Hello,

I've had a HDR-HC7 for quite a while, but haven't had the time to pull the videos off the tapes. Now that I'm going through them, I noticed that windows (right clicking on the produced file and selecting properties) reports that the resolution of the is 720x480 when using Windows Live Movie Maker, but all the settings are correctly set to record and to play 1080i. The format Windows Live Movie Maker saves it as, is .dvr-ms.

Doing the same with Sony Vegas Platinum gives me the M2T file and Vegas (in the app) reports that it is 1440x1080x12. Right clicking on the .m2t file doesn't give you the resolution of the video.

When running both files through Windows Media player (at 100%), it looks like 720x480.

Who's to trust? What's the best/easiest way to pull off the videos off the camera and what is the recommended format?

I'm using:
Tapes: MiniDV Panasonic
OS: Windows 7 64-bit
Software: Windows Live Movie Maker & Sony Vegas Platinum 9.0b
Connection: 1394

Thank you

What program are you using to capture with?

I'd stay away from Windows Movie Maker, especially for capturing, as it likes to using proprietry microsoft formats (I've never even heard of.dvr-ms??).

I've always used the freeware program HDVsplit which I prefer over capturing in Vegas.

Also double check you've got everything set right on the cam. It needs to be set to playback in HDV as well as setting the output of the firewire connection to HDV.

You can check the properties of a clip by right clicking them in the explorer in Vegas, and this will tell you everythinng you need to know about your caputred clips.

Hi John,

I'm using both Live Movie Maker and also Vegas Platinum.
You can read all about the DVR-MS format from Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVR-MS)

I'll try HDVsplit to see what resolution it comes out to be.

I've tripled check the settings on the camera for both recording and playing back and they're set to be the same. As I mentioned earlier, Vegas reports 1440x1080 from its capture, and Live Movie Maker says 720x480 (480p). However, when I play both through Windows Media Player (at 100% of its size) they both come up the same size on the screen and not even close to the full size of my PC screen which is 1680x1050.

Thanks,

I've tried HDVSplit, and have gotten similar results as with Vegas Platinum.

When playing the .m2t file produced, it shows in Windows Media Player with a size of about 720x480. When I imported the file produced by HDVSplit in Vegas Platinum, it reports that it is of resolution: 1440x1080x12 @ 29.97 fps.

I've double check that the camera settings record and play HDV, and also tried on a different Win7 64-bit machine, and the same results....

No one else has similar problems? I can't believe that it is only me.

thanks

If you're capturing to an M2T file, that file is indeed HDV 1440x1080 as it should be. But I noticed you state have a 1680x1050 monitor. Are you aware that HDV will be displayed letterboxed on that monitor? The reason is that HDV has an aspect ratio of 16:9, but your monitor is 16:10. Also, widescreen DV (720x480) also has the same 16:9 aspect ratio as HDV.

Another point, were you to view identical HDV and DV widescreen clips fullscreen, they both would take up the same screen area. The only difference is that HDV will be dramatically sharper and more detailed.

In the camera menu settings (in VTR mode), be sure that "i.Link Convert" is set to OFF, by default it is typically set to convert HDV to DV on 1394 output

Jeff Pulera

The default setting is OFF, but it certainly could have gotten switched at some point. But if Vegas is reading his footage as 1080 (and it's an m2t file), then that isn't the issue.

It's likely mostly an MS issue, as neither WMM (any version) or WMP handle HDV well. And it's sort of moot as you wouldn't want to use either of these for HDV anyhow (DV is fine, though). And because the monitor can't handle 1080 HDV, the player is likely rescaling.

You really need the right tools for the job. You can try to make toast in a microwave or bang in a nail with a screwdriver, but it rarely works out well.

Thanks for the info. It looks like WMP is not to trust with HDV.

I downloaded/ran Media Player Classic (http://mpc-hc.sourceforge.net/), and at 100% it shows at the expected resolution.

Sorry for the false alarm and confusion.