If you import into FCP 7, it transcodes to pro-res on import i think and there is no way to tell. You need to import in a different way - clipwrap, quicktime player (QT X will do it in 10.7 or later, just not in a batch), panasonic AVCam quicktime component, or anything else that will open and re-wrap the .MTS files to quicktime movies. These are the same video data recorded by the camera, just now in a quicktime wrapper instead of an AVCHD wrapper - so you can look at the datarates, and analyze what's happening. This will also save you disk space in the long run, because when done with a project you have the option of tossing your ProRes transcodes and just keeping the much smaller h.264 source files.

P.S. But I don't suggest using ffmpeg or ffmbc based software to re-wrap clips if you think you'll ever want to use the footage in FCP X in the future - ffmpeg and ffmbc generate h.264 movies that FCP X will not play for whatever reason - and will need to be transcoded, defeating one of the awesome things about FCP X which is that you can get away with almost never transcoding.

Christ I'm an idiot. Top man ill try it today!

@Ralph_B

Thanks for your reply. I have just retried it now, to no avail. My process: Reset firmware back to Pana 1.0, then update firmware to 1.1. (Checked at this point to see HBR and it was there). Load Sanity 5.1 onto newly formatted SD card. Update to that. (Screen asks to update to 1.0). No HBR available again and still got 720p cancellation issues. I was able to record Cinema 24p onto a Sandisk Class 4 card though. So it doesn't make sense! Maybe I had an issue in ptool, but I spotted none as such, it all went smoothly. Should I load 4.1 on first? Or 5?

Thanks for any help. George

@GSMYTH555

By any chance did you use firmware 1.0? That would explain no HBR. Sanity 5 is designed for firmware 1.1.

@GSMYTH555

720P has been bullet proof - up until now :) The only thing I can suggest is to try a different card.

I've just installed the Sanity 5.1 thank you for that. But I get the 'recording cancelled due to card' message when recording 720p at Sh or H. I'm using a Transcend Class 10 32GB. Cinema 24p 1080 works great. I've reformatted the card and still no luck. Any advice?

Here's a quick video I put together for the 38th Black April Commemoration of the Fall of Saigon.

Here's the outcome from my first time experimenting with time lapse using variable movie mode. There were no problems spanning on 24H with Sandisk 95mb/s card. I still have a lot to learn.

@Ralph_B Thanks, that clear things up quite a lot! Maybe you should put this info on the first page.

By the way, Isn't it the case that SH with the original firmware means 50i/60i? This is all so confusing :)

@gottue

Stability is solid in variable movie mode, but I never tested spanning. You'll have to experiment.

@Speldosa

I sympathize. Panasonic's designations are a bit cryptic. Yes, SH and H are both 720 60P. SH is higher bitrate and H is lower bitrate. 1080 60i is FSH (higher bitrate) and FH (lower bitrate). 24P is 24H (higher) and 24L (lower). HBR (30P) has only one bitrate, which is the same as FSH.

I designed Sanity so that the lower bitrates are very good quality. They are all absolutely useable, if you need them.

Thanks!