Comments on: Canon Vixia HF M31 HD Camcorder Review

By: mustafa

mustafa — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 23:43:23 +0000

The good: Very good video at highest quality setting; nice lens performance.

The bad: Poorly designed touch-screen menu system; short battery life; defaults to low-quality video mode.

By: KurtulusKapisi

KurtulusKapisi — Sat, 29 Jan 2011 21:05:12 +0000

Thank’s..

By: Bob Lawson

Bob Lawson — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 14:17:21 +0000

I have a big problem. I leave on a cruise tomorrow and have a new Vixia HF M300 camera and I want to record a show I will doing on the cruise for a demo. I want the best quality and am not sure which setting to use as I need to make copies of this to send to clients. The highest says for Blue Ray, can I also make standard DVD’s from this settin? I also can’t seem to find out how to stop the on screen display from showing up whan I put the picture on the TV or computer. I don’t want this to show up on the final DVD.

I need HELP and QUICK !!!!

By: Antoninus

Antoninus — Sun, 19 Dec 2010 08:46:19 +0000

AAARGH!
I tried to download Movie Maker Live onto my year-old computer, but its OS is Vista, and it looks like it won’t download; I downloaded, it did its thing… but in the end, the only Movie Maker I could find (and I used searches as well as checking visually) was the 2006 version that came with the computer. But, reading more posts here and there, it looks like Movie Maker can’t do the conversion necessary after all.

Thanks for the suggestion. However, my plane leaves Monday morning, which doesn’t give me time to learn about all this codec stuff, etc., and I have to have something to take the videos after all that I’ve spent; but I guess I’ll have to go trade in the Canon HF M300 for an older model that takes decent Standard Def that I can copy onto DVD-Rs so we can look at the videos outside the camera. I’m hoping the older models have a microphone outlet and USB port, as I also invested in that, as well as the discs and external memory and ….
Enough. Thanks for your patience and your help. Maybe someday I’ll have the time to learn all this software stuff, or, who knows?, someday Canon and the rest will invest in software that does what needs to be done in a straightforward manner, without needing a (in the end useless) 210 page manual that still doesn’t resolve the basic problem, that M2TS files are for those with lots of money to spend on Blu-Ray players, burners, etc. and who have only friends and relatives with the same level of equipment (and probably income). Maybe in 5 or 10 years, but my Dad may not last that long. Sorry. Just heartbroken.

By: Antoninus

Antoninus — Sat, 18 Dec 2010 17:51:11 +0000

Many thanks, Ian! I’ll give it a try, and hope it can somehow convert the M2TS files to standard, so I can burn those DVDs! I’ll be sure to get back and let y’all know if it works.

Again, many thanks.

By: Ian Lee

Ian Lee — Sat, 18 Dec 2010 12:32:12 +0000

@Antonius, have you tried to download the free Windows Movie Maker Live? I have heard of other users being able to use this to edit and create videos from the HFM31, which should be the same as the HFM300.

For paid versions, you can research Adobe Premiere Elements and Sony Vegas to see if it supports this camcorder. Products from Studio or Ulead are also popular video editing software. You should check them out as well.

Good luck.

By: Antoninus

Antoninus — Sat, 18 Dec 2010 06:55:13 +0000

P.S. How can I rescue the great video of the kids I’ve already shot from the originals on the camera? On a fast SDHD memory card, but my computer won’t read the file!

By: Antoninus

Antoninus — Sat, 18 Dec 2010 06:52:45 +0000

I have the same problem as PW; I’m a newbie at this, the Canon HF M300 does not have the internal conversion function (NOT what some reviews have led me to expect), and the MTS2 files can’t be read and won’t be written to DVD-R discs, at least not on my year old HP desktop; I could only copy the file from the SDHD card onto the disc, and of course it won’t play on any of the software I have. I tried converting using the software, but the option won’t work with the file I edited. Had hoped to bring DVD of his great-grandchildren to 89-year old Dad who can’t travel. Getting desperate. Should I just give it back and get an old model that does files that will record to standard DVD-R discs? I like the camera, but the manuals are so confusing and inter-referring that I just can’t find the right step-by-step directions I need. Is there a straightforward software package that is simple enough for someone who is not a techie but can follow actual directions that work, and will convert those files in a Windows Vista OS? Thanks for any suggestions.

By: Canon VIXIA

Canon VIXIA — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 12:09:12 +0000

Excellent camcorder for the price. It’s very easy to use, although the lack of a viewfinder does make it a bit more difficult if that is what you are used to. And one thing really recommend for this, make sure you buy an extra battery. Like almost all VIXIA camcorders, battery life is short.

By: NetSurfer

NetSurfer — Sat, 11 Dec 2010 15:40:02 +0000

Thank you for the excellent video. It worth “a thousand words.”.

By: Panasonic HDC-TM700 HD Camcorder Review >> Media and Marketing Blog

Panasonic HDC-TM700 HD Camcorder Review >> Media and Marketing Blog — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 18:04:06 +0000

[...] light recording. It is a little grainy but low light performance is significantly better than the Canon HFM31. Overall, the TM700 produced very high quality [...]

By: Ian Lee

Ian Lee — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 15:52:09 +0000

PW, with video formats, you may just have to download and try to be sure that everything is indeed compatible. However, I have read other HFM31 owners using the latest Windows Movie Maker Live to edit the raw files from this camcorder.

And yes, you will end up with a much higher quality video using an HD camcorder with conversion than shooting with a standard definition camcorder.

Windows Live Essential has a minimum RAM requirement of 1 Gig but in reality, 2 may work but a minimum of 4 Gigs is a good idea for editing HD video.