Three huge questions for my Sanyo Xacti VPC-HD2000A and my iMac with iM09

Question

Three huge questions for my Sanyo Xacti VPC-HD2000A and my iMac with iM09

*I have the Sanyo Xacti VPC-HD2000A. This question covers decisions that must be made*

(1) before I start to shoot video,
(2) After I edit my film and prepare it for the next step, and
(3) Before I make that next step.

I have gone through many pages of the User Manual, reviewed my notes taken from this forum, and reviewed the notes that smart individuals who know iMovie '09 (but not necessarily my camera) have given me.

*PART I: Getting the advice gathered from helpful people set into the Preference Options of my HD2000A.*

Person 1 in this forum advised that Using “Full” would take up a lot of space, and therefore to use “Large,“ which yields a good video.

Person 2 in this forum said, ”Well for what you want to do with your output, I would use this setting on your camera: *HD-SHQ: 1280 x 720 (30 fps/9Mbps“*
......but I now am having trouble finding a menu screen that has that setting for me to select. 8-(

Person 3 said to use 720 p at 30 fps because of trouble with the 60 fps. As in the case above, I cannot find the menu screen to opt for this 720 / 9Mbps

I want to make videos for Youtube and my Gallery, not for tv although who knows someday. With that in mind, I am assuming that the above advice is probably agreed with by most of the readers of this forum, but does anyone disagree before I begin shooting and end up later regretting the formatting choice I made?

I want to use High Definition, but it does not have to be the +Tip Top Best High Definition.+ It can be +Pretty Darn Good High Definition.+

The difficulty lies with finding the screens in the HD200A where I can set my options and frankly, dealing with the thick but small little User's Manual which stays open only if I use my huge wide plastic paper clip. 8-(

*PART 2: AFTER THE VIDEO HAS BEEN SHOT AND BEFORE I EXPORT IT TO MY IMAC:*

After I have shot the video, how do I get the footage onto the iMac? I bought a Card Reader. So far I have not seen instructions for what to do, but I will look for them yet again in the User's Manual. If you have the User Manual please tell me what page “Card Reader” info is on, because all I see here is info on which plugs to use for getting the clips _into a television!_

*Part 3: AFTER I HAVE EDITED ALL THE FOOTAGE:*

It was suggested that rather than send it immediately to YouTube or to my Mac Gallery, I should SAVE IT TO MY HARD DRIVE. Then, after that, I can use that virgin saved footage to either my Gallery or YouTube.

However, let's say that the footage is now in my external 2 terabyte Seagate hard drive and I want to send it to YouTube. What do I do? How? Do I send it back to iMovie '09 and then select ”Send to YouTube/My Mac Gallery”?

An afterthought!!! When I have that virgin saved and edited footage in my external hard drive and then want to send it back to iM09, should I make a copy of that footage or does the footage stay there in its virgin form, thus precluding the necessity of duplicating it for the next round of sending to, say, my Mobil Me Gallery?

I realize that this is very elementary and you all are into more complex issues, and apologize for not being quick enough to figure it out or find the right page int this thick manual which keeps trying to flip closed. 8-(

~L (My chest feels lighter now.)

24" Intel iMac 222.8 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 2 GB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM, Mac OS X (10.5), Lexmark All In One printer, copier, scanner & fax. Two dead external hard drives

Posted on May 5, 2010 6:01 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

zyfert

Level 3

610 points

May 5, 2010 7:53 PM in response to Lorna from Hawaii

I have a Sanyo HD 1000 but it looks remarkably similar.
1. Setting up your Sanyo Camera:
Open the viewfinder and turn the camera on.
Make sure the selector switch is in REC (record) mode.
Press the MENU button.
Now use the little SET toggle button below the MENU button.
Find Recording Menu 1 (it may default to this) but you can use the SET toggle left, right, up & down to find it.
Now toggle right and select Movie.
Once that it is highlighted push down on the SET button.
That will reveal all the possible video settings.
On my (HD1000) select the 3rd one down - HD-SHQ 1280x720 30fps.
Push Set.
Now you can explore all the other settings just by using that toggle.
Once you have finished with Recording Menu 1, toggle left, down 1 and you will find Menu 2 and so on.
Lots of things to check and set to your preferences.

