Help with basic digital camcorder questions Canon Vixia HF200A

[nopeda]

I recently bought a Canon Vixia HF200A HD Camcorder which may have been a mistake but saw several reviews recommending it so got a used one. I haven't tried using it yet but looking at Youtube videos saw some things that are likely to be serious problems that it records in AVCHD format so you can't just drag and drop on a PC (though you can a Mac which I don't have and won't get another one) but you need special video editing software to load it. This is exactly the type thing I was trying to avoid!! by buying a camera with an SD card ignorantly thinking I could put the SD card in the computer and just load or play videos from there. Come to think if it in none of the Youtubes did I even see an option to load from an SD card so now I'm even more confused. I know nothing about this having only used 8mm tape Sony cameras in the past.

Another video said you can't use HD settings with a class 6 or class 10 SD card. You can only use class 2 or class 4 for that. Is that true and how much of a problem is it if so?

Also on the camera I see an output for HDMI and would like to just connect the camera to a tv to use a bigger monitor sometimes if that's possible but!!! the output on the camera that says HDMI won't accept the HDMI type cables that I have. So what's the deal there and could you even use a tv as a larger monitor if you could find a cable or adapter or something that could connect them?

Also on the camera I see an output for USB but it won't accept any USB cable that I have and if you could find an adapter or something what could you do with it?

Thank you for any help trying to learn about this stuff!

David
ME, USA

[Lotesdelere]

I don't know about this camera thus about your HDMI and USB troubles. For USB I guess you should use an USB 3.x minimum:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB#USB_3.x
But are you sure it's an USB outpout ?

And for your SD card check this:
https://www.sdcard.org/consumers/choice ... index.html

For HD video you should use a V30 class, at least.

[kb2tdu]

I have that camcorder, it is a nice camera. There is a USB port on the right side, it is a mini (not micro) USB port, used to be more common than today. It's useful for dumping photos to your computer w/o taking out the SD card[s].
I've taken hundreds of hours of HD video with a class 10 SD card, they're perfect. I have a couple 64 giggers so I don't run out of space. I have zero trouble with AVCHD format, almost everything recognizes it, even many if not most bluray players. I copy the videos down to my desktop and take into a couple different editing programs again with zero problems. There is a usb-looking port on the left side under the swingout door/viewfinder that is proprietary, provides component out from the camera with a special cable that you will likely have trouble finding if you need that capability.
There is a mini- (not micro) HDMI port on the right side of the camera under the same little door hiding the USB. I've found this port works for playing back from the camera to an HDMI device but I have not been able to view what's being filmed via that port. Maybe I haven't found the right setting or maybe the camera doesn't do that.
Anyway it is sad Canon no longer supports the camera. I wanted to get it refurbed/cleaned inside the lens components as some dust seems to have accumulated but Canon won't even talk about that. So I'll get what I can out of it.