Why is Sony Vegas not "seeing" my camera?

Soundhaven wrote on 2/16/2015, 4:54 PM
Hi, total newbie here.

I am trying to import video clips from my Canon FS200 camcorder. I have plugged the camcorder into my PC, and the device shows up on my PC, i.e., I can see the video files on the F drive on my PC. But when I open the Device Explorer in my Vegas project, it says "no device connected." I went on the Canon website to see if maybe I needed to download the driver to the FS200, but it said no driver was necessary for my PC (which is a Lenovo Z710 Ideapad running Windows 8.1).

On the camcorder, I did select "PC/Printer" as the device on which I wanted to view my video clips.

Any ideas as to why the Device Explorer isn't seeing my camera?

Thanks!

Comments

vkmast wrote on 2/16/2015, 5:52 PM
Remember this?
http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/forums/ShowMessage.asp?Forum=12&MessageID=823636
and read 3 last posts in
http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/Forums/ShowMessage.asp?Forum=4&MessageID=853051
or
here with SDcopy d/l link

Read this one as well.
Steve Grisetti wrote on 2/17/2015, 7:32 AM
Have you tried just moving the MOD files from the cam to your computer using Windows Explorer?

Once you do, you can just use Movie Studio's Import Media button to bring the files into your project?
Soundhaven wrote on 2/20/2015, 6:34 PM
Guys,

First, thanks for your suggestions. To me, it's pretty weird that Vegas is not seeing my device at all, and I need to deal with these work-arounds...but so be it.

I tried the first suggestion of going to Project > Import Media and selected All Media Files in the "Files of Type" dropdown. No luck. Nothing shows up. And I was having the program looking into the device (my camcorder) on the F drive, in the very folder where my Explorer says the files are located (i.e., my computer sees them, but Vegas does not).

THEN, I copied and pasted the files from the device to a folder on my C drive. Again, going to the Import Media function, Vegas doesn't see the files.

So I take it Vegas just doesn't see MOV files at all, and I need to convert them using that SDCopy process? I'll do it. But it just seems sort of crazy.

What's even more odd about this is that I bought my version of Vegas in August 2012 and inadvertently installed it on a computer that didn't have enough RAM to keep up with it (which I why I only got so far in the process back then). But on that computer, Vegas had no issue seeing my camcorder. I have since gotten a new computer with a ton of RAM, running Windows 8.1. The issue with Vegas recognizing these same files is only happening on the new computer.

If anyone has any more advice, I'd love to hear it.

Thanks!
vkmast wrote on 2/20/2015, 6:57 PM
>>>"Project > Import Media and selected All Media Files in the "Files of Type" dropdown. No luck. Nothing shows up."<<<

Did you try to select "All Files". You need to scroll up, it*s the first one there. I do mention "All Files" (*.*) in the 2nd thread I linked to. It's the 3rd post from the bottom.
You can also right-click and select View > All Files in Movie Studio Explorer.
All my MSP versions (10 to 13) recognize "mov***.mod/.moi" files. Win 7 64.

I used SDCopy for years with my Canon FS100 (SD) camcorder .mod/.moi files for reasons explained in the "here with..." linked article.
One reason is that it sets the widescreen flag.
dancinglil03 wrote on 2/20/2015, 7:11 PM
Does your camcorder have a SD card?
Soundhaven wrote on 3/17/2015, 10:10 PM
THANK YOU SO MUCH! I've been away from my project for a while (obviously), but I finally figure out what you were talking about with the All Files, scrolling up to that option which is not visible. Awesome. Really appreciate the help. I think I'm good to go.
Chienworks wrote on 3/18/2015, 10:09 AM
" To me, it's pretty weird that Vegas is not seeing my device at all, and I need to deal with these work-arounds...but so be it."

In my humble opinion, the method of using Windows' explorer to copy files to the hard drive first is always faster and easier than any other method. It's been my experience that most of the time the methods for having software communicate directly with the camera involves way more complication, effort, and time. I've see this for every camera i've ever used or that anyone i know has ever used, for the past 20 years.
vkmast wrote on 3/18/2015, 1:18 PM
Good.
Of course, as Chienworks points out, using Windows' explorer to copy files to the hard drive first you can then also see All Files at a glance. And the OP would not have had to worry about "Vegas seeing" his camera. As dancinglil03 suggests, the OP has an SD card, so that's not a problem. There was also built-in memory in some of these models. For transferring movies Canon included their own Pixela software, which I never installed.

Now remember that if your video was filmed in 16:9 widescreen format you may need to change its pixel aspect ratio so that it displays correctly. Right-click on the file in the Project Media window, go to Properties > Pixel aspect ratio and select the appropriate ratio for your desired output (e.g. widescreen DVD for a PAL Europe/UK, select PAL DV Widescreen).
Or get the Vasst Fasst Apps Property Assistant plug-in ($/£/€ 10ish from Purchase Partner Products on this site) to batch change the pixel aspect ratio in MSP. You need to have MSP 12 or 13 build 879 or 943, not 932.
Or use the free SDcopy to import to your computer and set the widescreen flag there. This program renames .mod files to .mpg files and maintains the 16:9 ratio. You can also let it rename the file to show file date and time automatically.

Soundhaven wrote on 3/18/2015, 11:34 PM
Thank you both. Super useful information.