Posted: 2/20/2005 8:06:40 AM EDT
| How do I import stuff from my camcorder to my computer? I've got a Sony Digital Handycam that takes mini DV's. I tried to use the capture program that came with the camcorder via USB cable, but I could only either download the audio or the video. I couldnt' get them together. What am I doing wrong? |
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What capture program are you using? Sounds like you just don't have it set up right. I bought a Plexor capture device. It has S-VHS and RCA-type audio plug connectors up front and then USB 2.0 out the back. The capture program is ok. Much easier to use to burn directly to DVD than if you want to save it on your HDD to edit. http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproductdesc.asp?description=14-144-503&DEPA=0 $51.00 after a $20.00 mail in rebate |
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Doing a quick scan on the net I see a lot of guys have problems with the Pixela Image Transfer program. Might try another capture program. Try a shareware version off the net first before you buy to make sure it works. Airwolf, I saw a mention about video quality being better with firewire compared to USB. I am going to burn a DVD on my stand alone player and see how much quality difference there is between the two. |
Had a JVC setup the same way. Was driving me nuts. I figured out that it uses USB for stills, but Firewire for streaming Video/Audio. Went to Fry's and got the cable for $25 and a Firewire card for $35. After that the computer immediatly recognized the camera and allowed me to control the download from the computer (didn't have to manually start/stop the camera). |
Just going from bad to worse. Try rebooting the computer and leaving the camcorder on. I would maybe try another usb cable or port also. edit: Does your Sony have firewire jacks? I thought they were not as common in Sony stuff. |
my sony worked just like you describe via firewire |
| I've got a firewire port on the computer, and I thought there was a port on the camera. There is another port right next to the USB on the camcorder that says DV. Do I have to take my camcorder to buy a cable or are the ends universal? Or like USB, different for just about every different device? |
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I had the same problem. I tried to download form Sony MiniDV Camcorder, via USB, and all I got was video. I was using InterVideo, or something like that (Not at home right now). After much searching, I found a menu buried somewhere in the software that let me change how to deal with the sound. Made a change there and now have video with sound. When I get home tonight, I'll try to update with more accurate info. As for USB vs Firewire: At first, I thought that was my problem, so I started looking into what I needed on the internet. Found a page (somewhere) that stated the USB 1.0 had xfer rates of 200M, Firewire 1394a (?) had a xfer rate of 400M, USB 2.0 had xfer rates of 480M, and Firewire 1394b(?) had a xfer rate of 800M (I think I got those numbers right). The 1394b seems to be rather new and not very common right now, so I stuck with the USB 2.0. Only problem I'm having now is that I can't get 102 minutes of video to fit onto a 120 minute DVD. |
| I used to have the same problem(s). I bought an Apple iMac with a buttload of ram and now I just plug my sony mini dv into it and the apps for making movies and burning to DVD just pop up and go. I use PC's everywhere except for home and this application. Now I know why you always see Macs at recording studios and movie studio's. |
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I have a Sony DV Camcorder also. My PC has XP Pro SP2 and just connect the video camera (vc) via firewire. PC automatically detects the vc and opens the video editing software automatically. I'm using MS Movie Maker that came with XP. Within MS Movie Maker I can control the vc and capture all or parts of the video from the DV tape. MS Movie Maker is easy to use and is just fine for home video editing. I didn't bother with using the SONY software that came with it. |
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Firewire into your computer - use a program like SceneAnalyser to capture the files and convert them to .avi, then TMPGEnc Xpress to convert them to DVD or MPEG formats, and finally a publishing program like Nero to create the DVD or VCD. www.dvdrhelp.com |
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My sony came with software and I used it on my PC, at the time 98se. I was able to download video. Then it spent a very long time automaticly converting the data into this tiny crappy .wmv file. I was unhappy. The mac, on the other hand, recognized and let me control the camera from the console with the built in software. It downloaded the video in clips as recorded. It lets do you all kinds of editing magic and then re-record to the camera. You can also record to the hd directly if you want. The reason the video won't fit on a DVD is because the data dump is about 15GB an hour, at least on my system. Besides, you have to convert to the right video format. A DVD runs about 4.7GB iirc and I don't think a DVD player will play the raw data. |