Struggling with TOD
 

Hi
New to the Forum, and my new JVC HD7
I am experiencing the problem that I have seen a few people mention...but I am getting nowhere. I would like to edit the footage from my HD7 in Adobe Premiere 2.0 (if needs by be CS3), I am on Windows XP.
".o does not recognise .TOD.
I have download mpeg stream but have not found the workflow yet that i think some of you are using.
Can anybody advise the best route for me?
The Cyberlink software (that scomes bundeled with the JVC despite being clearly unsuitable also will not install and play so I dont have that as a solution (cyberlink support have tried to help but have been no use)
I would love some help here!

Thanks

Simon

Simon Gee,

Hi! I am using JVC GZHD7 since last four months and I am very much happy, I upgraded supplied PowerDirector Express with "PowerDirector 6", it is $89 not much expensive. I would suggest you to do same. I wanted to buy Sony Vegas and I tried trial version but it was very complicated and too much expensive, so I went for "PowerDirector 6".

I would appreciate if you can upload some video clips captured by you with your new JVC GZHD7.

Thanks,
Kaushik

I appreciate your reasons for going to Power Director. However 1) The OEm version of power director wont install on my PC or my laptop and cyberlink have not identified why...so upgrading is onl y likelyto cost me more for something that doesnt work. 2) i should be able to use one of the mian 3-4 editing software suites...I prefer this for software support and development issues

I too never got PD to run -- which was fine because, like you, I was only interested in using standard NLEs.

The solution is very simple -- EDIUS 4.5. An NLE that is EZ to use if you now use Premiere. It reads the TOD files after you change TOD to M2T.

The name-changing can be automated.

Steve
Thanks. Will take a look at at Edius...they have a trail download on their site. I think im pretty close to a reasaonable workflow with Sony Vegas. Im just not familiar with the different formats and rendering options. Is there a good guide to Video formats and especially HD/Mpeg2 you can reccomend
Cheers
Simon

I'll have a "JVC GZ-HD7 Guide" done in about 10 days. It will have a Chapter on MPEG-2.

Try the EDIUS download -- I think you'll love it.

Google PFRANK. He has a batch name changer that will save tons of time. It's free!

Steve
I'll be first in the queue to buy one off you!

Simon

Reading TOD solution
 

Steve (and all others experiencing my problems below)

I could not read .TOD into Sony Vegas 7.0.
I was on patch b
Upgraded to patch e i.e. 7.0e
and bingo TOD recognised and straight in there...

you can that to your book steve...that i will still be buying

just wish i could get it into to CS3 as easily

Simon

Great News. I've got d on my PC and just loaded e on my MacBook Pro under Paralles. For some strange reason, my d serial number is rejected by e.

Have you tried both 1920VBR and 1440CBR?

Thank you!

>Have you tried both 1920VBR and 1440CBR?<
I have now...see below

Here are my support notes

The following has been tested by a Win XP user.

Sony Vegas 7.0 and JVC HD7 TOD files -update
--------------------------------
1. TOD Support - Direct Import
2. Firewire Capture Capability
3. FileName issues

Vegas Version 7.0e recognises and supports TOD files as is.
the 7.0e Patch is available as a full version of the software with release notes at
http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/...p2.asp?DID=697
The release notes do not mention the support of TOD (which was not present in 7.0b and appears not to have been in c and d).

Menu Driven Workflow
--------------------
Select>Import/media
Browse to your directory with raw TOD and select 'All files' from the dialogue...the TOD will now be visible. (I assume that Sony have not implimented in their 'All media' list as this is a quirky little fix and TOD might not be around for a long time!?)
GUI based Workflow
-------------------
Set-up: Check the 'All files' option in the file view drop down list (next to button top right of the Vegas Explorer window).
Drag and drop from directories containing media onto the Project media tab/window.

Both FHD and 1440CBR import this way.
I hope Steve M will now assess the quality of these!

2. Firewire Capture Capability
Vegas will now also allow direct capture using FireWire.
I undertand some Mac software will do this too.

