Has anyone tried the trial version of pp cs3 yet?

I have also been trying to download that!

Cheers Darren.

Darren,
I have used PP CS3 at home on a test machine, but I just got my A1 last night, and have not tested HDV footage on it yet. From what I understand in reading other threads, the CS3 Trial does not allow HDV editing/capturing I guess. I am at work, and cannot confirm for sure, but that is what I have heard.

Thanks Luke!

Darren

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showpost.php?p=703734&postcount=5

PP CS3 trial has definatly HDV disabled.

Well guys,
I have managed to download some HDV footage as per Ivans tutes, but the footage when exported looks like it has been thru a hall of mirrors in terms of wavy at certain points.
it was captured as mpeg and I was trying to export it as a windows media item- or something similar- sorry I am at home now and don't have access to pp2. can anyone give me some pointers on this please?

N.B. the original footage had a bit of "jumpiness" but I think that it is due to it being the begining of a tape that I have been messing about with,trying to get all this lot sorted out!

Darren

Darren,

Try exporting as MPEG2 (using HDV preset) with a fixed bitrate of 25Mbs. If you are shooting 24f, use MPEG2 and set progressive scan (no fields) in the video encoder parameters.

The jumping in the footage may be from panning if you are shooting in 24f and doing fast pans.

Well guys,
... the footage when exported looks like it has been thru a hall of mirrors in terms of wavy at certain points.
it was captured as mpeg and I was trying to export it as a windows media item- or something similar- sorry I am at home now and don't have access to pp2. can anyone give me some pointers on this please?
Darren

Thanks Maksim,
I will be on the case again when I get to the studio!

Darren

Hi,

I am new to the forum and am just curious about any of those who have used the A1 with PE 3.0. Any issues with 24f/30f/1080i etc...?

I am anticipating upgrading my software in the future, but in the meantime I want to plug away at this entry level editing software.
My camera is on its way and I have to say I will be on this site often to pick up on ideas.

Thanks to those who are able to respond!

Hi Jay, welcome to the forum.

I use PE 3.0 to edit the video taken with my A1 and I am happy with its performance so far. I've had no problems working with 24f and 30f video. The only thing PE 3.0 doesn't do for me is capturing so I use HDVSplit for that. Of all the video editing software that is available in that price range, I would recomend PE 3.0 for sure.

-John

thanks for the reply!

I am glad my software will work with the xh-a1. I guess that means it works with all the frame-rates this camera has to offer?

I don't understand why there are difficulties capturing and I am unfamiliar with HDVSplit. I know there is an HDV captiuring option in the set-up menu when the program opens. What can you tell me about hdvsplit? Are there any links you know of that will educate me?

Thanks again I really appreciate it.

Here's the link to the HDVSplit page. You'll find everything you need there to run it, you will probally need to download ffdshow as well.

http://strony.aster.pl/paviko/hdvsplit.htm

I can't tell you why PE doesn't capture video on my end. I am running Vista so that may be an issue. There is no capture preset specifically made for the A1 so that may be why also. You can try the other Canon capture presets, it might work for you. Good luck.

-John

Thanks John.

It is nice to get feedback on my first thread on this site.

I checked out the HDVSplit site and it seems straight forward so
I appreciate it!

I am still waiting for my camera so once it arrives I will troubleshoot PE 3.0.

Have you edited HDV and then brought it down to SD for DVD? If so, how did the PE 3.0 handle the process?

I know I am pumping out a lot of questions at this point but I think it may be anticipation for the A1's arrival working overdrive:)

Thanks again John.

You're very welcome Jay. I know exactly how you feel, I was on pins and needles waiting for my A1 to arrive.. and when it did I was like a little kid on Xmas morning opening up the box. It's a beautiful camera, you will not be disappointed.

As far as using PE 3.0 to output the HD to SD DVD, I was greatly disappointed in the quality of the video it produced. Also, I think you are limited to the DVD templates that come with PE 3.0, you can't create your own menu system, so that's another downside.

The only DVD authoring application I found that does a very good job is Sony's DVD Architect 4, there was very little loss in the quality of video. The bad news is that Sony doesn't sell DVD Architect 4 seperatly, you have to purchase the Vegas Suite (which runs about $500.00.) A lot of people on here use Vegas and speak very highly of it. Me personally, I find Vegas to be very user-unfriendly so I don't use it. You can download a trial version of Vegas and DVD Architect 4 to see for yourself though.

You also might want to try Ulead's Videostudio 11.. with that you can adjust the bitrate as well as other parameters to improve video quality but from my personal experience it still doesn't come close to DVD Architect 4.

-John

Guys hopefully I am not misunderstanding your issue here.

I see that you are mentioning other apps due to your dissatisfaction with Premier Elements. Elements seems to be more geared to SD. HD is MUCH more complex to edit due to the interlacing.

