I just purchased a new Sony DCR-SR42 30 gig handicam and I'm trying to find a video editing software that will let me download the footage from the cameras hard drive to my PC then open up an editing software so I can add my music,titles,special effects and so on... Then I would like to burn it to dvd... I have owned a digital 8 camera for years and always transferred the video through firewire to my Pinnacle Studio 8 software and burned hundreds of projects without any problems.. But now with the new HDD camera the Pinnace 8 version is outdated and won't recognize the file.... Is there any software out there that will let me use this camera and make DVD's .... The New Hard Disc Drive cameras are nice but do me no good unless I can edit my footage... I really need some help...
My email is am2kidz@aol.com thanks and God Bless... Mike

DOES ANYONE OUT THERE OWN A HARD DISC CAMERA AND ARE YOU ABLE TO DO ANY VIDEO EDITING WITH SUCCESS... I NEED A SOFTWARE THAT WILL RECOGNIZE MY SONY... PLEASE HELP

Hi,

I don't have a HDD camcorder but have owned a few camcorders over the years and done a fair bit of editing.

Does your camcorder have a usb port or does it come with a docking station that has a usb port. The reason I ask is that you will probably just connect a usb cable between your camcorder/docking station and computer and your camcorder will get recognised as an additional harddisk, you should then be able to drag the video files from it onto your computer.

Let me know how it goes and I will try and be of further help if I can.

Cheers John

You've already identified the problem. The new Sony uses a codec that the Pinnacle system won't recognize. The Sony probably uses some form of MPEG codec and you need to use a software tool to transcode this footage into some form of MJPEG for the Pinnacle system. This can be done, but you might have to invest a bit of money for this tool.

I can't be more specific since I don't own either of these systems, but I'd Google the following search terms. "codec transcoders", "mpeg to mjpeg". Try the forums at Creative Cow.

The only other thing you can do is use the analog output from the Sony and use the Pinnacle system to import and digitize the analog signal. (if it can do this)

I have a similar issue with my JVC GZ-HD7U. None of the decent image editors like Premiere understand the AVCHD format yet. But the camera came with an updated flavor of PowerDirector which does understand the format, and will simultaneously convert and copy the footage from the camera HDD to the computer in a format I can drop into premiere's timeline without needing to render, except at transitions and video effects. PowerDirector is useless for pretty much anything else, but it does do the convert/copy faster than the real-time-only tape-based capture process.

The Sony cam should come with software that does the same thing.

i also recently purchased the jvc gz hd7u, and ran into the same prob... my specific question is : by doing what you do ( using the jvc softwre to download files then adobe premiere to edit, do you lose any resolution? ie, am i converting to mpeg twice? ( I export the adobe finished product to a dvd, using mpeg to burn onto dvds, or to put on the web.

is adobe coming out soon with the fix to recognize that format?