More rubbish Japanese computer support

I was annoyed to discover that the Sony NEX-5n does not feature an a/v live video output for the downlink. This was overcome by buying an HDMI to composite video converter. In the meantime, an uncorrupted pdf Owner's Manual just does not exist. Every single link (including the supplied NOISY-AS-HELL CD) is corrupted with gobble-de-gook down the navigation column.

The first test flight produces very encouraging looking video - when viewed on the camera's own screen - but 50fps cannot be imported on a Mac. The supplied (Sony rubbish) software is PC only for the movie import functions. With a Mac they only allow you to access photos. What a load of B/S.

Panasonic is not that much better, using the ancient and slow PCMCIA card format for its P2 range.

Canon software is rubbish. Nikon software is rubbish.

They can make great products but why are the Japanese so computer backward?

 

Thanks for the suggestions guys but Sony wins again. The firmware upgrader doesn't work - it cannot find the camera. Anyway, it still will not allow the video to be imported on a Mac - well .... Final Cut 'sees' 25p and 50i but not 50p. Their support pages lead you in circles back to the same unhelpful page and the v.3 firmware is nowhere to be found - despite being recommended in their support FAQ's. What a shambles. To illustrate how switched on Sony is in general, check out the downloadable manuals for the 5n. The ONLY one that I found that is not corrupted is the manual in Arabic.

I'd better stop. None of this belongs here anyway!

 

Well said!

Must be the wrong time of the month. I get like that when I am confronted with the Wonderful Windows World.

Turns out it is only the 50P option that is not recognised by FCP (or iMovie) because the current AVCHD standard is only for 25fps. Shoot at 25P or 50i and it imports easy-peasy just like any other MTS container file with FCP importing it as ProRes (and bumping the file size up from 1.6GB to 15GB).

The Aunsoft converter is useful for doing the same conversion of the 50P files.

As for the manual, this is what they ALL look like (except the Arabic language version where the navigation column on the right is displayed correctly - although it actually looks sort of similar :02.47-tranquillity: - and works):

 

Don't really need it. I prefer to import directly whenever possible and, but for the 50fps issue which Aunsoft's MTS to M2TS converter handles (thank you IrisAerial), the Sony NEX-5 files actually show up without a problem. My little rant was a result of my setting the 5N to record at 50fps and, as explained earlier, this is not currently supported within the standard AVCHD profile.

But thanks anyway.