Panasonic HDC-SD9 and iMovie 08 - summary of current issues

Welp, I was able to get video to import in 24p mode into FCE, but I'll admit, the video must have been ever so slightly faster than the audio because after about 5 minutes of the movie there was about a 1 second discrepancy. Pretty cool, I guess, if you want to create an old school kung fu style movie.

The next ****** of this whole fiasco (for me at least) is knowing that I bought the camera on March 31st, from Amazon for $799.98 (a whopping $0.01 under the MSRP). I did manage to get another $103 and change back from them when the price dropped to $695 something within 30 days, but I have continually watched the bottom drop out of this thing and it is now $569.13...I think it is definitely worth $569.13 even if you have to go through the whole Voltaic conversion, but the fact that iMovie (and Voltaic) strip the 5.1 to 2 channel, and iMovie's max output is 960 x 540, I sometimes wonder why I even care that this camera does 1080. Oh, then I get my shining nugget of gold outta this whole thing. My PS3 (we need it cause it's a Blu-ray player, right honey?) plays the .MTS files beautifully. In fact, I can copy the SD card contents to my hard drive, then walk into the living room and pull up the home videos in 5.1 over the network (thank you MediaLink!). Granted, each MTS file is a separate file, so if you hit the record button, record for 1 minute, then stop recording, and do that often, then you'll end up with too many MTS files to keep track of. I usually have a good 4 to 5 minutes between clicks of the record start/stop button, so at worst, I just start a new file every few minutes, and I go through the home movies like that...the kids don't seem to mind (4 years and 1.5 years), so what the heck. I did use the software that came with the camera for a little while though. I was able to merge the videos into larger .M2TS files and that seemed to work well, but on my Dell 2350 (Pentium 4 @ 2.0 with 768 of RAM) it takes a while...if it can get it done at all.

Despite my ramblings, I love the camera...if I weren't able to view the movies at will on the HDTV over the network through the PS3, I would be upset, but that whole scenario gives me this little happy feeling which should last until Apple, or someone, takes care of this without me having to use 3rd party software...

Enough from me.

-John

Actually there is a loss of quality since Voltaic actually converts the video to HDV format i.e. 1440x1080 and not 1920x1080.

Also the audio is, I believe, downmixed to 2 channel stereo.

If the size is an issue - pick up a copy of VisualHub http://www.techspansion.com/visualhub/ $23

You can batch convert all the movies and retain close to the quality - for me they shrink down to about a third of size.

It's all a pain but hopefully we'll see an update soon.

Adding insult to injury, I actually paid close to $200 for Final Cut Express 4, only to learn it is completely useless now, along with iMovie. I appreciate everyone staying on top of this issue. I do not know how to contact apple by phone and ask about this.

I've ordered the camcorder in the hope that Apple sort this out. I need a camcorder, adn this one has great spec, so I am going with it.

I'll keep watching this space myself.

Ok, only 1 day to go before my camcorder arrives!

I'm thinking I will probably need to get extra SDHC cards? has anyone got any good advise about these?

Also, would anyone like to share what other accessories would be recommended ? I'm thinking etra battery or case perhaps?

thanks

Consider a wide-angle lens. The current angle of view provided by today's camcorders seems to be quite small. So, I've found a wide angle lens to be useful to get more of the scene recorded.

Depending on what you aim to film a tripod is a worthwhile investment too. The camera does a great job of removing jitter, but it doesn't remove all of it.

thank you. What should I look for that fits it Wide angle wise?

Also, did you have any advise on SDHC cards?

thank you.

I have had good luck with Class 4 SDHC cards. They are plenty fast enough for a Panasonic HDC-SD5. (Note: If you are trying to do 1080P, then the class 6 may be a better option, but I don't think iMovie will handle 1080P anyway. You would probably need Final Cut Pro or perhaps Express).
Personally I use an 8GB SDHC card, with a 4GB card as a backup. 16GB SDHC cards have been announced, but they are fairly pricey.

With my SDHC cards, I have gotten into the habit of making a disk image of the card, so that I can always go back to the original footage if I need to. The disk images can be imported just like a supported camera. (Don't think the SD9 is supported yet).

thank you very much.

How long can you record on your 8GB?

80 to 85 minutes in 1920x1080i

I too left feedback. I would encourage others to do so. Who would've thunk we'd ask manufacturers to accept responsibility? ^_^;

I'm a new HDC-SD9 owner and am running into the same issues. Have to say that it is quite disheartening to see no response from Apple on this.

I have sent them my feedback to add my voice to the reports.

I don't mind paying a little money to have this support but I would like to see a solution integrated into iMovie without having to execute another step.

I too heard that Perian helps but had no luck on my machine. Looking forward to a fix because I really like the camera.