Sanyo xacti VPC-FH1

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Level 1

30 points

Sanyo xacti VPC-FH1

Hope someone can help me.
I have recently started using the above camera and am trying to edit clips from it within FCE 4.0.1. I am a complete novice at both recording and editing. I have been searching the forums and just finding that any answers I am reading are just leading me to more confusion.
Can someone please let me know what resolution I should record at on the camera to achieve the best and/or achievable result within FCE.
FCE at the moment does not even see the camera in log and transfer. I think the camera is AVCHD but not actually even sure of that.
Video generally just seems to be awash with abbreviations and alternatives that to me are undecipherable. Even the FCE manual seems unintelligible to me - hopefully I will learn and understand at some stage. But until then, help.
My latest attempts have been at 30fps and even at that resolution FCE seems to be struggling. The viewer seems ok but the canvas viewer runs very jerky. My mac (Mac Pro 2.8GHz 8 Core 6Gb RAM) should definitely be up to it. I would prefer to use the full 60fps option but after looking at some forum posts that would seem to be too problematical.
Where do I start to understand this stuff, can someone give me a quick dummies guide?
Thanks in anticipation.

Mac Pro 2.8GHz 8 Core 6Gb RAM, Mac OS X (10.5.8), + 3G 16Gb iPhone

Posted on Aug 18, 2009 2:50 PM

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Answer 1

Tom Wolsky

Level 10

152,799 points

Aug 18, 2009 3:26 PM in response to Len Gold

Have you done a forum search for Xacti. I believe this camera shoots in a proprietary format and is not supported in FCE. You will need to use something like MPEG Streamclip to convert the media.

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Answer 2

ComPH1

Level 2

165 points

Aug 18, 2009 3:34 PM in response to Len Gold

The VPC-FH1 will work up to 60 Frames/sec - full HR mode. Do not use this frame rate with FCE. It will not work with it. Use "Full HD" rate, of 60 fields per second to start with, specially if you will use TV as the final output device, but the computer monitor will look worse because it doesn't properly de-interlace. You can try the "Full SHQ" at 30 Frames per second, specially if you plan to play the footage primarily/finally back on computers. Use log&Transfer function, and have the "Easy Setup" set for 1920x1080i50(E)or i60 (US). I don't know what you mean by struggling, Mac Pro should not have any problems previewing the footage, but rendering of inputs and outputs of this FCE unfriendly format will take some time. You can also input first into iMovie and transfer the footage into FCE then. The FCE Output time should be quick if you use QuickTime movie output. The Apple Tutorials and YouTube should provide lot of detailed help both for your camcorder and for FCE. start with: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOTodkjB8KQ . Do a search on this forum for your camcorder or HD2000 for already discussed topics.

Message was edited by: ComPH1

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Answer 3

Len Gold Author

Level 1

30 points

Aug 18, 2009 3:33 PM in response to Tom Wolsky

Thank you for the quick response - what do I convert it to?

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Answer 4

Tom Wolsky

Level 10

152,799 points

Aug 18, 2009 3:44 PM in response to Len Gold

What you convert it to depends on exactly what you shot. Convert it to QuickTime using the Apple Intermediate Codec.

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Answer 5

Len Gold Author

Level 1

30 points

Aug 18, 2009 4:01 PM in response to ComPH1

Thank you ComPH1 - this is the sort of practical advice I am seeking. I will ignore the 60fps mode as I will be mainly wanting to output to the monitor. I hope that FCE will at some stage be able to handle it.

My last footage was shot at 'FullSHQ' 30fps. I just changed my "Easy Setup' to 1920x1080i50 and then again to i60 re-connected my camera and still log and transfer doesn't register the camera/clips at all, nothing.

I can drop the files from my desktop into the browser, I have to render them to be able to see them in the canvas. The reason I am saying that the mac pro is struggling is because the canvas output is extremely jerky although the viewer output is ok.

When the above is then exported as a Quicktime Movie the jerkiness has gone but I am not happy with the quality (looks like a lo res photoshop jpeg - I was hoping for good quality from this camera). The file size is massive and takes a very, very long time to export.

