Pany G3 AVCHD files transfer to PC

What is the best way to have the files transferred to my PC, for editing, with a card reader? The Camera battery have have very limited capacity.
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Denis de Gannes

Denis de Gannes said:

What is the best way to have the files transferred to my PC, for editing, with a card reader? The Camera battery have have very limited capacity.

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I always use a card reader. When I first got into digital photography I discovered that if I plugged the camera into the PC to transfer the photos I'd be so excited to have a look at what I shot that I'd forget that the camera was still turned on and I'd end up running down the battery ...

I use those usb dongle thingies that you plug your card into. Much faster transfer rates. Plus its cheap.

Problem is when I connect my card reader with the SD card inserted I do get my computer to recognize the AVCHD files only the raw picture files. Is there something else that I need to do?
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Denis de Gannes

are you looking into the right folder? its part of the stream folder not the dcim one

Look for the .mts files.
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Phil

Ever since I had a PC 'build in' card reader destroy a memory card (and with it all my latest vacation pictures!) I've ALWAYS used the camera to download the files to the PC.

Note that some cameras will be powered by the USB cable from the PC (but cameras that don't use a standard USB connector at the camera end might not support this feature).

I purchased the camera in the UK. I tried using the software provided with the camera and it does see the AVCHD files but it refused to up load to the PC saying the files are PAL format and my system is NTFS. a. Is there a way to correct this? and b. have future video captured in NTFS.
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Denis de Gannes

kscharf said:

Note that some cameras will be powered by the USB cable from the PC (but cameras that don't use a standard USB connector at the camera end might not support this feature).

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Are there really cameras which can do that? It would be a cool feature, one that should rate a mention in reviews.

Pal format is 25p right? Check camera settings to see if you can shoot video in something else. i dont have a g3, not sure. Video editing software should still read pal format though, I have no clue why it doesnt.
You mean ntsc, not ntfs, right?

Denis de Gannes said:

I purchased the camera in the UK. I tried using the software provided with the camera and it does see the AVCHD files but it refused to up load to the PC saying the files are PAL format and my system is NTFS. a. Is there a way to correct this? and b. have future video captured in NTFS.
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Denis de Gannes

Click to expand...

Denis, what software do you want to use to edit or view your videos with? One thing you can do is download VLC, a free media player from http://www.vlcmediaplayer.org/download.html . This will play the AVCHD .mts files directly and is available for PC or Mac computers.

You can copy the files from the memory card using the O/S itself, i.e. plug in your camera or card reader using a USB port and use File Manager (or Finder on Mac) to copy them to your hard disk. The AVCHD files will be in the path PRIVATE> AVCHD> BDMV> STREAM on the SD card.

VLC will not care that your files are PAL.

One tip - if your files are shot in interlaced format, e.g. 50i, there is a deinterlace function in VLC that will make them look much better. If shot in 720p this does not apply.

Some video editors will not recognise AVCHD files unless the whole folder structure on the card (from PRIVATE or AVCHD down) available. Final Cut is an example but since you are using a PC this will not worry you.

As far as I know there is no way to make a PAL G3 switchable to NTSC, except for direct output to a TV, which is a standard menu option. There is a hack for the GH2 which will do this but not the G3 as far as I know.

Hope that helps get you started anyway.

• Rick

Thanks for the info Rick. Just to clarify I am attaching of the screen shot of the error I am getting. My main concern at this stage is to set the camera to record in the NTSF format.





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Denis de Gannes

OK I found the menu item on the camera to change the record format to NTSC. Also got a software program that will convert the PAL files to NTSC on my Mac.
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Denis de Gannes