The camera is not mine, it's owned by a local access TV station, AND I'm not a guy that gets off remembering the alphabet soup of model numbers...however...a little on-line shopping brings me to the camera that looks like the one I use: It's a SONY HXR-5U NXCAM.

Thanks for your interest.

That camera most likely records in AVCHD, if you had it in HD mode. Vegas 9 handles these files natively. You simply copy them to your hard drive, then in Vegas' explorer window drag them to the timeline.

Vegas 7 probably isn't showing files with a .mts extension. You can try setting the file type selection to "all files" which will make them show up and then try dragging them to the timeline. Vegas 7 won't handle them well even if it will open them.

But, to answer your import question, other than copying them to the hard drive and dragging to the timeline there are no other steps necessary.

Cameras usually come with software for transferring the videos to PC which may provide some benefits. For instance I use Sony PMB with my camera because the files are renamed to shooting time and date, which I find advantageous.

Also, long clips may be segmented into two or more files because of the limitations of the file system used on flash cards, and the software may glue these back together again.

AND I'm not a guy that gets off remembering the alphabet soup of model numbers

if you hope to be a pro in this business you'd better start remembering - no flame intended - because shooting with any camera nowadays means it could be any one of a dozen formats, all of which have their own idiosyncrasies and foibles....

Foibles? I had no idea my EX3 has them. I feel so... uninformed.

So to use the foibles do I have to go through the menu, or is there a switch I haven't seen before? Were they there before the last firmware update?

And are foibles interlaced, or progressive?

foibles in my v1p are found when using underscan - and losing 1/3>1/4 of lcd to show full frame.

in my z5 there isn't even a switch or menu for underscan, so the foible in this case is only displayed when editing.

as i haven't used a ex3, i would presume you'll come across your foible when you're least expecting it......

i only hope it doesn't ruin your day.

as both my cameras record hdv, there's no real foibles in the codec (in relation to vegas) . but if you really want to examine a foible and/or idiosyncrasy or two, try a jvc camera recording .mod....

now, as to interlaced or progressive, i'm not sure, but it's bound to be tied up to panning at speed......

have a good weekend!

Thanks everyone! Very helpful!

Chienworks:
It DOES record in AVCHD. Your helpful comments confirm my need to upgrade to Vegas 9 as soon as possible. VERY helpful.
(arf.)

Peter Duke:
Until I get my own camera and/or get the Vegas upgrade, I may ask the studio about software that may have come with their cameras--for transferring videos to PC. I agree that having shooting time and date on the clips could be helpful. For the time being, I'm editing on the studio's huge Macs, using Final Cut Pro. The files off the cards ARE semented, I've noticed, and FCP obviously stitches them back together as you noted.

Ushere: I'm glad you explained that you weren't flaming. It did seem to be slightly above room temperature. The fact is, I don't actually hope to be a pro, per se, if that means someone in the public production for hire business, who must use a wide variety of gear and make it work together flawlessly. I'm more "arts" than "tech"--forgivable by artists, but looked upon with impatient suspicion by some techs, I realize.

When I get my own camera, I'm sure I'll learn and remember the model number and everything else important to know about it (formats and the significance of each for instance).

Until now, it hasn't been an issue because the people at the Public Access use one kind of camera, have trained me on it, trained me to log and transfer into Final Cut Pro, edit, and burn DVDs. It's been a closed loop. Now that I'm trying to crawl out of their loop and edit on my home PC, you're right, I need to know more than I did.

I'll get it. You just met me at a point when I didn't know it all yet.

In any case, thanks for the help.

mtntvguy: I got some comic relief. Thanks.

Again...everyone, really...thanks for the interest and the input. Everything taken together, I got what I needed.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

hey f&t, good luck with it all.....