Kerioak,
Video does seem to be so much more convoluted than photo's. I am embarrassed to say that I have been struggling to finalise one particular video I took a couple of years ago - the software I was using (still am, but do wonder why!) kept on being upgraded by the company and I found I could not use the previous version as formats were changed, it was not backwards compatible and I could not import the movie I had made in the old version into the current one, yada yada................
I have been experimenting with the 5D II video and found that you do need a fairly modern and powerful Windows PC even just to run the native .MOV files - (yes we all know that Macs can tackle it easier) -
I posted the following the other day, which does reinforce what "CSB" is saying:
The video mode on the 5D is as you say in .MOV format which is an Apple Mac format and unfortunately it is not totally suited to a Windows PC environment.
You are also right that an "elderly" Sony Vaio PC (I have the same) is not going to have enough processing power to smoothly process the files either for playback or editing.
What you need to do is to convert the Mov files to a format acceptable to a Windows PC - i.e. AVI format.
- I have experimented with several free video converters such as Super, Avidemux, Bink RAD Video tools which then allowed me to edit the movie using Pinnacle Studio, but have not as yet decided on the optimum route. (I did get some weird results, sound not synchronising, extra blank footage added onto end, but this could be down to my naivety on the numerous codec options which I confess does tend to lose me)
I did read on another forum about a better solution - I have not tried this out as I am in the process of upgrading my PC which may assist, but I have repeated the posting here:
I finally found out the reason, quite simple: Our Canon 5D Mark II raw 1080p video files can't be played smoothly on our PC's natively, end of story (Mac Pro users with Final Cut Studio, hush up, we know you can. ). Well, one exception for smooth viewing for PC folks is the shareware viewer VLC, but the video quality it emits is a bit pixelated, and you STILL can't edit the video in Premiere.
THE ANSWER: You simply need to have a magic tool that converts the 5D2's .MOV files to an even-higher quality .AVI file that not only plays gorgeous and smooth in Windows Media Player, but also can be edited in Premiere the way it should have been to begin with. And this amazing tool that converts the 5D2 video should also make the video look even BETTER, more cinema-quality, right?
So where is this magic tool, and what does it cost? It's called NeoScene by Cineform (once the page opens, click on the NeoScene link on the left).
You open your 5D2 file in this software and convert it to AVI, and you're DONE. The new AVI is totally viewable and editable, even in Premiere Elements.
I bought it last Wednesday and tried it out last night, and was amazed. I have a 2006 Dell Laptop with an older 2.0 gHz Core2Duo, and it worked great. The cost for NeoScene on the Cineform site is $129, but you can buy it for $99 from VideoGuys.com (I got another $10 being a first-time customer too!). They send you a download link the next day via email.
IMPORTANT NOTE: NeoScene adds info to the video file to increase image quality, so the AVI file size is larger than your original 5D2 file. For example, I converted a 250MB 5D2 file and ended up with about a 400MB AVI file once it was done, so hard drive space is needed (we need it anyway with video... I'll probably have to have 3TB soon enough).
Anyway, last month I started building this mega-gamer PC thinking that was the only way to work with the 5D2 video (and it'll be a great rig to edit on once I'm done, no doubt), but it's clear now that NeoScene is as important to 5D2 owners as is a lens on the camera, if you want to work with HD video. You probably don't need to build a Saturn V PC, a decent dual-core PC with at least 2GB ram should work just fine!
Final thought for video buffs: NeoScene can't convert the 5D2's 30p video down to 24p. The website says NeoScene does do 24p conversions, and that's true, but not from the 5D2's 30p format. (Hey Canon!! We still need you to include 24p in the next firmware upgrade!!)
There are several forums dedicated to the 5D - the above was reported on the Planet5D forums under the topic Stuttering Video Playback - in Video Editing / Windows Editing. The link is:
http://forum.planet5d.com/index.php
I also tried Canon's supplied Zoombrowser EX software, but not with much success - I would hope that Canon and the other major video editing software manufacturers will bring out a fix to enable the video from the 5D to be editable more easily than currently is the case for Windows PC users, but it is possible and I have seen some excellent examples of video's shot on the 5D II.
I was down at Canon in Elstree the other day to get a lens cleaned / calibrated and I had a moan - the technical chap I was talking to it was very surprised as he thought everyone would be using an Apple Macintosh to edit their movies............................ he did not know how to edit the movie on a Windows PC.
It does look like the NeoScene by Cineform route is the way to go forward for us Windows PC owners who do not want to get too technically involved. I have not committed to buying this as the jury is out as to whether I keep my 5d II or keep my current camcorder etc.
Its a compromise that we have to add in another processing step to convert the files first, but looking at the video's that are on the net, seem's the results are worth it, but does require some extra effort to achieve this.
