Movie Edit Pro 14 won't recognize my Hitachi dz-hs300e dvd camcorder

dogerdy wrote on 4/6/2014, 8:15 AM

I've bought a secondhand video camera a Hitachi dz-hs300e a hybrid dvd/hdd camera. It came with no software ( Imagemaker 3 ) nor can I find an alternative product.

I've been using Edit Pro 14 for many years and quite like it, if I download a free trial will it conflict with the program already installed. I'm useing the camera to convert about 9000ft of Super 8 and regular Std 8

to video. Currently I'm videoing to the HD and then dubbing to dvd+rw disc then on my Samsung DVD Recorder copying to the HD to burn back to 12cm discs. It would be quicker to go from the camera to Magix and edit then burn. As an 82 yr old I want something I'm familier with and easy.

Any suggestions ??

A happy Magix user.

Frank Woodward

Comments

johnebaker wrote on 4/6/2014, 11:07 AM

AFAICS the c ameras HDD should appear as another drive in Windows Explorer when connected to the computer by USB cable.

If so you should be able to copy the video files from the camcorder direct to the computer hard drive and then import them into Movie Edit Pro.

This will cut out the need to write to mini DVD in the camera and then copying to the Samsung DVD recorder HDD to burn onto DVD.

Movie Edit Pro 2014 is very different from MEP 14, the interface is very different and many of the functions are on different menus, etc. It is possible to have mutiple versions of MEP on a computer - they do not interfere with each other.

You need to check if you have sufficient free hard drive sace for MEP2014 and still have plenty free for the video files.

Using a home video camera for recording film footage may give rise to scrolling horizontal black bars in the recorded footage, this is caused by the camera and film projector not being synchronised and is virtually impossible to eliminate.

For the most important Super 8 and Std 8 film footage I would consider have it professionally digitised - obviously this comes at a cost.

The camera software is available from the Hitachi web site see here

HTH

John

browj2 wrote on 4/6/2014, 11:29 AM

Hi Frank,

You have a big job ahead of you. I have been procrastinating about this same thing and I'm 20 years younger than you. I have a lot of both Super 8 Sound and regular 8 film to get into the computer and I keep putting it off. On that subject, I have found that the filming from the reg. 8 projector using my old Optex video transfer system (just lenses and mirror) is very poor, so I am planning to scan the film on my film scanner, about 20cm per shot, and use the 8mmtoAVI program to transform the images into video. I have done some and the result is much better than camera transfer - I can see the images. But this is a different problem.

For Magix Edit Pro (MEP), the latest version is 2014 and you can download, install and try out the trial version. There are some limitations and I don't know if Import is one of them. Each upgrade/version is completely separate from any previous versions and is a stand-alone. I have MEP 17, MX, 2013, 2014Plus, and Pro X6 installed and they are all separate programs. So go ahead and try it out.

What is your computer operating system and the specifications of your computer? Check the minimum and recommended requirements on the Magix site. Recommended is really below a happy minimum.

I'm not sure that I follow your present method. You say that you are videoing to the HD. By this do you mean the HD of the camera and then dubbing to a DVD on the camera? Then you put the DVD into your computer DVD and copy the files to your computer Hard Disk and finally treat and burn the result using MEP to a DVD? Is this correct?

If so, then try out MEP2014 to see if you can import the files from the camera HD to the computer HD through MEP. Let us know the result.

I presume that you will want to do some editing once you get the files onto your computer. MEP is great for this. As a minimum, you will probably want to do some colour correction, remove bad sections, add titles and transitions, chapters and menus before burning. With the Super 8, if it is with sound, you will want to do some sound editing/cleaning as well. Finally you will probably want to do some dubbing - adding narration and music. If you only want the basic tools and effects and transitions and not many tracks, then MEP2014 is the solution (assuming that you can import your videos). If you think that you will do a lot of editing, the Plus version may be more suitable. Right now and until April 10, Magix has a special deal on MEP2014 (regular) that includes Video Sound Cleaning Lab and Vasco da Gama 6 HD Pro, for 50$ approx. This looks like a great deal, so you might want to get on this right away and try it out.

Let us know how you make out.

dogerdy wrote on 4/8/2014, 8:03 AM

Thanks you 2 for a speedy reply to my query.

I downloaded MEP2014 and yes it recognized the Hitachi camera, and I moved a clip from the camera into the program. I even managed to convert the clip to WMF and replay it. BUT the trial only allows a 3 minute conversion., witch is only fair, it is a trail after all. I wasn’t happy with the black screen and white text, I’m sure that it could be changed as I’m sure that I did it Pro edit 14.

I’m running Windows XP SP3 80Gb HD of which 50% is free, for a monitor I have a 26in LCD TV, I decided to use it as I was only offered £50 PX and it was only 2yrs old.
I project the cine through my Elmo K100-SM, and mount the camera on tripod just so that its lower than the beam, projection distance about 6ft, I set the camera to 4.3 and I get quite good results,

My earliest film dates 1958 and I’m amazed at the quality of the Kodachrome film stock after all the years and Super 8 is even better, I get the occasional flicker but no scrolling lines. I did try a home made transfer box, I made a cardboard box and cut a hole in one side to project through and a mirror at 45Dg and a hole for a screen, that I made out of a white plastic carrier bag, First results were poor as the glass mirror was giving a double vision being silvered on the back, so I bought a wing mirror plastic replacement and the did the trick but you could see the halogen lamp element as a red circle on the screen and it showed up on the video so that didn’t work.

The way that I’m doing it now is ok after all its for the grand children who love seeing Mum & Dad as babies and all the birthdays & Christmas’s they did. Its been a long trip
Cine, ¾Umatic, VHS mini DV Tape 8cm dvd and now memory cards what next?

Thanks for the link to Hitchi but they only offer an update to the bundled S/W that comes with some cameras they won’t part with the original ( which buy the way is rubbish ). I’m going to see if I can find someone who will do me a copy of the CD that comes with the camera if not I’ll soldier on, I’m half way already.

Thank you very much for your kind replies

Frank Woodward.