually rename the clips by camera angle and such…
Are you aware of any “joining” software?

Thanks a bunch for all your input on so many topics!!
Best

Xavier (Scott) Francis
Mind’s Eye Audio/Video Productions

[Scott Francis]

I would suggest more RAM, also make sure to “disable resampling” for the clips. If you are rendering to the exact same format as the original file helps as well (1080p-1080p etc). I said that I am getting about 45 min per hour to MP4, that is important as it can utilize the GPU during render if I choose that option in my render dialog box. You have to select to use openCL/GL/CUDA and such. Other formats (other than MP4 to my knowledge) do not get to utilize the GPU acceleration. One last thing, my UNDERSTANDING is that AMD card are working much better than nVidia at this point in Vegas…

Xavier (Scott) Francis
Mind’s Eye Audio/Video Productions

[Scott Francis]

I would respectfully disagree with the AMD assessment. I have an AMD 8350 and an Intel 4790, I have run pretty much the same system with the same video card and the i7 absolutely blows the AMD 8 core out of the water in Vegas, it really does. Frankly I was surprised by that myself, I have run AMD in my video rigs for about that last 4 years, and migrated back to Intel….and honestly I am glad I did.

Just my experience, not a promotion of one processor….

Best…

Xavier (Scott) Francis
Mind’s Eye Audio/Video Productions

[Scott Francis]

I am using the i7 4790 (NON K). Great for editing and rendering. I am using an older AMD 6870 and with GPU acceleration, I see pretty fast Mp4 render times. Coming from MXF to MP4, about 60-75% of the length of video (as in one hour video takes 35-45 mins). So if you are using MP4 as your render to format, you should do pretty well. I never overclock anything (as I don’t trust that when working with client files). i7 is all I would use…

Best

Xavier (Scott) Francis
Mind’s Eye Audio/Video Productions

[Scott Francis]

The issue for the Z1-U is, to my knowledge that it does NOT have an HDMI out, however it DOES have component via the special Sony D connector (if it is at all like my old FX1’s). The Atomos Ninja series I believe only have HDMI in (or SDI), however you could use a component to HDMI converter before it, which Blackmagic and others make as well. When all is said and done, you are getting around a $600 to a grand before you even get into HD’s for the Ninja 2 or CF cards for the Ninja Star. In my experience the FX1/Z1-U’s do look better on component out vs the HDV format (I use FX1s for live IMAG shoots at our church and also at events in the past) and I have also edit the same footage from HDV afterwards and from the sensor looks SO much better. I can’t tell you what colorspace comes from the sensor, but pretty sure it is still 4:2:0 but image is still better than HDV.

I now use Canon G30’s (as I don’t need XLR inputs because I record audio separately, but often shoot up to 5 cameras at events) and DSLR’s and the footage I get is SO much better than on the older HDV equipment. We still use 3 FX1’s for out broadcast (so just for the sensor image)and they look good, but honestly are getting a little long in the tooth.

I would recommend the Atomos Ninja series recorders, and I am using non-SSD hard drives with mine as I am not moving when I use them…however, if you are running and gunning SSD drives are recommended. Atomos has recommend drives listed on their site and I also use there HDMI to SDI converters and love them.

Good luck!

Xavier (Scott) Francis
Mind’s Eye Audio/Video Productions

[Scott Francis]

I am using the Atomos Ninja 2 and can edit the footage no problem at this point. I pulled in two files totalling over 2 hours and 220GB’s in size and Vegas handled it with ease. I also edited it right next to both MP4 and AVCHD footage (totalling 4 tracks of 2+ hours of footage) with no issues.
From what John and others had mentioned in a previous thread, the AMOUNT of clips can be the issue, regardless the quality of the footage is incredible. I am recording right off of a Blackmagic ATEM switcher for live events and this is the best footage I have gotten to date….Beautiful…

That is my 2 cents, if I run into issues in the future, I will use AVIDEMUX to re-mux the footage to another format..

Xavier (Scott) Francis
Mind’s Eye Audio/Video Productions