Downloading a film from my camera

[jno]

I've got a Panasonic FZ45 (still camera). I took several photos and a 20-second movie. When I try to download them on to my computer, the film doesn't show up and doesn't download, though the still photos are fine. I've tried various programmes, including Photoshop, and tried putting the memory card (am ordinary SanDisk) into a memory card reader; but the only place the film shows up is in the camera itself. I've never had any trouble doing this before, though with older Panasonic cameras.

Anyone have any idea what I'm doing wrong?

[TTG]

Can you connect the camera using a usb lead? If you can browse to it in My Computer (it might show as a drive letter), just copy or cut the film and paste it onto your desktop.

[jno]

yes, that's how I connect the camera to the PC. But it doesn't show up via My Computer, though the photos do. I've ploughed through the manual but can't see anything on the subject there. It's never been a problem before (films usually appear on My Computer as a low-res thumbnail, and start running when you click on them); but this time it refuses to appear on the computer in any programme that I've tried. Baffling. Thanks for the suggestion, though.

[squarebear]

It's not in a subfolder on your camera is it jno? Maybe it has one for photos and one for films?

[jno]

there are an assortment of little files and folders - a couple of BDM files, for instance, only 1KB each, one of them called MOVIEOBJ.BDM. At that size, I doubt they're my missing film, even a 20-second one; but I can't open them. And I can't see why Panasonic would use such obscure extensions when they never have before.

[rojash]

BDM is not exactly an obscure extension - see here:
http://www.fileinfo.com/extension/bdm
I'm guessing that your earlier Panasonic didn't record in HD.

[flobadob]

What if you turn on your camera an take a note of the video name that you are looking for. Then connect the camera to the PC and do a search for the video filename. Also, maybe your computer doesn't have the necessary codec to play the video. I use TigerPlayer now for videos instead of Windows Media or Winamp as it is excellent for almost all video formats.

[jno]

aha, yes, that'll be it, thanks, rojash. Flobadob, do you know if Tigerplayer handles BMD files? Or are there other free programmes that do? The ones on rojash's link all seem expensive, and as I never film anything of any length or importance it's not worth the investment to me.

Thanks to all for the suggestions.

[Answerprancer]

I have a Panasonic F27 and the film format is MOV - you probably need to instal Quicktime or another little bit of software that will play .MOV files.

[jno]

thanks.... it looks like the relevant file might be an MTS. I've found some suggestion that Flash Player will play these but for some reason it refuses to install on my computer, so I'll have to investigate further. (Any other suggestions for free programmes welcome.)

[squarebear]

I don't think Flash Player will play an MTS file. Flash Player tends to only play .swf or .flv file at a push.

[jno]

oh, okay, that will save me wasting time then, thanks

[squarebear]

This guy had a smiilar problem:
http://forum.videohel...mat-(MTS-file)-player

VLC player is pretty good and should be able to cope. Must be a nice new camera by the sound of it jno.

[jno]

I'll try that when I'm wider awake, thanks, squarebear. I previously had a camera with an 18x zoom; the FZ45 has a 24x zoom, which I think is probably as zoomy as you can get without having to use a tripod all the time - in fact I may already have passed that point, further experiments will reveal all. I didn't notice the HD movie feature when I bought it, since I seldom film anything - hence this question.