The Sanyo kit should come with a USB cable that you can connect the camera directly to your computer.
If it does you will probably find that once you connect and turn your camera on, iMovie will load and offer to upload your video files.
If you use a card reader then once you insert the card reader, it will show on your desktop as an external drive.
You can then load the files directly into iMovie but I prefer to do this:
Create a new folder on your desktop.
Drag/copy/paste the video files from you card reader into this new folder.
Eject and remove your card.
Now open iMovie and click on File > Import > Movies.... and select which files you want to import from that new folder.

Once you have exported your movie project from iMovie there is no need to ever bring it back into iMovie unless you want to re-edit it.
You can save it wherever you like, internal or external drive.
To get it into YouTube, open your internet browser (Safari?) log into your YouTube account then click on Upload.
You then choose which video file you want to upload from your computer and that's it.
Regards, Z.

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Answer 2

May 5, 2010 9:42 PM in response to zyfert

*Zyfert, thank you so much!*

Important note: I have not yet plugged in my Seagate 2 gig external hard drive or my iMovie '09. I have them ready but have not done it yet for fear that I would screw something up. I have iLife '09 in the box still waiting.
________________________________

Ok--- you saved me much time by writing down those steps. I notice that the HD2000A has one extra formatting setting that has a star next to it (to signify its newness). It is 960x540 30fps. I remember now reading in one of many articles that the HD2000A starts by default at one certain setting, but I do not remember which, but at any rate, I have set it, with your help, at the setting that most people here recommended (the one you said to choose).

Although you mentioned uploading files from camcorder to my iMac using the USB cables, my question #2 is still not answered, because _*I wanted to use my Card Reader rather than the USB cable.*_ And thus, my question was (though I failed to ask it!): *How do I set up my HD2000A to transfer the files that I want transferred from the 16 gig Memory Card to the Card Reader?* That is what the User Manual does not mention (that I could find, anyhow). (Oh hey: What if my Card Reader can hold less than the amount of footage I want to transfer? Hmmm. I never thought of that!)

_*One issue is still an issue for me. This is it:*_

I want to keep all of my raw footage and my edited movies in my Seagate 2 terabyte external hard drive (that is why I bought a TWO terabyte drive). As I understand it, when I import files from my Sanyo into my iMac, the iMac will ask me where I want to keep the raw footage and the finished, edited movies. I want to toggle to ”My external Seagate hard drive.“

If I do what you do (put the footage and the edited movie into a folder on my Desktop), then it will be stored on my internal hard drive, which is not where I want to store it. Do you understand what I mean? I hope I explained this correctly. Knowing what I just told you, you would not recommend me making that Desktop folder any more, right? Or wrong? 8-(

*And I now have a new question just thought of:*

It seems to me I could save my raw footage/clips and my edited movies in my external hard drive, or course, but classified in different ways. I could save all my raw footage in one spot and all my edited movies in another spot.

Or... I could save edited movies along with their raw footage clips.

Is there a better way? It seems to me that if I had all my raw footage in one spot, then that could be my library of raw footage that I can go into and use again. See what I mean?

And is it not true that I had better know all of this ahead of time, because iMovie '09 is going to ask me where to send the raw footage and the edited, finished movies? And that I will have to toggle to where I want them stored? And to be able to toggle to them, I have to first create the empty folders for them?

Sorry for all these questions, but I want to be very careful and make sure that everything is already set up and accounted for. When I made my first video out of iMovie '06 years ago, I knew nothing at all and went flying around and ended up losing audio for the movie, and having the movie just ruined, and thus the video in my Gallery has no back up clips. (Unless I can find the little digital mini cassette that has it all.)

~L

Again, thank you so very much for helping me with the formatting. This Sanyo is a terrific little camcorder but it is taking some time for me to understand it

~L

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Answer 3

May 5, 2010 10:08 PM in response to Lorna from Hawaii

Something just occurred to me:

All this time I have been assuming that somehow the little card reader that I bought somehow gets plugged into my Sanyo Xacti VPC-HD2000A and that I had to do something in the Sanyo to transfer the info from the 16 gig memory card to the card reader.

Is this a correct assumption? If not, then I am really misunderstanding this transfer of files business.

~L

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Answer 4

May 6, 2010 1:24 AM in response to Lorna from Hawaii

a card-reader is for reading cards...
1) put the SDcard out of your cam
2) insert into card-reader
3) => iM 'sees' a camera = your recordings ..

