Camcorders forum: Sony Picture Motion Browser - Date/Time Stamp issue

The "player" software in the camcorder adds such. To add it in your video you need editing software to add it again. Nothing's wrong here, but no one explains how things work anymore.
Bob

However, miniDV and the DV (video) does have it. Not to shortchange you but there is software out there to add date/time overlays to the video. You can use google and such to add it. Most of the lower cost or supplied with the camera software does not do this.

I would be theorizing how they do this with MPEG in the camcorder but the simplest method is to use the date/time stamp of the file as the starting date/time then as it plays the time since the beginning can be added to that. This can explain how the camcorder's player can add such without the data being in the actual MPEG file.

Bob

I am looking for this also. It is difficult to understand. The date and time is there in the filename, why cant this be embedded in the video as it is rendered to DVD Video? The date stamp is important. There are programs that allow date stamp to be added to DV, but not mpeg. There are programs to convert different video formats, but I think there would be a loss of quality to convert from mpeg to another format, add the date and then convert to a DVD.

Help would be greatly appreciated.

Bob or anyone:

Which software tools that allow the date, which is the mpeg filename to be added to an mpeg file as it is rendered into a DVD? It would be ideal if there was some flexability in this, like the date starts off anytime the day is changed, or is on there all the time, position on the video, etc.

I understand sometimes people do not want the date on there, but there are times we do. It should be our choice when rendering the video.

The nice thing about Camcorders that store on a hard or flash drives is it is very fast and easy to take the video and data off the camcorder, but not having the ability to place the date/time on the video is a big drawback.

I and many others would really apreciate it if someone could point us in the right direction. I have not been able to find anything in Google for mpeg video to DVD that would allow date imprint.

I may be missing something big time, but the only date stamp software I have seen is for avi or DV.

This camcorder takes great video, but the video is saved as mpg files on the internal memory and flash chip.

I transfer it to the computer via the Sony PMB program.
It is saved on the computer as a mpg file with the date/time stamp on the filename, but NOT imprinted on the video and there is no option on the camcorder to allow this to be imprinted on the saved video file.

I can transfer and burn the mpg file to dvd using the Sony PMB software. When I burn the DVD, the date stamp is not there when I play it.

Is there other software I should be using to capture the video from the camcorder so it would save in another format and allow the Date/time overlay information to be displayed on the DVD?

I am sorry about all of this, but the kids are getting older and I have tons of video and I want to preserve on DVD. Without a date stamp, it is hard to tell the timeframe of each video clip.

Thanks again.

Bob, you seem very knoledagable with this so I will go back to you.
We really appreciate this.
We have a few Video editing software programs and none of them allow adding the date time stamp to an MPG video.

I have written to a few companies and downloaded trial versions and none of them allow taking an mpeg-2 file, adding the date and burning to DVD.

What we are looking for is something that would take the existing date/time video was created datestamp on the MPG file and overlay it during the compile to DVD. Ideally, there would be flexability to have date or date/time, date on all the time or only for XX seconds after the date shot changed.

When we hover over a video clip on the Sony PMB program, the hoverhelp balloon shows date and time the video clip was taken, so the info is avaialble as you said.

It is a matter of using the right video editor program to imprint this information on the clip before rendering.

Can you recommend a few programs that have this feature and we will take it from there? We just need a starting point. Once we enter Video Editor XX in Google, there will be no shortage of similar programs. We just need a starting point.

Thank you so much.

Bill

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Thomas+Hargrove+AddTimeStamp&btnG=Google+Search&aq=f&oq=

This is something for you to pick through. There is no "click here" feature in the software you have now to do this. Adding it later involves finding more tools, adding filters and doing some work.
Bob

PS. Please do not write "they should have included it."

I have a Sony handycam with a disc drive and when I import the video using the picture motion browser the time/date info is not embedded. I talked to Sony and they were absolutely no help at all. They said I had two options, install an analog video capture card or use a third party software to embed the info. I use a laptop and my experience with capture cards led me to believe they needed to be installed internally (in a desktop) so that was out. I asked the sony rep if he could recommend software and he refused. Apparently they are forbidden to recommend third party software that is capable of fixing their blunders. I did some googling and saw this thread, as well as a lot of other frustrated hdd camcorder users, but no real solutions. The software options are expensive, hard to learn and complete overkill for adding a timestamp. I couldnt find free software that would edit mpg video without taking 30 steps and requiring multiple other freeware releases. I went to best buy, explained my situation to a very pleasant but very apethetic young woman who pointed me to the computer section. On the bottom shelf of the video isle I found a Pinnacle Dazzle DVD Recorder. For $50 it was cheaper than a lot of the software options and it looked like it could work. They had a similar but more expensive model for ~$80 but I bought the cheaper one. I brought it home and tried and failed to install it. Vista 64 needs special drivers from their website, XP pro wasnt a very easy install either. Once installed it does a good job capturing the analog video from my camcorder (with the time/date stamp). It's really very simple. Negatives were that it was difficult to install, the chapter creator is not very flexible, and the resulting picture doesnt look as good. But until Sony updates the pmb to include the time/date stamp this is what I will use.

Hello
For DV I know that there are few software application that do the job (like VDTS).
But unfortenattaly I could not find any solution for MPG files!!!
Please let me know if you did find.

Thanks
Aloni