I'm new to digital video, so please bear with me. The Z5U writes to tape in a series of files each time I shoot a short segment in the format "Clip001.m2t". I see these files on my PC when I import the HDV footage from the Z5U tape using Vegas Movie Studio 9 (Platinum Pro Pack). First, I'll assume that there's no setting in the camcorder menu that would allow the camera to write one continuous file - regardless of how many separate segments I shoot (assume continuous time code track). Is there a way to import these separate ".m2t" files and combine them into one single .m2t file within Vegas 9? Again - if there is no way to combine these files into a single large file during the import process - is there a way to accomplish this by "rendering" an output in Sony AVCHD format and saving to hard disk on my PC? My ultimate goal is to be able to playback the complete video footage in a seamless manner on a 1080i TV using a media player that reads m2t files stored on a hard drive. I am currently able to use the media player to playback the m2t files - but it's one clip at a time, and a pain.

Sure. Just turn scene detect off in Vegas and capture the entire tape as a single clip. (Premiere doesn't even do HDV scene detect so this is the *only* way you can capture in Premiere if you capture the whole tape at once.)

Remember, unless you remove the tape, in any HDV cam your timecode is continuous unless you set it to free run. Most times (but not always) the scene detect function in an NLE works based on date/time data, which is different from timecode.

So just in case Vegas somehow uses timecode rather than date/time data or content to split scenes, make sure TC RUN is set to REC RUN rather than FREE RUN, and TC MAKE is set to REGENERATE rather than PRESET (page 90 of your manual). And make sure scene detection, or whatever Sony calls it, is turned off in Vegas.

Or better yet, edit out all the bad stuff and then make a single really good clip.

Adam,
Thanks for the reply. I'm using software called (Sony) Vegas Movie Studio 9 Platinum Pro Pack - and I couldn't find any reference to "scene detection". I did capture the entire tape in one process, but don't recall being given any options on how the files would be written to the hard drive. Can you define "scene detection" a bit more? In looking at the m2t files, I did note that each clip has an accompanying file named ".m2t.sfk" - I wonder if this is somehow linked to scene (or clip start/end) detection?
Aloha,
Roy

Adams,
Thanks also for the TC setting tips. I did confirm that TC Make is set to Regenerate (not preset). TC Run is set to Rec Run (not free run).
Roy

Yeah, the TC stuff in the cam was probably a red herring and not relevant, but I figured, just to be sure...

Scene Detection is just what Vegas is doing for you. Vegas may call it something else. Most people like this because it breaks a long tape into short pieces and is easier to edit. But it shouldn't be doing this unless you're telling it to.

Over in the world of Premiere where I work, people are generally furious that Premiere Pro *doesn't/can't* do this for HDV (it works fine in DV). Ironically, the consumer version, Premiere Elements, does do this, but it does it based on content retroactively, not based on date/time info at the time of capture. Weird.

Anyway, my guess is Vegas looks at the date/time data (not timecode, which as we've confirmed is normally always continuous) and can tell when you've stopped the cam, and then restarted later, because there will be a gap in the data. So it is probably assuming you want it broken into separate clips. There has to be a way to turn this off. But without looking at your PC screen when you're capturing or having the manual at hand, I'm useless at telling you how to do so. If there's no way to stop this, I guess you could just drag all the clips to the timeline and make a new single continuous clip. But you shouldn't have to do this.

Try the Vegas forums in the editing section of the site. Them guys is smart.

Thanks! - I'll take a look in the editing forum.

if you are capturing in the Vegas program, when the capture screen comes up select the preferences and look for the scene detect check box. It should be pretty straight forward. I haven't seen the studio edition of Vegas in awhile but that part of the interface is pretty universal between studio and pro versions.

Bryan,
Thanks for the tip. Maybe that was the key-i.e., hooking up the camera to see the capture screen in order to set preferences. My camera's been packed away since yesterday for a few days' trip I'm leaving on this morning - so I'll hook up the camera when I get back and give that a try.
Aloha,
Roy

(Premiere doesn't even do HDV scene detect so this is the *only* way you can capture in Premiere if you capture the whole tape at once.)