Have you considered doing the upgrade to Premier Pro which is actually made more for HD? I contacted Adobe and they gave me an upgrade price that was considerabley less than the purchase price. So you get a reduced price and it is similar to use to Elements so it should be easy to adapt.

Just a thought.

I didn't know PE was able to be upgraded to the pro version.

That does sound quite intriguing to me. Especially if the price is right!

Will you be willing to disclose a ballpark figure on the price they offered you for the upgrade over this site?

Do you know if it is a CD package upgrade of if it is a download on their site.

Thanks again for the response!

Jack, Your question is one I still have unanswered. I want to use an HD TV to monitor instead of my LCD displays. Does anyone know of a good quality output solution so that an HD TV can be used as a television monitor?

thanks, Rich

I received an upgrade for $599. They basically knocked off $200 for my Premier Elements 3.0. This is more than what I actually paid originally for the Elements so it seemed like a good deal.

Also, you asked if they sent a CD. They sent a whole new package as if I bought it new. They did the same thing when I bought Elements 2.0. I noticed 3.0 was available right after I bought it. I called them and they looked at when I bought it, then sent a whole new Elements 3.0 package free. I have been very impressed with their customer service.

Thanks again Ray for the reply.

I think the upgrade will be in order once I summon the funds. Sooner than later I hope.

I was wondering if you (John you may have experience with this too) have ever downconverted to SD from HD within the camera. Do you find this image to be better than standard SD? And have you ever used downconverted HD in PE without any problems?

Soon I will have my camera in my hands and I will probably troubleshoot with it until the day it dies, but until then I love to gather input from current owners.

Thanks again

Jay

Hi Rich...

I use this card.... http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/crepro/products/parhelia/apve.php

I changed from an nVidia 7900 recently and haven't looked back. I'm running 2 Dell 24" monitors, 1 15" JVC CRT monitor, and a 26" Sharp Aquos LCD HDTV from this card.

Only downside, but tolerable, is that the resolution of 1600 X 1200 from the card is less that the 1920 X 1200 that the 2 monitors are capable of and the images on the monitor are somewhat distorted. However....I'm trying to get used to looking at the program monitor output on the CRT or the HDTV as appropriate.

Ray: Sorry if I came across as being disapointed with PE 3.0.. quite the contrary, I am very pleased with its performance so far. I haven't done any big video projects with it yet, but with what video I have worked with, I have no complaints as far as editing and working with HD video. The only thing I do not like about PE is the DVD authoring part of it. But that is to be expected I guess with a product of that price range.

Jay: No, I haven't tried downconverting from within the camera yet, so I don't know how good the SD quality is. As far as downconverting via software, from what I have learned so far, it just depends on what your converting your HD video to and what you use to convert it. If I use Windows Meida Encoder to produce a wmv video, there is very little loss in video quality. On the other hand though, if I use PE to convert my HD video to an SD DVD, there is a significant loss in video quality (below SD standard in my opinion.)

To be honest with y'all, I'm probally not qualified to answer or address these issues as I'm still learning myself... I know there are more experienced people on here who would be a better help.. so I'm just telling you what I have experienced so far. As Ray suggested, you would probally get better results upgrading to the pro version, however I do recall reading some threads on here from people who were not happy with the pro version, so maybe you should seek out those threads first before you decide to upgrade. $599.00 is a lot of money :)

-John

Hey guys, sorry I was late responding.

Regarding PP2.0 I agree that there is a lot of buzz about the ability to downconvert. I haven't had a lot of experience doing this as I only recently began editing HD content. However many editing programs struggle with this issue and most people have developed great workarounds to this problem.

This clip I found extremely helpful for Premier Pro.

http://www.esnips.com/web/Premiere-Pro-2-Video-Tutes

I found out some great news while researching. Premier Pro CS3 allows burning HD onto blu-ray so there is no need to downconvert. Even better news. if you have any Premier product, Elements or Premier Pro, the upgrade is only $299. I think that's a great deal. Even better for me. I upgraded to PP in March so they stepped up and upgraded me to CS3 for free!

Just FYI thought you would be interested.

With all my frustrations dealing with FCP recognizing the A1, I was wondering if anyone is using this setup (or close to it...)

Canon XH A1
Shooting HDV (60i & 24f)
Edit with Premiere Pro (2 or CS3) in Mac OS X (on a Macbook Pro)


If you exist, do you have any trouble capturing/editing or issues with Premiere recognizing the A1?

I am using Premiere Pro CS3, Macbook Pro 2.4GHZ, 4 Gig ram. I have only captured small clips (less than 5 minutes) in both 24f and 60i without problems. There is no preview on screen for some reason (apparently intentional as this is documented by Adobe) so all previews must be through camera.

