Cheapest HDV-software for Sony HDR-HC1
 

I just got a new Sony HDR-HC1 camcorder. Sofar very happy. It turns out that the camcorder can play my old DVCAM tapes.

Now I need to edit my footage and I wonder what the cheapest software that can edit HDV could be?

I have looked at friends Avid Express Pro 5.0 HD, but the software didn't recognize my camera and I couldn't digitalize my material. Any way to make it work?

What shall I buy? Avid Liquid?
I have a PC-laptop and prefer a cheap software that doesn't require expensive new hardware. Mission impossible?

Kind regards Erik Palm

Believe it or not, the $129 Vegas Movie Studio Platinum will work with HDV and the HDR-C1. I'd recommend getting the big brother - Vegas+DVD for $499.95. It's the full version loaded with features & performance. Excellent stability and works great with all Sony HDV cams.

Avid Liquid works well, but you must have a 256 meg 3D card to support 1080i editing. With Xpress pro you need to download the latest 5.2 version to get HDV support. We'vew got lots of custoemrs using Premeire Pro w/ Cineform Aspect HD as well.

Gary

Strictly speaking the answer is $0 - there are freeware tools that will capture HDV and then convert to an avi format that's then editable with other freeware.

But it would be v. tedious.... and life is too short already! Gary has better suggestions....

HDV-software for Sony HDR-HC1
 

Hi Gary

Can you please explain how to edit with Vegas because my friend have it and I have the HC1 and we tried to transfer mini DV tapes to HDV using my computer with no success.

Happy New Year

Reinaldo

Chances are... they don't have Vegas 6.

If using Vegas 5, get them to download the Cineform ConnectHD demo, which has the HD Link utility for capturing HDV.

If you want real freebie capture utility programs, there's VLC which is also a nice HD player as well as allowing live HD monitoring, and CapDVHS. These two excellent freebies do require a bit of decent computer experience to make work correctly though!!

BTW, are they getting the connection alert (the "bing" sound) and new device found message when the HC1 is connected via Firewire? They may need to load WinXP Service Pack 2 if there's no response from the 'puter when the camera is plugged in via firewire and turned on...

Tried Vegas - didn´t figure it out
 

Thanks for all advice.

I downloaded the Vegas 6 trial software. It recogniced my HC1 but I could neither see my footage nor caputre it properly. I am used to Avid so maybe it is a pilot problem. Bur the manual sucked. Do you guys know any good tutorial or thread?

Kind regards Erik

Why not just capture with D-VHS and then convert to MPEG-2 via HDTVtoMPEG-2 and then to lossless AVI via VirtualDub and Huffy Codec and voila! Import the footage into ANY editing application of your choice... All free apps to get a lossless AVI...

Erik,

Page 4 of the following document shows that Avid does support your camera.

http://www.avid.com/onlineSupport/su...contentID=8927

You may need to upgrage to 5.2.1 versus version 5.0, however. I think you will like how Avid works with the footage quickly and cleanly. I even edit HDV (and other formats at the same time) in multi-cam mode with no problems. My suggestion is that since you like Avid, you should try the upgrade rather than starting from scratch.

Good luck!

Joe Womble

I believe that you must use an intermediate program that comes with Vegas 6. It is called cineform. Please read the Vegas HDV forum for more information. The manual is very good - on paper. You get a paper copy with vegas (at least the pro version does). I hate acrobat manuals.

Try Pinnacle Studio Plus 10
 

Try Pinnacle Studio Plus 10. Uses Liquid program engine, and captures and edits in the m2v video portion of the m2t capture stream, which is a much smaller file than the Cineform AVI files. Nobody seems to want to discuss Studio Plus 10 because they deem it a "consumer editor" but the features are pretty good for limited editing.

Chris Barcellos