Overview
---------
Create a playlist on the HD7. capture form the camera whilst runningthe playlist. Their are no camera controls for this other start and stop capture.

Workflow
--------
Create a playlist
---------------
Enter 'Play' mode on the camera
Enter 'Function' mode
Scroll and select 'Edit Playlist'
Create 'New list'
Import according to your preference (I prefer 'Import from Date')
Scroll and select files using the select toggle navigator. Press toggle to confirm selection and to add to playlist. (a copy of the file will appear in the plyalist on the right side of the screen).

Capture from Playlist
--------------------
Connect HD7 to PC using Firewire
Enter 'Play' mode on the camera
Enter 'Function' mode
Scroll and select 'Playback Playlist'
highlight from the lists shown which you want to playback using toggle navigator
To review the plyback list on the HD7 press toggle otherwise;
Select list for capture by toggling right
follow on screen prompts until you see 'Start Playback'
Now set up Vegas as follows
Select capture from the Menu or the Capture tab on the GUI.
Select the directory where you want clips captured to and apply your clip name.
To start capturing hit the capture (red roundel button).
The camera will start transferring.
To stop press the capture button again.
Other camera controls do not work.

Filename Issues
---------------
The HD7 produces series of folders on its hard drive accordingto the time/date/seesion of filming i.e. PRG001, PRG002 etc
files within these are named MOV001.tod, MOV002.tod etc.
Thsi means you can have different folders with files of the same name. This is a problem if you want to dump them in the same directory. You will need to rename or keep separate folders.
Vegas on import will cope with files of the same name as also is rememberingthe path to where the file actally lives.

I hope this helps some folks...lets hope Adobe patch CS3 the same.
I hope this is useful for your notes and book Steve.

I have a valid SN from Sony but it won't work on my MacBook Pro using Paralles. They were closed today for the holidays. Don't know if the Mac is screwing-up their copy protection system since its tied to hardware. Damn stupid concept!

Guess I'll work on my PC in the garage. Of course, it will be 107 this weekend. :)

So thank you.

Right now, if you can live with Vegas, it is THE best solution.

As a total novice I was delighted by the good advice of this forum and upon probing more than a handful of useful trial packages I looked around for some kind of conversion process from TOD to something else which was more acceptable. I found that the bundled Cyberlink package does a fully-automated translation to .mpg and then imports the .mpg into Cyberlink. So I wrote this HOW TO in order to share the experience. Many thanks to the resident Guru's who inspired my oil-burning investigation with their insightful comments.

I have since also spoken to AVID after looking at the trial version of Liquid (which does not import MPEG-2 in the trial version) and they also confirmed that the file rename of .TOD into .m2t was adequate for Avid Liquid. This is my first dabble into video and I have written up the summary of my conversion process for others to evaluate.

Nice one Barry...me thinks JVC brought out the TOD file format as a means of asessing human resilience and ingenuity.

If you read the extremely fine print in the JVC help site you will notice that even Cyberlink does not have this technology in full retail edition. The conversion process only exists in the bundled version.

A longer version of the same information

http://www.benzmodz.com/jvc_workflow.htm

The update site for Cyberlink from JVC

http://www2.cli.co.jp/products/ne/pdirex_eng.htm


FROM THE JVC SITE
--------------------
Dear customer
Cyberlink DVD Solution packaged into "Everio" Hard Disk Camcorder is fully customized. Therefore it may delete some of customized function would disappear overwritten by the other version.

"other" means retail version.

As for the format itself I understand from the internet wisdom it is a royalty-related issue. Just by making a slight change the nuisance value goes up and the price goes down.

Actually, TOD is simply JVC's name for .m2ts which is .m2t with an extra 4 bytes. These bytes are used for random access .m2t data.

Moreover, .m2ts is the wrapper for AVCHD which is also written to random access media.

So, although we are not familiar with "TOD" -- JVC used an industry standard format for random access storage.

The problem is not JVC, but programmers who code to released products rather than to meet STANDARDS. Had programmers coded support for the full MPEG-2 spec. -- rather than a flavor like HDV -- we would not face these problems. The video companies work within STANDARDS because they want to use chips that execute standards.