The only "glitch" I have noticed thus far (less than two weeks with the program) is that when exporting the program will sometimes return an error message "failed to render a frame" and will not export. Closing and re-opening the program fixes the problem. For me only a minor inconvenience, for professional maybe a different story.

Also be aware that all export options are h264, quicktime variations, MPEG 2 and flash but no WMV. Again, fine for me, but maybe not as many choices for professionals.

Hope this helps.

I am using Premiere Pro CS3, Macbook Pro 2.4GHZ, 4 Gig ram. I have only captured small clips (less than 5 minutes) in both 24f and 60i without problems. There is no preview on screen for some reason (apparently intentional as this is documented by Adobe) so all previews must be through camera.


And this is all in HDV? as opposed to SD/DV? I saw another post saying something about no HDV preset available or something along those lines.

Thanks for your input Fred.

Rich, since you already are familiar with Premiere Pro 2, you might consider a Matrox RTx.2 system. My colleagues who are using this accelerator board report very pleasing results...and there are several vendors offering upgrade prices for those who already have an Adobe product.

You'all might check out another thread talking about using either the matrox or cineform or both.:
"Cineform, Matrox, or both" ( 1 2)
Paul Kepen

Very informative comments and a lot of yeahs but a few nays for the Matrox.

Nvidia Quadro Fx-560 has component out (for the ntsc monitor) too.

I've been checking out their web site and looks like CineForm makes several products, two of which are, "Aspect HD" and "Prospect HD".
Any user out there who can tell me the differences in these 2 programs? It seems like a lot of guys are using Aspect with Premiere Pro CS3, and I just want to make sure that is what I should purchase instead of Prospect HD, or some higher level program that has more bells and whistles.
thanks!

Hi, hope someone can help me..

The cam am using, Canon XHA1 PAL.
It´s only when im going to capture HDV, regular DV works fine.
the program telling me that "capture device offline" but i can still
control the camera by play, stop, rew and so on, get picture on cam, but non on the computer ......so why can´t i capture anything?

Playback on cam is set to HDV, HD down-conv set to off.
Win SP2 installed to.
Device control in premiere is set so "DV/HDV device control"
Then canon standard.

i can use cineform alone to capture HDV but it won´t work in 1080 50i.
1080 25F seems to work fine.
But cineform do not show up in premiere pro when installed.

But why can´t i capture any HDV in Premiere?
This drives me crazy!


Does somebody have any clue?

From what I can gather, the main things about Prospect is that it gives you 1920x1080 (vs 1440x1080), 32-bit floating-point effects processing, and 10 bit color editing. I've been looking into these too.

http://www.cineform.com/products/Aspect-Prospect.htm has a nice comparison at the bottom.

CineForm does capture 50i, but you might have an install problem. Try capturing using the external tool HDLink, that will help remove any questions regard your camera connecting to the PC in HDV mode.

Hi David.

Yes, the external tool HDlink recognize the camera and i
can capture 1080 25f.

Maybe it´s something weird whith premiere?
I haven´t been able to take the captured HDV materials from HDlink
and editing in premiere, it just turns green in the preview window.

But i have no problem capturing regular DV in premiere and editing that.
it´s just HDV materials that won´t work.

Try to install this:

Thanks, but already have that istalled.

Hi David.

Yes, the external tool HDlink recognize the camera and i
can capture 1080 25f.

Maybe it´s something weird whith premiere?
I haven´t been able to take the captured HDV materials from HDlink
and editing in premiere, it just turns green in the preview window.

But i have no problem capturing regular DV in premiere and editing that.
it´s just HDV materials that won´t work.

Sounds like you are missing the CineForm importer within Premiere. If a re-install does work, please contact CineForm support.

Reinstalled premiere, now it works! thanks for the help! ;)

There is no initial preset for 24fps in HDV, but it correctly interprets the footage as 23.976fps and you can export to 24fps. There is a preset for 25fps that may reduce render times... I'll check it out and let you know. I have not had any problems yet, but I have only exported short clips. 60i works fine also.

I have attached a screen cap of the preset dialog at startup as an FYI.

Forgot to upload...

Hey Everybody,
This is one of my only posts here, but I've been lurking for some time and I must say that I have learned a lot!! I'm hoping that all you experts out there will be able to lend a hand and get me up and running!

I've had 2 Canon XH-A1's for about 9 months now, and have basically shot everything in SD because I mostly do weddings and events and everybody pretty much wants it on a standard DVD. I've used the CS2 Video Suite from Adobe for about a year. I recently upgraded to the new Adobe CS3 Master Collection, and have been very happy with everything except that I can't capture from my XH-A1! Weird huh?

