Use of SLR for video

[Rik]

Hi Randy,

If you don't mind spending money (and time to use a new program), you 
could go for Adobe Premiere, which has native AVCHD editing since CS4. 
However, you need a lot of hardware. I tried it on my Win7 laptop with 
4GB of RAM and got so annoyed by the choppy real-time editing that I 
ended up transcoding everything to AVI. For the latest version of 
Premiere (CS5.5) you also need a 64 bit computer.

Cinelerra CV, an open-source video editing program, is supposed to have 
AVCHD support. I never used it, but you can download it for free.

Best,
Rik


On 29/05/2011 14:16, Randy LaPolla wrote:
> Hello,
> Before my recent fieldwork in NW Thailand I bought a Sony SLT-A55V (a 
> very high end digital SLR), and its paired mic Sony ECM-CG50 (a 
> directional mic that mounts on top of the camera). I was told by the 
> salesman that it would film for 29 minutes and then you could start 
> again. It takes HD video of amazing quality. It worked fine in the 
> shop and in trials at home, but in the village in Thailand it failed 
> miserably, overheating after only 5-7 minutes (it was about 33 C in 
> the shade). The manual does say that in 40 C it will only last 5 
> minutes, and the 29 minutes is only in 20 C, but the salesman never 
> mentioned that, and I wasn’t aware of it until after I bought it. So 
> one point of this message is to warn anyone thinking of using an SLR 
> for video to think again. (Btw, in contrast a cheap Nikon Coolpix 
> camera that we had had no problem shooting 29 minute videos with clear 
> sound in that heat.)
>
> A second issue is the format Sony uses: I was warned about the 
> proprietary software and format that Sony uses, but assumed it 
> wouldn’t be a problem. Wrong again. The software they give you for 
> working with the videos does not work on a Mac, and the HD files 
> created seem to not be openable by any other software currently 
> available on my Mac other than VLC (which only is for viewing, not 
> editing). From a check of the Web it seems iMovie’08 (which I don’t 
> have) and certain other types of software might be able to play them, 
> or convert them, but there are problems with some of them. Does anyone 
> know what is the best software for working with .MTS AVCHD files 
> (ideally without converting them, if possible)? (There is the choice 
> to create MP4, but I want to keep the HD quality if possible.)
>
> Thanks very much.
>
> Randy
>
> ---
> Randy J. LaPolla, PhD FAHA
> Professor (Chair) of Linguistics
> La Trobe University
> VIC 3086 AUSTRALIA
> Tel.: +61 3 9479-6402 (RCLT) / 9479-2555 (Ling)
> FAX:  +61 3 9467-3053 (RCLT) / 9479-1520 (Ling)
>
> RCLT: http://www.latrobe.edu.au/rclt/
> Linguistics: http://www.latrobe.edu.au/linguistics/
> The Tibeto-Burman Domain: http://tibeto-burman.net/
> Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area: http://stedt.berkeley.edu/ltba/

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