-------------

my workflow of storage:
• import from camera, choosing 1st 'Archive' to my main storage-drive 'Morgue' = small 'raws'
• import into iM (=ballooning the clips' size) using my ext., fw-connected HDD 'Workhorse', create Projects
• export finalized projects in my max. quality (720p/6Mbit/sec) to 'Morgue'
• if no need for Projects or Events anymore, filling my 'Workhorse' => erasing them
• frequently backup of 'Morgue' ...

to YT-upload, I use iM's built-in YT-upload feature if Project&files still exist on 'Workhorse', if not, using Quicktime-X's built-in YT-upload feature (open file from 'Morgue' , share/YT), or simply using YT's upload website ...

if I need parts of cam-recording, I can 'Import from Cam Archive', or import any done-project.mov from my 'Morgue'-drive .. if I need just a part of a done-project, I can 'crop' using QTpro ..

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Answer 5

May 6, 2010 2:19 AM in response to Karsten Schlüter

Karsten Schlüter wrote:

a card-reader is for reading cards...
1) put the SDcard out of your cam
2) insert into card-reader
3) => iM 'sees' a camera = your recordings ..

.......... Lorna says ...........................
What?! I bought one item and it came what it called a card reader. My SD card would not fit into that little thing. Look, here is a screen shot of the purchase:

[caption id="attachment_16328" align="alignnone" width="659" caption="My order from Amazon.com"]

[/caption]

It calls it a Card Reader and I presumed that I would stick it into my Sanyo Xacti VPC-HD2000A and all of the files on the memory card would transfer to the Card Reader. I wanted to know what I needed to do in my HD2000A to accomplish that.
......................................................

my workflow of storage:

• import from camera, choosing 1st 'Archive' to my main storage-drive 'Morgue' = small 'raws'

.......... Lorna says ...........................

Ok, I think I understand this to mean that: When the files start flowing into your Mac and your iM09 opens up and asks you “Where do you want to store these clips?” You toggle to the thing that you want to store the clips in. Which means that prior to doing this, you had to create that storage place so that it would be togglable. IS THIS CORRECT? AM I WRONG?

Oh: ”raws“ means ”raw footage“ right?

......................................................

• import into iM (=ballooning the clips' size) using my ext., fw-connected HDD 'Workhorse',

.......... Lorna says ...........................

Karsten, does this mean that _from within your iM09_ you import the clips from your “Morgue“?

Also, I do not know how to balloon the clips.

......................................................

create Projects

.......... Lorna says ...........................

....... you edit within iM09.

......................................................

• export finalized projects in my max. quality (720p/6Mbit/sec) to 'Morgue'

.......... Lorna says ...........................

Should my max quality also be 720p/6Mbit/sec ???

......................................................

• if no need for Projects or Events anymore, filling my 'Workhorse' => erasing them

.......... Lorna says ...........................

I will probably be fearful of erasing anything, thinking I might use it sometime later...
......................................................

• frequently backup of 'Morgue' ...

.......... Lorna says ...........................

I have Time Capsule, one terabyte, but I know that Time Capsule is not the same as a backup. Do you backup on DVDs? How do you do your backups?
......................................................

to YT-upload, I use iM's built-in YT-upload feature if Project&files still > > >exist on 'Workhorse', if not, using Quicktime-X's built-in YT-upload feature >(open file from 'Morgue' , share/YT), or simply using YT's upload website ...

.......... Lorna says ...........................

God, I hope I understand this.
......................................................

if I need parts of cam-recording, I can 'Import from Cam Archive', or import >any done-project.mov from my 'Morgue'-drive .. if I need just a part of a >done->project, I can 'crop' using QTpro ..

.......... Lorna says ...........................

I think I'll save this information for the time when I need parts of a camcorder recording. I do not have QuickTime Pro.

THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR THIS DETAILED HELP, KARSTEN.

~L

......................................................

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Answer 6

May 6, 2010 4:33 AM in response to Lorna from Hawaii

• the tiny blue thing in your order is a SDcard..
• you put the blue thing in your cam - this is your record-media, as the 'film' in the analogue-days
• when done recording, you put the blue thing into the white thing
• you put the white thing into the Mac-thing ...

card-readers most people use look like this:

a tiny box with some slots, which allow all kind of 'card' flavours, as Sonys memory sticks, or Cf or SDcards .. a 5€ item ...
your device is some exotic choice, a SDcard plus some 'stick' thing, handy for being small..

