Best Way To Transer From Vixia HF21 To Win 7 64?

KRyan wrote on 12/13/2013, 5:31 PM
To date, I've just used the transfer utility software (ImageMix) that came with my Canon Vixia HF21 a few years ago. But I've been wondering if that negatively affects the quality of the video. Looking on the site here I see that with Vegas Pro 12 I can use View/Device Explorer.

Are either (or both) of these methods the best way to transfer video from the Vixia HF21? Or is there some better way?

Thanks.

Ken

Comments

farss wrote on 12/13/2013, 5:45 PM
Best way to transfer footage from any camera with any OS is to first make a complete image of the card/disk/FMU/whatever thing the camera records to. Then copy that to another device, unplug that device and put it somewhere safe.

As for the getting into Vegas I really cannot help you as I'm not familiar with that camera however I'm 98% confident in saying neither of the processes you've mentioned will make any difference to the quality as they're just doing a bit copy.
The only thing they may do in addition is to rewrap the data and if needed join files that have been split into chunks. Pretty much whichever works best for you should be fine.

I cannot again stress too strongly the importance of making full image backups.

Bob.
flyingski wrote on 12/13/2013, 6:12 PM
I've found that on a Canon M-500 which is a similar consumer grade camcorder the Device Explorer joins individual files into a single file that results in an audio/video out of sync condition. The out of sync becomes noticeable after about 30 - 40 minutes. If your camera breaks files in the same manner you may want to watch for this. The Canon transfer utility and TSmuxer also produced out of sync files.
KRyan wrote on 12/17/2013, 12:55 PM
Thanks! I started wondering about when taking a Photoshop class and learning about Camera Raw. I wondered it there was something similar in video.

Cheers!

Ken
FilmingPhotoGuy wrote on 12/17/2013, 1:48 PM
I have that camera. I simply take the memory card out of the camera and use a common card reader to download to PC hard drive. It's quicker than the camera.
musicvid10 wrote on 12/17/2013, 2:24 PM
Many video cameras output RAW formats through SDI to outboard recorders and the like. You won't be getting that in your Vixia though. What goes on the card (compressed video) is what gets transferred to your computer, hopefully stitched together correctly.
John222 wrote on 12/17/2013, 3:18 PM
I have the Vixia R10 and I set it to one huge file. I just plug in the usb cable and click and drag the whole file to my PC.