My Sony Hi-8 recordings dropped fine into Sony Vegas (my editor of choice.) Flip Ultra files are in AVI format that need to be converted before dropping into Sony Vegas (I use Winavi) in order to get both video & sound (otherwise you just get a vid track.) From that point on, I'd simply use Sony Vegas (I have Sony Vegas Movie Studio Platinum 8) & everything was fine.

I know I need to change the Zi6 extensions from MOV to MP4 so I get two tracks dropped into Sony Vegas (vid & audio & MUCH faster than having to use Winavi to convert the Flip recordings!) But from that point on...it seems like such an ordeal with changing the settings & such. Perhaps it's because I'm new to HD. Perhaps it's b/c the Kodak uses (what seems to be a relatively new compression method of) H264?

Thoughts?

I did follow the instructions here http://www.vimeo.com/groups/kodakzi6/forumthread:3618 & while it's kind of an ordeal (at least compared to what I normally used to do when rendering) I guess them's the breaks. ;-)

I use the Canon Powershot SX10 which records in the H.264 format in an .MOV wrapper. I have no problem using Sony Vegas 7 and other SX10 users have been using various Vegas versions. I just drop the video on the time line and it is all there. Here is one video I edited: http://www.vimeo.com/2366812

I'm not sure what you mean by "so I get two tracks dropped into Sony Vegas". If your Zi6 only records in mono, which is common, then that is normally no problem with Sony you can create two equal tracks. But there are various h.264 flavors and I'm not familiar with the Zi6.



Rich

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What I mean about the two tracks is if I simply drop the Zi6 mov file into the Sony timeline, I do get two tracks, but the sound is flat - none of those bumpy lines & no sound. But if I simply change the extension from mov to mp4, the audio track appears as it should.

Another difficulty I'm running into is that eventhough my computer is not wimpy, it may not be the best for editing HD b/c when I try to play the tracks in Sony (to find out where to pause/split/cut, etc - all the things you do when editing), it doesn't play smoothly. It skips & makes it difficult to edit. :-(

What kind of CPU do you have?

What kind of "HD" are you trying to edit?
If it's AVCHD, a quad core is the recommended minimum for this.

What's your preview window set to?
With slower computers, Preview/Auto is recommended.

Mike

I'm trying to edit Kodak Zi6 footage (h.264 compression w/AAC audio) on a pentium 4, 2.80 ghz & 1 gig of ram. The preview pane is set to auto. Since I've had no problems viewing footage from many other sources (commercial DVD rips, home brew Tivo to DVD rips, Sony Hi-8, Flip Ultra), but all were standard def. So I'm thinking the high def may be too much for previewing on this computer...???

However, rendering works fine & the rendered (HD) output plays fine on my computer. I guess it's just all the work Vegas has to do when previewing is too much of a load for my computer???

For that type of file and your computer, yes
With all the new codecs out there these days, a quad core is almost the minimum for stress-free editing.
I made the jump over a year ago and was astounded at the speed increase.
For example, a video that took 3 hrs. to render on my P4 (similar to yours) took 30 min. on a quad core.
To me, that was money well spent

Mike

High definition H.264 requires a bit more computer power. Previewing on Vegas will be slower. I notice H.264 Standard Definition is slower previewing on my Veags than DV-AVI. H.264 is more complex.


Rich

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Thanks everyone! (NOT the answer I wanted, tho!) ;-) I can't get a new computer right now, so I guess I'll have to see if the standard def option on the Zi6 previews ok. If not, I guess I'll have to stick with the Flip until I get a new computer and/or simply not edit. :-0