---------------------

when I choose 'import from camera, my first step is to click on that:

Uploaded with plasq's Skitch!

the following dialog allows me to choose my storage-device ..

after doing that copy of my Cam's SDcard content, I can import into an iMovie-Event from cam or from archive..

an Archive is a 'copy' or a 'clone' from the SDcards content - if card contains 4GB content, archive is 4GBs in size.
an Import into an iMovie-Events does internally do a conversion, size of that file changes from 4GB to perhaps 40-60GBs... = 'ballooning' file size.. do you have to know that? no, sorry, Lorna for confusing you with detail..

------------------------

as I wrote, my max. quality is 720p/6Mbit/sec .. MY maximum quality, determined by my Camera's specific specs. if you record with higher quality, you perhaps prefer a higher quality setting; or, you don't need such a high setting, 3Mbit/sec is enough for your needs.. I don't know.

-----------------------

no, I don't backup on DVDs, as I told you in one of your many other threads.. MY workflow, MY needs led to the decision, to avoid 'disk jockeying' but using an external harddrive - plug in, use it, plug out.
as I vaguely remember, we had that in one of your many other threads ...

-----------------------

• you can upload to youtube from within iMovie
• you can upload to youtube with Quicktime-X
• you can upload to youtube via a web browser
= difficult to understand? no.

you can upload to youtube from with iMovie ONLY Projects..
= difficult to understand? no.
you can upload to youtube with Quicktime-X ANY .mov file
= difficult to understand? no.
• you can upload to youtube via a web browser
= difficult to understand? no.

there are 'raws' (=SDcard content)
there are Events (=SDcard content imported into Events = 'clips')
there are Projects (=made of 'clips', ready to upload or export)
there are 'mov' (= Projects after exporting from within iMovie)

as I told you, in MY workflow, after a Project is done, finished, finalized, and after I exported it in my max. quality, there is no need to keep it (the Project AND corresponding Events.. ) and fill my harddrives (=my Macs one, and my external 'Workhorse' one).
why?
because the 'movie', the done Project, exists in all its shiny beauty on my 2nd external harddrive, the 'Morgue'.
and because, my raw material exist in all its shiny beauty in my Archive
and because, my Morgue-drive gets frequently backupped onto another drive.. 'mirrored'..

so, worse-case-sceenario, my Morgue failed.. THEN only the last imports miss.. no, they don't, because my Projects and Events exist for a period of time.. so, my Backup has all old raws & movies, my Mac has all actual ones.
=> almost idiot-proof, aside, the house burns down to ground..

--------------------

this ain't rocket-scienec at all.. I just use the tools as intended. I archive. I backup. I use Events&Projects. I export. Done.

iMovie is a 20$-consumer app. I DO 20$ movies! no, less .. 2$ .. 😉

Reply

Answer 7

May 6, 2010 3:01 PM in response to Karsten Schlüter

Karsten Schlüter wrote:
• the tiny blue thing in your order is a SDcard..
• you put the blue thing in your cam - this is your record-media, as the 'film' in the analogue-days
• when done recording, you put the blue thing into the white thing
• you put the white thing into the Mac-thing ...

card-readers most people use look like this:

a tiny box with some slots, which allow all kind of 'card' flavours, as Sonys memory sticks, or Cf or SDcards .. a 5€ item ...
your device is some exotic choice, a SDcard plus some 'stick' thing, handy for being small..

.......... Lorna says ...........................

Karsten, I know that this blue thing is a card reader. That is not what I was focusing on. The Card Reader is that little WHITE RECTANGLE SHAPED THING THAT LOOKS LIKE A FLASH/THUMB DRIVE. Note that my Amazon.com order says “...SDHC FLASH MEMORY CARD with USB CARD READER. The white thing is the card reader.

Here it is again. I think if you click the object, it will enlarge. I hope.

Karesten, I will send this separately and reply to the rest in another post right after this one, in which I will not address this issue of the card reader.

~L

---------------------

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Answer 8

May 6, 2010 3:12 PM in response to Karsten Schlüter

Karsten Schlüter wrote:

(Above this has been addressed in a prior post.)

---------------------

About everything below, so beautifully detailed: I am going to print this out on hard copy so that I cannot misplace it, as files are so easily misplaced when in a sea of other files.

