GH2 Dumping Footage From GH2 Flash to Laptop/PC

J

jrdamien

New member
Long time forum reader, first time poster. I just got a GH2, moving from camcorder to DSLR.

Can anyone advise me on the best way of dumping footage from memory cards or pc so I can get away with using only a couple cards. Cards are expensive and I'll only be able to afford a couple starting out. Thank you much.
 
Create a folder on your drive and copy the entire card structure to that folder. Basically a clone. Name the folder something relevant to the shoot. Thats the basic way without using special software. I highly recommend making another copy as well for archiving that isn't on a hard disk. A RAID 5 or Blu-Ray disk just to be safe.
 
I "drag 'n drop" the MTS files directly to the folder I use on my hard drives to store them until I'm ready to edit. Some editors may require the whole file structure of "support" files but what I use needs only the actual video file.

On first "dump" I copy them to a "project" named folder on one of two external 2TB drives, rename them to something that will mean something to me when I'm ready to edit, copy that whole folder with renamed files to a second external 2TB drive, then do a quick review of random clips on the second drive to insure they are readable and "safe".

I now have the "take" safely on two external drives and when I start editing I copy what I need to the "C" drive and I then have the files on 3 separate drives while working with them.

But a simple "drag 'n drop" or "mark 'n copy" works for me.
 
Well, the best way is to have a computer or laptop with a USB 3.0 port and/or card reader. Otherwise if you just have regular USB 2.0, it could take a while to offload. I just did a shoot where copying 11 gigs to my laptop took around 10min because I only have usb 2. I had 3 16gig cards and a 32gig and I just took a break everytime the card filled up to offload.

And the best way to get more on your card is to use a mild hack or no hack. Sony just released a 64gb card that costs around $35-40. It barely writes 9mbs, so you can't run any high hacks, but stock bitrate, you should get some good time.
 
This USB card-reader works great for both USB 2 and USB 3 computer ports. It's cheap, very fast, and super compact. I own a few of them.

Bruce Foreman said:
I "drag 'n drop" the MTS files directly to the folder I use on my hard drives to store them until I'm ready to edit.
Click to expand...

You run the risk of audio/video drop-outs if you copy video files this way. Most AVCHD cameras write meta-data files along with the MTS files, and the meta-data tells your NLE import utility how to stitch all of the MTS segments back into one long video file. ( manually placing the MTS segments together in your editor won't prevent drop-outs )
 
TheDingo said:
You run the risk of audio/video drop-outs if you copy video files this way. Most AVCHD cameras write meta-data files along with the MTS files, and the meta-data tells your NLE import utility how to stitch all of the MTS segments back into one long video file. ( manually placing the MTS segments together in your editor won't prevent drop-outs )
Click to expand...

I don't do any event work or anything requiring long takes so I just don't run into any situation requiring "stitching" clips together. Plus the NLE I use doesn't have any "import utility" for file based video. I'm using Pinnacle Studio 16 (which is what would have been Avid Studio 2 had Avid not sold their consumer line to Corel). If I did anything that resulted in file spanning I'd likely have to use an external utility (which would require the intact AVCHD file structure) to do the "stitching".

So for me "import" is a simple matter of either "drag 'n drop" or "mark 'n copy".

I do appreciate your advice and concern, though.
 
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