Today I shot some footage in 30F HD, and I went to capture. I shot it only to test the capabilities of the camera and the new adobe collection. When I plug my camera into my computer via a firewire cable, load up Adobe Premiere Pro CS3, and go to the capture window -- it says:

"Can't Activate Recorder. Try Resetting the Camera"

Well poop. That's no good! So I reset the camera. Turn it off, turn it on. Close PP3, turn off my computer -- basically I tried every combination of things to try to get it to recognize my camera. I mess around inside of the camera menu when I'm in VCR/PLAY mode. Nothing seems to work.

Something else that's weird -- for some reason, my computer isn't recognizing the camera at all!! I plug in a cheap little DV camcorder, and I can capture fine. But it doesn't even recognize my XH-A1 now!! When I plug it in, it doesn't make a sound at all. Usually when I plug in hardware, the windows sound comes up and it asks me what I want to do with the hardware -- but when I plug in the XH-A1....no such luck.

I'm really discouraged right now, and I'm hoping that someone out there can help me. Anything that you can recommend would be greatly appreciated! Thanks for your help!

In that case the problem is not adobe cs3, it could be the way you connect your camcorder, try it in this way.
Turn everything off
first connect the firewire cable to your computer
connect the firewire cable to your camera
turn on the camera
turn on the pc

if that doesn't work, try connecting the camera to another pc, if that doesn't work either, the problem might be with the firewire connection of your camera.
If it does recognise, then the next step could be to replace the firewire cable.

The problem could be something completely else but you might try this first.

This is not CS3. I have had the same problem with XP Pro. All of a sudden XP recognized the A1 and - for now - it works. Unstable working situation. Like you, I also found that my very cheap (Panasonic) tourist model is *always* recognized correctly.

I've had no trouble at all capturing from XH-A1 to Premiere CS3- it worked perfectly the first time and every time since. Knock on wood...

i have had the same problem connecting my xha1 tried every way suggested here and later found out that the firewire port on the camera was not working ....good that the camera was only 1 week got it exchanged and now everything works well....

Also, the playback in the camera has to be set for HDV. It could be on SD.

Hi Jordan.
I had the same problem and it turn out that is was the camera with the wrong set up. Look carefull at SIGNAL MENU set Signal to HD. Comp out to 1080i. Recording set up to 1980/480 In sinal set up comp out 11080/480
HD down convert off. Good lock.

Not CS3, check you camera settings. Sometimes you may have to play the tape from the camera's transport controls to force the camera to recognize and set itself to SD mode. Get's stuck in HDV mode sometimes.

From your description my money is on the fried firewire port. These small 4 pin ports are joke and don't take well to heavy cables, twisting and torquing on thinly insulated contacts. One wrong pull with a live camera and Zap it's off to the repair shop. I've had a few casulties. (My latest was an HC1, to the tune of $400 in parts and labor).

It would serve you well to get an HV10 as a ingest deck.

I love my A1, but....
it has been the most problematic of any cam I have ever owned in terms of capturing to the computer. I run two Sony VAIO's on XP Pro, and a Fujitsu laptop running Vista Home Premium and always had a problem until I installed CS3 Master Collection. Now it works (???) just fine, but will sometimes on occasion not be recognized. My Sony VX2100 and Panny GS400 NEVER have any such issues.
It's the cam. It's much more sensitive than other makes, for some reason. I have not bothered to get a Canon HV10 or HV20 yet, as I am concerned that it too will have the same connectability issues as the A1. Why the Canon A1 seems so finicky and my Sony is such a model of excellence when it comes to being recognized by the computer that I am using, I will never understand. It seems to be an area where Canon needs to do some more homework.

In terms of fixing it, mine did start to recognize the A1 after I had a friend help clean out a lot of old files, add Norton Anti-Virus, tack on a couple external drives for backing up to, etc. Somewhere along the way we fixed the problem--cannot say for sure why, but now all works well. The CS3 was done about the same time.

I have almost never had the problem on PP2, once or twice it took turning the computer off and then on and then the camcorder. However I have done all of my projects in HDV and run well over 60 tapes through without incident.

I should be installing CS3 as soon as I finish the latest project, hopefully next week.

Bill in Ohio

I also ran into problems. It was the firewire port on the A1. One day it worked and the next day it was dead. Camera has to go back to canon to fix.

Thanks everybody for their replies -- I guess there is no easy fix for this problem. However, I fiddled around with the camera for a good while, switching it on and off, unplugging and plugging and finally windows picked it up and it asked me if I wanted to capture with Premiere. I said yes, and it took me to the capture screen where i was able to capture some stuff.

However, HDV is still giving me trouble. I got it to capture a little bit, but I'm not sure that I'm using the right settings. I know that they came out with some A1 presets for 2.0, but do they work is CS3 as well? If you don't recommend me using those presets to capture HDV footage, what do you recommend?

Thanks everybody for their help, I really appreciate it!