You made me laugh with that “house burns down.” I wanted to tell you, “Karsten, you should sign up with Carbonite. 🙂 🙂

Love,
~L
Mille grazie. 🙂

when I choose 'import from camera, my first step is to click on that:

Uploaded with plasq's Skitch!

the following dialog allows me to choose my storage-device ..

after doing that copy of my Cam's SDcard content, I can import into an iMovie-Event from cam or from archive..

an Archive is a 'copy' or a 'clone' from the SDcards content - if card contains 4GB content, archive is 4GBs in size.
an Import into an iMovie-Events does internally do a conversion, size of that file changes from 4GB to perhaps 40-60GBs... = 'ballooning' file size.. do you have to know that? no, sorry, Lorna for confusing you with detail..

------------------------

as I wrote, my max. quality is 720p/6Mbit/sec .. MY maximum quality, determined by my Camera's specific specs. if you record with higher quality, you perhaps prefer a higher quality setting; or, you don't need such a high setting, 3Mbit/sec is enough for your needs.. I don't know.

-----------------------

no, I don't backup on DVDs, as I told you in one of your many other threads.. MY workflow, MY needs led to the decision, to avoid 'disk jockeying' but using an external harddrive - plug in, use it, plug out.
as I vaguely remember, we had that in one of your many other threads ...

-----------------------

• you can upload to youtube from within iMovie
• you can upload to youtube with Quicktime-X
• you can upload to youtube via a web browser
= difficult to understand? no.

you can upload to youtube from with iMovie ONLY Projects..
= difficult to understand? no.
you can upload to youtube with Quicktime-X ANY .mov file
= difficult to understand? no.
• you can upload to youtube via a web browser
= difficult to understand? no.

there are 'raws' (=SDcard content)
there are Events (=SDcard content imported into Events = 'clips')
there are Projects (=made of 'clips', ready to upload or export)
there are 'mov' (= Projects after exporting from within iMovie)

as I told you, in MY workflow, after a Project is done, finished, finalized, and after I exported it in my max. quality, there is no need to keep it (the Project AND corresponding Events.. ) and fill my harddrives (=my Macs one, and my external 'Workhorse' one).
why?
because the 'movie', the done Project, exists in all its shiny beauty on my 2nd external harddrive, the 'Morgue'.
and because, my raw material exist in all its shiny beauty in my Archive
and because, my Morgue-drive gets frequently backupped onto another drive.. 'mirrored'..

so, worse-case-sceenario, my Morgue failed.. THEN only the last imports miss.. no, they don't, because my Projects and Events exist for a period of time.. so, my Backup has all old raws & movies, my Mac has all actual ones.
=> almost idiot-proof, aside, the house burns down to ground..

--------------------

this ain't rocket-scienec at all.. I just use the tools as intended. I archive. I backup. I use Events&Projects. I export. Done.

iMovie is a 20$-consumer app. I DO 20$ movies! no, less .. 2$ .. 😉

Reply

Answer 9

zyfert

Level 3

610 points

May 6, 2010 5:32 PM in response to Lorna from Hawaii

Lorna,

Your posts are so complex that I'm not sure whether you have understood what 'card reader' is even though Karsten explained it in detail.

A card reader is purely an adapter that lets you plug in an SD card into a USB port. It does not hold or store any information, purely adapts your flat 9 pin card to the USB port, like letting you put a square peg into a round hole.
Now as I mentioned in my previous post, you do not need a card reader because your camera does it for you.
Try this:
Plug your camera dock into your power supply and connect the USB cable to your computer.
Now set the camera switch on the back to 'Play'.
Place the camera into the dock.
It will now just start re-charging the battery until you press the button (with the squiggly arrow) on the base of the dock.
Your camera now acts as a card reader and will show as an external device called XACTI on your computer's desktop.
Click on XACTI.
That opens a window with a folder called DCIM.
Click on DCIM.
You will now see a folder called SANYO.
Click on that.
You will now see all the video/photo files on your SD card.
It works exactly the same as the card reader.
You can now choose to import some or all of the video files into iMovie by opening iMovie and then File > Import > Movies....
You can also drop any still photos (jpegs) you have taken into iPhoto.
You can save the folder to your external drive.
Try it, nothing bad will happen.
Z.

