Why MP4?
 

Why is it that video camera that record to a card or digital camera's that have video clip capabilities use .mov or MP4 when you can't use common editing programs to edit them? I have the sanyo HD1A and it looks like I will have to buy Video Studio 10 at $100 to do any editing. What I really want to use is Windows Movie Maker ll... is there a way to use MMll?

There are simple conversion tools. I personally use mp4cam2avi and like it because conversion is lossless.

http://mp4cam2avi.sourceforge.net/

If you are producing your movies in MovieMaker or similar entry level software, be sure to save originals. This will allow you to rework the video in the future when your skills are honed and your software more robust.

MPG4 software
 

What software is available that will edit straight from MPG4 (besides the $100 Ulead Video Studio 10)?

Buy yourself a mac and use Imovie HD... :)

Serif MoviePlus 5

iMovie does edit Sanyo clips very well (I use it a lot more than the more expensive NLEs I also own), but it doesn't edit MP4 directly. It converts it to Apple Intermediate Codec, which allows frame accurate cutting. If you render it directly, the resulting files are very large, but you can also choose to render in MP4 H.264, which takes a long time, but results in a good looking file of one tenth the size.

I have about 35 gigs of Sanyo HD1A footage shot in DV mode. I opened and converted it in a DV mode iMovie and then transfered it to Final Cut Pro using the DV/DVPRO preset. Video is fine but the audio still needs to be re-rendered. Something about 32 vs. 16 bit audio. Any suggestions?

I month ago I got the HD1a and a MacBook. They work well together, but I wonder why Imovie HD edits MPEG SD @ 640x480 directly, but the MPEG HD files @ 1280x720 need to be converted to the Apple intermediate format. This takes time and space on the HDD.

Has anyone got a workflow, where the conversion is kept to minimum and the resulting files are as small as the original MPEG4 files and can be worked on in Imovie HD? Or an explanation why this is not possible ...