GH2 Is there a hack to change the default directory of my vidoes?

That's pretty much fixed for the AVCHD standard. Sony and Panasonic really screwed the pooch when they invented that wholly unnecessary and asinine folder structure.
 
Sometimes there's a need to do a quickie check on the GH2 mts files after a shoot without going into my usual NLE, in this case being Adobe Premiere, mostly to delete bad takes.

And more often than not, the client will call, after I hand him the files after the shoot, and ask, "Where are the video files???" usually with a sense of panic in his voice.

As convoluted as the .mts file structure is, it's still much better than the P2 file structure used in the HVX-200.... at least you can see the little thumbnail of your video.

With P2 I had to find the thumbnail picture in the icon folder, memorize the file name associated with it, then find the file in the video folder.
 
Fresno Bob said:
Not having to convert file formats would be faster...
Click to expand...


99.9% never going to happen..... Everything is always converted or rewrapped. Now I understand being able to view the files directly would be king, but from so many years of working with cameras that's honestly not a reality YET. Regardless I actually like the AVCHD file structure, my opinion.
 
berylium said:
Sometimes there's a need to do a quickie check on the GH2 mts files after a shoot without going into my usual NLE, in this case being Adobe Premiere, mostly to delete bad takes.

And more often than not, the client will call, after I hand him the files after the shoot, and ask, "Where are the video files???" usually with a sense of panic in his voice.

As convoluted as the .mts file structure is, it's still much better than the P2 file structure used in the HVX-200.... at least you can see the little thumbnail of your video.

With P2 I had to find the thumbnail picture in the icon folder, memorize the file name associated with it, then find the file in the video folder.
Click to expand...

A couple of points... and this is just a 'philosophy'... 1) a 'client' should never be given the 'raw' MTS files, unless they have the capability to deal with them and have an NLE such as Avid/Premiere/FCP. 2) In the case of Premiere and FCP, both 'use' information that is stored in the 'hierarchy' that is not just the MTS files. Unfortunately the GH1/2 (and probably most other low end cameras...) don't effectively use the 'metadata' capability that could record exposure settings, since the MTS file format does not include an EXIF like feature for recording such info. (One can take a 'still' image of the shot and record some information about the camera settings in that image's EXIF info.)

In CS5.5 (I think...) but definitely in CS6 Adobe Bridge is capable of displaying MTS files. In any case, one can 'import' into Premiere by dragging and dropping the top level 'PRIVATE' folder and the import function will sort things out.

Another 'philosophical' point is that I would never 'delete' a take. I was data wrangler for a 48 Hour Film Project group earlier this year, and one of the camera people was of the mind to 'delete' aborted or short takes... this led to mismatches between the sound file name recording and the camera MOV file name, if dual sound was used, or just 'gaps' in the file names which lead to 'questions' about exactly what was 'missing'. (the fellow also didn't include the slate often as well...) it was a mess... it led to requiring several hours of 'fix up' to make sure that all the video files matched up with the audio, and that no important takes were missed.

Basically how I view my memory devices these days is 'they are film', once 'burned' they don't change. I don't reuse them. This is for 'non-paying' gigs... if I were doing a paid gig, I would definitely not muck with the SD card at all, figure the cost of the SD card in the price of the project, transfer everything to archive disk, then import into Premiere and create 'rushes' from there.
 
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