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Answer 10

May 6, 2010 7:50 PM in response to zyfert

Zyfert..... I think I understand a bit better what a card reader is now, but still and all, if you look at the picture I included in my previous post, that white thing that looks like a white cigarette lighter is, according to Amazon.com, a card reader.

The reason I bought a card reader is that in reading many many Xacti articles, I learned that some people had problems uploading film clips from the Xacti to their computer. The problem, they reported, was in their DOCK. The only solution was: Use a card reader.

I will print out the rest of what you wrote for if in case my Dock does actually work the way it should. 🙂

~L

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Answer 11

May 6, 2010 7:59 PM in response to zyfert

Dear Zyfert-- Your detailed explanation is great. You and Karston should get little gold medals! Anyhow, I want to make sure about something you wrote. You wrote:

You can now choose to import some or all of the video files into iMovie by opening iMovie and then File > Import > Movies....

.......... Lorna says ...........................

I just want to make sure: This transfer of the clips has to originate from my opened up iM09, yes? I cannot grab those clips in the folder and drag and drop them into iM09, right? Or can I? I ask because I need to know just how precise I have to be with iM09. I was told that it has its own little tracking system, and if I break the track, my files can be lost forever. I know this to be true -- I lost files and audio several years ago, and that burned me enough to make me want to know precisely how things must be done.

I also ask precise questions because I am not familiar with my Sanyo or iMovie '09 or even videotaping in general, aside from that one video of my dog that I shot way many years ago with iM06. In those days,because I did not take precautions and learn beforehand, I screwed up my footage and lost audio etc etc as I already said.

~L

You can also drop any still photos (jpegs) you have taken into iPhoto.
You can save the folder to your external drive.
Try it, nothing bad will happen.
Z.

Message was edited by: Lorna from Hawaii

Message was edited by: Lorna from Hawaii

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Answer 12

zyfert

Level 3

610 points

May 6, 2010 8:00 PM in response to Lorna from Hawaii

Yeah card readers come in all shapes, sizes and colors.
You'll probably find that it is a multi card reader with slots that take not only your SD card but micro SD and perhaps other types of cards as well.
The end result is the same, it's just an adapter to transfer your card contents to your computer via the USB port.
I have had no issues with my Sanyo dock.
Sometimes I use it, and at other times I can simply plug the SD card into the SD card slot in the side of my macbook pro.
Z.

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Answer 13

May 6, 2010 8:13 PM in response to zyfert

Zyfert, if I decide to use that Card Reader/Adaptor, how do I do it? Is this correct:

1. I connect the USB cable to the card reader and plug the card reader into my iMac.

2. Then what must I do to get the files to start uploading to the iMac? Do I press a button on my Sanyo Xacti VPC-HD2000A ? Sorry sorry sorry sorry...... 8-(

~L

Reply

Answer 14

zyfert

Level 3

610 points

May 6, 2010 8:16 PM in response to Lorna from Hawaii

Lorna from Hawaii wrote:

I just want to make sure: This transfer of the clips has to originate from my opened up iM09, yes? I cannot grab those clips in the folder and drag and drop them into iM09, right? Or can I? >

Yes that is correct.
Import your video files from your card to your computer first then open iMovie and go File > Import > Movies...
iMovie will then open a window where you can select from where on your computer you want to import those videos.
Choose the folder with all your files.
You can then either select all or just some of the files.
You also get to choose whether you want to create a new event or to add the files to an existing event.
You can choose a name etc, etc.
Just open iMovie and try it, you don't have to import anything, just go through the process and you will see what's involved.
Depending upon how much video you will be taking, you could store all your raw video on an external drive in case you ever need it again.
Regards,
Z.

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Answer 15

zyfert

Level 3

610 points

May 6, 2010 8:22 PM in response to Lorna from Hawaii

Lorna from Hawaii wrote:
Zyfert, if I decide to use that Card Reader/Adaptor, how do I do it? Is this correct:

1. I connect the USB cable to the card reader and plug the card reader into my iMac.

2. Then what must I do to get the files to start uploading to the iMac? Do I press a button on my Sanyo Xacti VPC-HD2000A ? Sorry sorry sorry sorry...... 8-(

~L

No, the card reader plugs directly into your USB port, no cables involved.
Take out the SD card from your camera, plug it into the appropriate slot in your card reader, then plug the card reader into one of your USB ports.
It will show up immediately on your desktop as an external drive.
Click on it and you will see all your video files.
Z.

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