Can someone tell me the basics of how to transfer a Mini DV camcorder tape onto the computer? What software do I need? What codecs I need? What cables (firewire or USB) do I need? etc.. I have a Sony HC 30 Mini DV camcorder. Thanks.
Not sure what kind of cables or codecs you'd need but isn't regular Windows Movie Maker able to capture video? (Just opening up the discussion)
okay... there are going to be a bunch of things, but first thing is first: 1) You need a firewire cable on one end (6 pin) and a firewire cable on the other end (4 pin). 6 pin is kind of shaped like a long "U" and 4 pin will fit into something on your camera. Your camera likely came with one of these. If it didn't, it may hook up using USB. I don't know how to help you if that's the case, but I can imagine it working the same way. 2) Hook up the camera to the 4pin side and the 6pin into the computer. 3) Turn the camera to "VCR" or "VTR" mode as opposed to the "recording" mode. 4) Did any software come up on your computer? If it did, let me know what software popped up. If not, we'll have to get you something or an existing program you have needs to be opened. Roopy, I don't know anything about Windows Movie Maker, but almost all video editing software has a capture program. Mr. Brightside, what kind of computer do you have? PC/Mac? I'll check back on this later (about 6pm or tomorrow). This is only the start. I'll try to help more later. Also, I don't know what all you are working with. If that camera is brand new, they often come with free editing software.
Oh... and if you need help figuring out how to hook up the firewire, please find me a picture online of your camera. Sony HC30 has a couple different models of that same camera. Let me know if this is it: http://images.google.com/imgres?img...&prev=/images?q=sony+hc30&svnum=10&hl=en&sa=N
I have an PC. 4) Software came with the camera, but it is piss poor software. Its called Sony Picture Maker software. But the stupid part of the software is they do have a portion where you can import the video, but it automatically puts some random music on the background. You have to select one of the four music backgrounds. I've been reading some other help sections on forums, and everyone complains about this Sony Software that came with it. 1) There is a firewire port on the camcorder, but do I don't think my Dell E310 has a firewire port built into it. Do I need to buy a firewire card for it to read? I do have an USB cable that came with it, but I read that sometimes the video and/or audio quality is very poor when trying to transfer video using it. So thus I do think I will need to go buy a firewire cable, but I didn't know how my computer would read it, since the Dell doesnt seem to have that port. Do they make firewire connectors that can fit via an USB? Or do I have to physically open up my comp. and install a firewire card? 3) When I have my USB cable plugged into my camcorder connecting to my computer, I then switch my camcorder to Edit/View mode. The screen on my camcorder pops up and says in "USB transfer mode." I cannot change the settings on the screen, since it is a touch screen, and there are no options available. This is when the Sony Picture Maker software on my Dell pops up. But like I said the software is useless since it doesn't allow me to make a straight transfer to the computer.
I have a very similar Sony camera. The software you want is WinDV. Very light and gets the job done. http://windv.mourek.cz/
I just had this same question last week. Apparently there's no such thing as a firewire cable that will plug into a USB port, so you do have to get a card (and have a free PCI slot in which to insert it). And those seem to run in the $40 neighborhood.
1) Probably. If your camera supports USB out (using USB version 2.0) you could connect to your computer through its USB ports (assuming your computer also supports USB 2.0). If your camera doesn't have USB, and only has firewire, you will need a firewire card for your computer. You can get a firewire card from fry's or Micro Center pretty cheap. The card might even come with a cable. You say that supposedly the quality of video capture using the included USB cable is bad. This will happen if either the camcorder or computer don't support USB 2.0 (the older version of USB is a bazillion times slower and won't support high speed digital transfers). No. You can't cable a firewire port on the camera to a USB port on the computer. They're two different types of ports. It'd be like trying to connect your monitor to your mouse port. 2) If you intend use a different application than Sony Picture Maker, you can just close the Sony software, and open whatever software you intend to use, and set it up to start capturing. For cam-to-computer capture, I use Adobe Premiere, but that's probably overkill for what you want to do. NOTE: I have another nifty setup. I own a tv-top DVD recorder which I use to record TV shows. This dvd recorder has a firewire port. I can cabe my camcorder to it and do a direct digital-to-dvd transfer instantly. I love my DVD recorder.
I don't know anything about conecting the Camera via USB, but I would strongly suggest installing a firewire card and cable. Thats what I did and it was a snap. a) Do as Darkhorse suggested and instal WinDV. Simple, low overhead utility for capturing all your video onto the PC in RAW AVI format. It even tells if you if you are dropping frames during the transfer (which is critical, because dropped frames are the bane if video editing). b) When capturing video, ensure everything else is disabled, including internet to reduce the chance of dropped frames. c) For editing, I use Windows Movie Maker. You can keep all the video in raw AVI, which will minimize conversion and compression losses. I'm sure there are much better programs available, but WMM works fine for me. d) How are you going to watch the finished product? If it will be DVD, you will need a DVD Authoring Utility. I use Sonic MyDVD, which allows you to format the DVD menus, converts the raw AVIs to DVD compliant MPEGs, and then burns the DVD For everything you ever wanted to know about video, go to videohelp.com
The firewire card is probably correct. The original USB is slow and I doubt the camera has USB2 connection. A firewire card should be cheap and you can probably get a cable pretty easily too. If you are still having trouble after trying windv and the firewire card, drop me an email: dongrahamleone@yahoo.com ... I'm more than happy to help. And don't worry, the more than happy is not the Lewis Black "more than happy".
yea, man. sorry forgot to update. I got it working pretty good. thanks so much for the help! I ended up using Windows Movie Maker since it was the easiest way. A big part of the problem was also the Sony Manual in that it doesn't tell you how to find the proper menu functions since it is all digitized on a touch screen. I'm gonna be a Youtube star!
