Can I transfer videos without the dock?

[sl96734]

Hi folks,

I bought a used Sony HDR-CX12 HD camcorder locally and it didn't come with anything except the camcorder and battery. and looking at the manual, it says to transfer videos to your PC, you need to connect it to the base/dock. so my question is, is it necessary it do this, or can I just get a memory stick usb reader.
thanks a lot in advance.

[Stephan]

In section "Operation flow", the HDR-CX12 manual also says "You can play back images on a Memory Stick PRO Duo by inserting it into the Memory Stick slot on an AVCHD format compatible device such as VAIO".

So yes, I think it should work. Just make sure your card reader is compatible with PRO Duo.

The AVCHD restriction isn't really tied to the Memory Stick, as you may already know. They're just warning you that you need a player, or editing software, that can deal with AVCHD video.

Also, for precaution, I wouldn't make any changes to the Memory Stick contents while connected to a computer. I read people had issues after they had disrupted the directory structure. If you need to erase your MS, better do it through the camcorder menu.

[sl96734]

thanks.
I just want to point out that I was able to transfer the clips to my laptop. you just need (somehow) get sony's pmb installed. if you don't have the original disks, you'll need to start from version 1.1, then upgrade to 3.x, then (optionally) to 5.2; just search for them - i was able to find them.

btw, is this how you would edit an hd video clip? transfer to laptop and using sony's pmb and use option 'convert to mpeg2 and save' ? memory card video recording is new to me, so not sure.

btw, one more question for anyone with a sony that uses memory stick pro duo cards. anyone picked up a microsd card with a sony ms pro duo adaptor? if so, does this work? I actually currently have one - an adaptor with a 2gig (and an 8gb) microsd card, but the camcorder keeps complaining and shows this message: 'This memory stick may not be able to record or play images correctly" for a few seconds' then it goes away, and I am able to record w/out problems and as far as I can tell, it records fine.
any insight would be greatly appreciated. I just hate to record something important and find that the recording is trashed.


thanks!

[Stephan]

You're raising an all-too-important question: how do you edit AVCHD? PMB will apparently let you convert footage to MPEG2 so as to let you use video editing software that only support MPEG2 (e.g. HDV). But some software do support AVCHD editing.

First step is to get the files onto your computer. Once that's done, a whole range of options opens to you - MPEG2 conversion isn't mandatory. But AVCHD editing isn't really tied to this particular camcorder, can I suggest you open a topic in the Editing forum that you could call "How to edit AVCHD". I haven't yet switched to AVCHD myself, maybe some other people can share their experiences with you there.

About your second question, it may be about the camcorder detecting the flash memory speed capacity (they all come in different speeds, that's partly what PRO Duo is about) and somehow thinking it's not fast enough. You need fast flash memory in order to record video. Make sure you're not using a memory card that's too slow (that's why they're cheap), or else it'll fail you in the worst moment possible (Murphy's law ;-)

[sl96734]

ok thanks so much for your input!
I will go check out forums/topics on editing avchd files.

[Stephan]

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