Thanks to the link to the tutorials which I have looked at - they seem to address editing functions very well and I am very happy to take the time and put in the effort to learn these. It's the basic importing and exporting that I am having real problems with. As I mentioned, I have searched the forums but the answers are just leading me to further questions.

I will try to import into iMovie first - I was hoping to not have to do that.

Thanks again - any more info would be much appreciated.

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Answer 6

ComPH1

Level 2

165 points

Aug 18, 2009 4:16 PM in response to Len Gold

Since you were using 30p setting, I assume that you are in the US and are using US marketed camcorder, so use the i60 setting. When you are changing the setups, it is bast to trash old setups and sequences and start new ingestion, because otherwise the old settings can be used by FCE. Do not use any 50/25 settings if the above is correct. The coded that FCE is using is AIC, like Tom already mentiones. In the past it was a 30p I-frame only compression, so if it is still so, there will be no difference whether your camcorder is set for 60i or 30p (fields vs. frames) once the sequence is ingested-edited-outputted. I still don't understand what causes the jerkiness you are mentioning. Your Mac is plenty powerful to play smoothly AIC material. Maybe someone one knows more about it than I do, I am sure Tom does.

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Answer 7

Len Gold Author

Level 1

30 points

Aug 18, 2009 4:38 PM in response to ComPH1

Thank you ComPH1 for your quick response again it is very appreciated.

Now I am lost - I am in the UK and purchased the camera in the UK. I have no idea how to trash old setups and sequences. I am also not understanding the rest of your answer - I realise that this is due to my lack of basic knowledge. I will try to improve in that respect.

I tried Tom's suggestion to convert the footage first using MPEG Streamclip and I am very, very pleased to say that this seems to have worked perfectly. No more jerkiness in the canvas viewer and the final result once exported to Quicktime again seems to be excellent quality.

My only query is why I am not seeing full screen on my apple 23inch cinema display, I have black bars top and bottom. Minor thing though.

Massive thanks to you both for your excellent and very prompt help.

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Answer 8

ComPH1

Level 2

165 points

Aug 18, 2009 4:56 PM in response to Len Gold

I am sorry for confusing you. In the UK, you should be using 50/25 Hz system, because the camcorder should be using such vertical rates. In the US, 60/30Hz systems are used. I don't know what your Sanyo is, your manual and spec for the camncorder should tell you. If the streamclip conversion that Tom suggested is working, forget my other suggestions for now and use it. As far as the display goes, is the aspect ratio of the actual video correct? If so, the bars would just mean that the aspect ratio of the monitor is not matching the 9x16 aspect ratio of the video. There maybe a way to reformat the display to cover the whole screen with video, but that would clip off the side eges of your video. This is a common problem with video, because there are also several video formats used. Two are close to 9:16, there is 2.35:1 and of couse 3:4. That is anther long topic. As long as the video aspect is correct, I'd not worry about it at this point. BTW., there is another good tutorial series on the web you may care about: http://www.izzyvideo.com/learn-final-cut-express/ . Best of luck.

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Answer 9

ComPH1

Level 2

165 points

Aug 18, 2009 5:23 PM in response to ComPH1

Here is a reference on general aspect ratios in movies. Of course in TV's the 3:4 (1.33:1) and 9:16 (1.78:1) are used. The black bars, and pan&scan are explained as well. the black bars used to be an issue in CRT (and early plasma) based monitors/TV's because with time the phosphor would actually leave permanent "phosphor burn" bars on the sets, but with new display technologies, this is not an issue. Here is the link: http://events.hometheaterforum.com/home/wsfaq.html .

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Answer 10

Len Gold Author

Level 1

30 points

Aug 19, 2009 1:03 AM in response to ComPH1

Thanks again for all that info - I will try to understand it all.
I have been using the izzyvideo tutorial, really great resource, but it also assumes that there has been no problem in importing and exporting the files in the first place.

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Answer 11

Sep 25, 2009 3:39 PM in response to ComPH1

I am trying to decide whether to get the VPC-FH1. I plan to continue to use standard definition now and switch to HD in the near future. Could you or someone else who views this and has a VPC-FH1 send two 5 sec clips shot with full HD and 640 x 480 to jeffnjoanna@gmail.com so that I can verify that they will work with my systems and see how they look?

Thanks

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