Adam, CS3 does scene detect. From the help menu on CS3

" In the Capture panel, do either of the following:
Click the Scene Detect button below the image.
Select Scene Detect in the Capture area of the Logging pane."

Yes, I know. But you gotta read *all* the words in the help files. The very next sentence, directly below your quote, it says: "Note: Automatic scene detection isn’t available for HDV or HD assets."

http://livedocs.adobe.com/en_US/PremierePro/3.0/help.html?content=WS6FD6C7B1-11DF-45c4-9703-4288DDE57377.html

It is not enabled in HDV. I noted it works fine in DV. CS4 does not fix this issue either.

For HDV you'd need to use Cineform, either within Premiere or via HDLink.

...is it applicable to this thread? OP is a Vegas user, should we take the Premier HDV scene detect debate to another thread?

Roy, yes hook up the camera and you should be able to access the capture preference pane with no issues, it is also where you can specify the target drive and many other capture related preferences. Let us know if it doesn't work for you.

You're right about going OT, but there really isn't a debate. I only mentioned Premiere in my first response to illustrate that what the OP thought was impossible in Vegas was in fact the *only* way to capture in PPro when doing HDV. Greg was confused by the help files and I just clarified.

But I promise, no more PPro tangents in a Vegas thread in a Sony cam forum.

Now I am going OT, I didn't mean to ruffle feathers, I thought your info was good and was suggesting you make a thread because some might want to know that about Premiere but would be unlikely to find it buried in the Z5 threads. Adam, i have read your posts on many threads and value your experience and input. Sorry if I came off in a way that offended or bothered you. Thank you for sharing your insight and experience and if you have time it might be worth noting this about HDV capture in the Attending the World Premiere thread in case others are misinformed, confused, or curious. Thanks again and sorry if I came off the wrong way.

Roy - Let us know how this turns out for you when you get a chance to hook-up your camera.

No, you're right that part of the thread should be in the Premiere forum... and the rest probably should be in Vegas. There are already a few discussions about this, so I don't know if a new thread is necessary.

No worries, you didn't ruffle any feathers... at least not mine.

A big thank you to everybody that contributed in fixing my problem - OT or otherwise I appreciate all input. I got back on Friday and procceeded to connect my camera and imported the files - and yes! - I did find that scene detection switch and turned it off. That solved my problem of ending up with one big file on my hard disk.
After shooting a bit with the Z5U this past week, I noticed something upon playback that bothers me a bit. Have you noticed a "shimmering" effect - particularly at wide angle and of scenes that have a lot of detail and bright highlights? This shimmering seems to disappear when I have the camera on a tripod - only prominently visible on handheld shots with SteadyShot turned on. Do you guys use image stabilization much on your shoots? I've also noticed (comparison-wise) that the image stabilization doesn't seem to be as effective as with other previous cameras I've owned (VX-2000, DSR-200 e.g.) - is this apparent lack of effectiveness of OIS just a result of the High Def nature of the cam?
Aloha,
Roy

Roy, I almost always use OIS and I've found it to actually be better on my Z5 than my VX2100 despite the Z5's much longer reach. Try using 'hard' under the OIS settings and I think you'll be pleased. That setting gives you a 'stronger' image stabilization.

As for the shimmering, the few times I've noticed that were when I saw I was actually (unknown to me) videotaping heat shimmering. It's exactly the same effect as when you look through a telescope across an area which is warmer. I saw it with the Z5 when I was using the 20X zoom from within my house and shooting out of my open patio door on a very cold day. But I've never seen it at wide angle.

Ken,
Thanks for the tip - I'll definitely give it a try. I'm fairly certain that what I'm seeing is not shimmer caused by heat - but I'll need to experiment more with on- and off-tripod shots to be sure.
Aloha,
Roy