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General discussion

Downloading from Canon Vixia HF M31 to computer

Apr 23, 2010 6:56AM PDT

Just purchased the Canon Vixia HF M31 and wanted to know how to download from the camcorder to the computer. I'm using XP home (for now)and have it connected via USB. This is my first experience dowloading with a camcorder. I usually do photos.

Can I simply just drag the files from the camcorder drive into a folder I designate on my laptop like I do with photos from my dslr or do I need to use the canon software it comes with. For this first time I used the canon software and it took a while to download. After it downloaded all the scenes onto windows XP all the same scenes were still on the camera. Is there a way to set it to when you downloand it to the computer it deletes it from the flash memory of the camcorder?

Also, when I viewed it through the canon software player on my laptop it was very choppy and did not play smoothly. It plays very smoothly on the play back of the camcorder so I'm assuming this has to do with me having an older laptop/graphics card, correct?

Any suggestions on new laptops. For basic video and photo editing and management is mac really that much better than a pc. Would a Dell Studio with 6 gb of ram and a dedicated graphics card be a good choice or is a mac still the better choice.

Greatly appreciate any and all feedback.

Thanks.

Discussion is locked

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same problems
Jan 17, 2011 3:43AM PST

Hello,
I just found your post which describes the very same problems I am having downloading video from my Canon HF M31 camcorder to my PC. I also noticed that you posted this problem last year. Did you ever find the solution? If so, would you mind sharing it? Thanks!

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How to delete from the camera
May 10, 2011 2:21PM PDT

Solution:
Deleting scenes with the VIXIA HF M30 series camcorder









Deleting Scenes
You can delete those scenes that you are not interested in
keeping. Deleting scenes allows you also to free up space on the memory.
From playback mode. Open the index screen that contains the scenes you want to delete.Touch the checkmark to open the scene selection screen.Touch on the individual scenes you want to delete.- A checkmark will appear on scenes selected. Touch a selected scene again to remove the checkmark.- To select all the scenes at once: Touch [Select All] instead of touching individual scenes. (Remove in advance any checkmarks from scenes you may have selected individually.)Delete the scenes by touching [Edit], then [Delete], then [Yes], then [OK].- Touch [Stop] to interrupt the operation while it is in progress. Some scenes may be deleted nevertheless.
Important
Be careful when deleting original recordings. once deleted, original scenes cannot be recovered.Save copies of important scenes before deleting them.Observe the following precautions while the ACCESS indicator is on or flashing (while scenes are being deleted).- Do not open the memory card slot cover.- Do not disconnect the power source or turn off the camcorder.- Do not change the camcorder's operating mode.