HD video problem/ concern?

I recently owned a Toshiba Camileo X100 which shoots HD video. Upon taking video with it my computer was unable to read it. (WIN) Neither windows media player or my editing software (Pinnacle v.12.1) was able to view it.

I want to get a Nikon D3100 which also shoots in HD but I'm afraid that I will have the same problem again. Is this an isolated problem or do I need special software to run HD video editing/playback?

You toying with HD camcorders, Windows movie maker is SD only, it can't deal with HD video. Windows media player might have played it if it had the correct codec.

Pinnacle 14 HD can handle HD footage, no problem

I do not have that problem, I use Canon ZR MiniDV tape camcorders. To get a HD camcorder that could match their video quality you would need to spend in excess of $3300 on a camcorder to achieve that. And that does work with Pinnacle 12, as I used to use that until I upgraded.

I shoot my vlog with a MIniDV tape camcorder, use My Pinnacle Studio 14 HD Ultimate to render it in 1080P HD format and upload that to youtube. Works very well.

Upgrade your pinnacle 12 to 14HD and you won't have these problems.

Before you buy another camera or camcorder you need to know what the video file format the device records in. It can be confusing.

A lot of times you will see that the video is recorded in mp4 format but there are a lot of variations. But that is not all, you have to be aware of.mod, .tod, and.mts video formats.

You will have to balance how much or how little time you want to invest in finding the right match of equipment, video recording and editing software.

That is why you have to look at the specifications, aka specs to make sure that the editing software is compatible. Newer, later versions of video editing software can handle the new video formats but you still have to check.

Nikon D3100 records in.mov

Windows Movie Maker and Windows Live Movie Maker can't read.mp4 videos in the QuickTime.mov format. Never has, never will. You would have to convert the video to an acceptable format before you can use those software programs.

Corel VideoStudio X4, Pinnacle v14 and Serif MoviePlus X5 can read almost all of the current formats including.mov

Another option is to convert the video. There are a lot of doggy skanky video converters and a few will pop up in the responses. Many folks make use of MPEG Streamclip, it is a free, open source video converter from Squared5 in addition to converting.mov to.avi you can pick just the section of the video that you want to export. Or if you need a screen shot.

MPEG Streamclip works well for those folks that can't afford to buy video editing software or need some of the other features.

If you can pony up then try to buy a video editing software that matches your skill level and needs.