DV Info Net - 24f, 30f, 60i modes of XL-H1 all work fine in Sony Vegas 6.0c (build 153)

Ok...who said 24f doesn't work in Sony Vegas? That's not the case. Check it out.....

It's Sunday Afternoon. 12:02pm according to my clock. I've always had Sony Vegas 5 on my laptop computer (Sony Vaio GRT170) and never had the need to upgrade to Vegas 6. Last night I downloaded the free trial version of Vegas 6.0c (build 153) from the www.SonyMediaSoftware.com website because I was doing some tests with my new FS-4 Pro HD D.T.E. recorder. I was having some issues with .m2t files it was creating, so I upgraded to Sony Vegas 6 to see if version 5 was the problem. More about that in another post.

Anyhow.....I have read all over the place that there is no way to capture and edit 24F footage of the XL-H1 for PC users. I beleived it. (shame on me). Just for kicks this morning, I decided to see how the Canon XL-H1 works with Sony Vegas 6 since I downloaded it and knew it is supposed to work with HDV (unlike Version 5). So here's what I did just an hour ago, by the numbers:

1. I put the XL-H1 on a tripod, turned it on and put it in HD mode and 24F frame rate (F2).
2. Plugged in a 6 foot 4pin to 4pin firewire cable to the camera and to my laptop
3. Turned on the Camera and put it in [A]utomatic mode.
4. Immediately the computer recognized the XL-H1 and said it is ready for use.
5. I started Sony Vegas 6.0c (build 153) and clicked the "Project Media" tab at the bottom. I then clicked "Capture Video" icon.
6. a dialog box popped up asking me which way would I like to capture video? I selected the 2nd choice (internal application DV/HDV)
7. It then added a new tab below called "CAPTURE" and had a video screen. The screen was blue and said "NO DEVICE SELECTED".
8. So naturally I clicked Prefrences and went to the "Devices" tab.
9. In the 'Device Type' drop down it had "IEEE 1394/MPEG2-TS Device" and also "BlackMagic Design DeckLink" as an option. I chose the first one
10. Immediately below in the 'Device' box it said Canon XL H1.
11. As soon as I clicked "OK" i seen live video being fed to the monitor. *i got a little excited* lol

Ok....now....I was confused. I was under the impression that 24F mode from the Canon XL-H1 didn't work with Sony Vegas 6 or ANY other PC editing program for that matter. I checked the camera and it was in fact HDV 24F mode. it said it in the viewfinder and the switches were correctly selected also. But low & behold....I'm getting a live video feed of 24p footage.

Hmmmmmmm, well maybe the problem is that it can see the footage but it can't "RECORD" a 24f live feed? ok, so let's try that ....

11. I gave the soon to be recorded clip name "24f" and did not put the extension '.m2t'. I wanted to see if Vegas would do it automatically.
12. The Only Button avalable was the big red record button. So I clicked it and counted to 10. After i reached 10, I hit the stop button.
13. I then clicked the "Project Media" tab and guess what I saw.....a new video clip named "24f.m2t" *i got a little excited* lol
14. I checked the properties of the clip, and to my surprise, the clip was 1440x1080x32bit, 23.976fps (progressive scan) 1.333 aspect ratio!
15. I flipped the frame rate switch on the XL-H1 to 30f (F1) and repeated the same steps as before. After capturing some 30p footage I check it.
16. the "30f.m2t" file i captured live had the properties of 1440x1080x32bit, 29.970fps (progressive scan) 1.333 aspect ratio!
17. Just for kicks, I flipped the frame rate switch on the XL-H1 to 60i (i) and repeated the same steps as before. After capturing some 60i footage I check it.
18. the "60i.m2t" file i captured live had the properties of 1440x1080x32bit, 29.970fps (upper field first) 1.333 aspect ratio!

WOW! All this time...I never even gave it a thought to try my own XL-H1's with Sony Vegas. (silly me) I just beleived that there was no way to capture it without getting the great program from CineForm (Prospect HD).

Hmmmmmmmmm, well, maybe it can record live footage, but it won't "CAPTURE" pre-recorded HD footage from a MiniDV tape??? So I gave it a try as well.....

19. I unplugged the camera from the computer and recorded 20 seconds of 24F footage to a miniDV cassette tape.
20. I then recorded 20 more seconds, but this time it was 30F footage to MiniDV tape.
21. I didn't try 60i
22. I plugged the camera up to the computer via firewire again, rewound the tape to the beginning.
23. Just to be safe I made sure the camera WAS NOT downconverting my HDV footage to DV. It was not, and the little HDV blue light was ON near the firewire plug.
24. I took a look at Sony Vegas.
25. This time none of the tape transport buttons were greyed out. They were all availbale. I tested the buttons and it began to control my XL-H1.
26. I hit the red record button and it began to play the camera automatically AND capture the footage. I did this for both 24f & 30f clips that I had recorded.
27. Same results!

SONY VEGAS 6.0c(build 153) WILL INGEST 24F(24p) AND 30F(30p) FOOTAGE FROM A CANON XL-H1 NO PROBLEM

Tested and verified from yours truly.

So for all those who were concerned with a way of capturing and/or cutting your XL-H1 24p HD footage....worry no more. I don't know how or why or where the rumor that Sony Vegas will not handle 24f footage came from...but it's certainly not true. It will record LIVE 24f footage and capture MINIDV TAPE 24f footage. no problemo.

Capture & Edit Canon XL-H1 in 24f/30f/60i HD modes using Sony Vegas 6.0c = YES
Capture & Edit Canon XL-H1 in 24f/30f/60i HD modes using Adobe Premier Pro 2.0 = YES
Capture & Edit Canon XL-H1 in 24f/30f/60i HD modes using Ulead MediaStudio Pro 8 = YES
Capture & Edit Canon XL-H1 in 24f/30f/60i HD modes using Canopus Edius Pro 3 = YES
Capture & Edit Canon XL-H1 in 24f/30f/60i HD modes using Pinnacle Liquid 7 = NOT YET (liquid will not capture 24p of ANY type)
Capture & Edit Canon XL-H1 in 24f/30f/60i HD modes using Avid Xpress Pro = NOT YET (60i only)

- ShannonRawls.com