I know that people here recommend to use the Content Management Utility when transferring files from the SDHC or the FMU128 Flash Memory Unit of the Sony NX5 recorder. What I would like to know is if you can transfer these video files on your PC without the use of the Content Management Utility, just use a card reader and copy paste to the desired directory of your PC. Does it work? Are you going to loose anything by this method?

stelios

I've never tried to copy files without using the Sony CMU but I'm sure it's possible...expect a few headaches though. If you record a long segment, your camera will split the files into multiple clips based on time or duration (not sure which one). If you import those clips into your PC without the Sony CMU, the last couple of frames of the split clips will not have audio...by using CMU, it "stiches" the clips back together into one file, thus eliminating the audio problem. Same thing applies when your recording switches from card A to card B. There will be a noticable loss of audio (about one second) when you put the clip together in your NLE, but if you use CMU, it will properely "stich" the file together.

I always use the CMU too. Auto places them in a directory of your choice and renames the files by date and time taken rather then a simple number with no meaning. What reason do you have for not using the CMU?

Ron Evans

OK. Ron you say that it puts the files in a directory of your choice. Does this mean that, every time you create a directory you have to register this directory before you import it with the Sony CMU?

stelios

Yes you have to register the new directory and select when importing otherwise it will carry on using the last directory chosen. If you have a single directory for all your captures there is no need to change as the sub-directory will be the date of transfer anyway. I always set up a project directory for all my projects that contain everything for the project to make backups easier and thus set this directory for transfer.

Ron Evans

Thanks Ron for explaining.
The reason that I asked is because I was going to give someone the SDHC card with all the files for him to use it.

stelios

As I mentioned I have one directory with all the assets for a project, video files, graphics titles etc and I back this file up to LTO3 tape. I end up with a LTO3 tape for the RAW data plus another LTO3 tape with the finished product as well as the SD DVD and a Bluray. Since going all tapeless with AVCHD I have become a little paranoid about backups !!!

Ron Evans

If the m2ts files are smaller than 2GB, then copying directly from the SD card is fine. However for long shoots where the camera breaks the files up into multiple m2ts files, CMU or PMB is required to correctly stitch m2ts files back together. I shoot mostly live music and so I go over the 2GB file limit often.