Using the Panasonic HC-V770

GarethWilliams79

Hi, I have just bought this video camera and I’m having a massive problem with initial set up. It doesn’t come with an SD card so when you turn it on it displays the icon on screen for no card installed and says “no card” and doesn’t let you record.

The instruction booklet says it has built in memory and that you can select from a menu either Built in Memory or SD Card. However the instructions to get to this menu are not correct on my camera. It says to navigate Menu: [Media Select] but on my camera the only options from Menu are [Record Set Up], [Picture] and [Set Up] …

so I can’t select built in memory and therefor can’t record anything :-( Any help or advice would be much appreciated. Thanks.

dosdan

I've got a HCV770M (bought in Australia). Only the "M" version of this model has 16GB internal memory. Same with the HC-V700M, HC-V750M & HC-V870M. Only the "M" versions have 16 GB internal memory.

I've also got a HC-V750P (from the US): no internal memory.

I don't find the 16GB internal memory all that useful. I prefer 64GB UHS-1 cards because I pop them out and do fast transfers to my PC in an ext. USB 3 card reader.  The typical recordings I do (Soccer matches, 1080p60 (in NTSC mode) or 1080p50 (in PAL mode - I switch recording modes in these cameras depending on whether I'm shooting under lights or not), 50M MP4) use about 32GB for each camera (V770M, V750P).

When using either the internal memory or with the SD Card still inside the camera, and transferring with a USB cable plugged into the camera, you're limited to USB 2 transfer speed.

Dan.

GarethWilliams79

Thanks Dosdan, I had a feeling that was the case, the booklet only lists the “M” versions with regards to this feature. WX970M, VX870M and V770M. I have been looking for an SD card but wasn't sure what would be the correct type. I haven't found any that are actually Panasonic branded but the San Disk ones claim they are compatible with the Panasonic HC-V770. I'm going to order one now and hope for the best.

Terfyn

Any good quality SD card will do, I use 32Gb Class 10, which you need for any Slo-Mo filming, from 7DayShop. If your camera is a standard 770 then there is no internal memory.
Remember ALWAYS format a new card in the camera and NOT in a PC, it sets up all the new folders required and always reformat the card in the camera when you have download the video files to your PC (If you just delete a file, it does not remove that file from the card, just makes it invisible)

In your User Manual there is a page labelled "About the PC Display". It gives you the folder tree and the folders which store AVCHD video, MP4 video and any still photos. When you open the SD card either via the USB link or (as I do) using the PC's card reader, you can directly download the video files into a suitable folder in "My Videos" on your PC. Then you can edit or backup the video files for all time. The SD card then can be reformatted and reused.

GarethWilliams79

I just bought a SanDisk 32GB Ultra SDHC (SD) Memory Card U1 48MB/s, from Memory Cow, a UK based online retailer of memory cards. It's £11.99 but with faster delivery estimated for tomorrow it cost £15.94. I don't know how much footage you can fit on 32GB or if you can record over it again and again. I'll have to find that out later! Personally I think it would have been better if it came with a memory card. Anyway, I'll have to test it out on Thursday now as I've got some other stuff to do tomorrow

Terfyn

The amount of video you can store on a SD card is shown on a table at the back of the User Manual. So for the best AVCHD 1080/50p recording quality you can get 2hr 40min to 3hr. As you will see from my last post, you can reuse the card as many times as you like provided you download to your PC after every shoot.
If Panasonic supplied a card, they would supply the cheapest and with the least memory. So you would have to buy yourself extra cards anyway. Depending on how you propose to use the camera you may want extra cards in the future. TIP: If you get extra cards format them in the camera immediately and then they are ready for a quick exchange if needed.

12harry

32G SDHC cards with Class 10 ( or better ), are ideal for HD recording as it gives you some safety-margin.
I mark mine with red nail-paint "a b c  etc." so I know which is the next card to use.... Similarly, the PC "Master Copy" folder lists 32G and then the  individual cards  as: 32G-a, 32G-b  etc. as this helps with the DOS-based file-system, used by MS.
FWIW you will probably need a second HDD to hold all the video-files and completed Movies, etc. - and - probably an "external USB " one of similar capacity, as back-up.

It means you can keep the Master-Copy up-to-date, whenever you're back after a shoot.  When the card is near-full,  I  use the next one. This also means you soon are using cards known to be good.
As Terfyn says, each card is Formatted in the Camcorder.
Filing SDHC / Files is not easy if you've not done it before...but mighty confusing if whatever the "System" gets overloaded. You might like to make provision for a multi-Card "Project" ( such as an expensive Holiday Trip over several days ).... these may need more than one card.
Simple way is to ignore any "defined project" - just Copy the files to the PC as suggested.
In the EDIT be careful if you set-up a folder to copy all files . . . if some of the card-file numbers are duplicated....099 might be before 100, but if 101 is on an earlier card it will confuse the Editor..... Some folks rename their files to avoid this..... but I have resolved it by using larger-cards (128G)..... giving me many more numbers before confusion reigns.

With 4K becoming popular ( is it? ), the demand for larger capacities has pushed prices down; so maybe 64G would be "better-value" ( i.e. per Gb ). Always buy from a reliable supplier as there are "fakes" out there . . . same applies to Batteries....  anything!

Cheers.

Terfyn

WHAT! Set up one folder in "My Video" e.g. "Hols 2018" and copy all the files from SD cards into it. Simples.

GarethWilliams79

Ok, does anyone import the footage from this camera into Premiere? If so I could do with some help. What I have done is File»Import and select the file from the Video Camera. It appears in the Premiere file but only when the camera is attached. When the camera is not attached it's not there! Basically it's just reading it off the camera in the file. Is there a way to capture it like DV? or import it into your Premiere file properly so it's on your computer?

dosdan

I don't use Premiere, but if it's like Vegas, File | Import does not move the files - it just makes them known to the program and may create some ancillary files (e.g. Vegas read the audio part of the clip and creates a file that shows the audio levels in each channel in the clip).  So a soon as you unplug the camera, the files disappear.

You need to copy or move the files from the camera, or from an ext. card read if you take the SD card out of the camera, to your PC.  You either use Windows File Explorer or the transfer software that came with the camera. Panasonic camcorders come with HD Writer. I prefer to use File Explorer.

Dan.