Help The N00b.

I bort this new Handycam a "DCR-HC85E" i took about six hours of footage on it; which was great but....I installed all the software that came with the camera but....When it came to DL all my recorded data to my PC i encountered problems.

I can DL the data from the memory stick but i cant seem to get at the footage that i recorder on to the "Digital Video Cassette's". Would anyone be able to shed light onto my delemer.

The footage that's on your DV cassettes can be downloaded as you play it, but I don't think you can just download it on it's own. Basically, I think the computer records it as it's playing. At least that's how it works with my camera.

So for mine, I have to connect a cable from my camera to my computer, then launch the software on the computer, then play the camera's footage by hitting the "play" button on the software on my computer. As I play, the computer records the footage. This takes a LOT of hard drive space; for six hours of footage you're going to need dozens of gigabytes of computer space. Do you have that much available?

Ok thanx ill try that.

and yes i have heaps of free space...i got a new 120Gb SATA drive just for the ocasion. :p

I tryed that but it didn't work when i plug the camera in and activate the USB streaming tool on my PC it sayes "Unable to detect video camers"

Has anyone got any other ideas.

Passe, you probably need to buy and install a video capture card, think Pinnacle or Canopus as a guide, although expensive. There are cheaper capture cards out there.

Did you know there is a Video forum down lower on the forums list. Just for information.

http://forums.photographyreview.com/...splay.php?f=28

Thx ill have a squiz

Do i still need a video capture card if i use FireWire instead of USB.

I would say yes you do, as I use it with my video to capture into my pinnacle capture card. But you could try it first as well.

Ok thanks.
ill try the FireWire first.

I found a lot of digital video info on these sites.

http://www.shortcourses.com/video/index.htm

http://www.videoguys.com/

Have you checked with your harware and software support groups yet?

Thanks. These look to be some good sites.

Ok...I went and got the FireWire cable, i pluged it into my Sony HandyCam and rubed my hands to gether in glee. I looked at my computer expectantly and as the seconds rolled by my smile began to fade. In other words i pluged it in and nothing hapened. I went though all the softwear with results equling SQUAT. So has anybody got any idea as to what i have done wrong?

I still say you need a video capture card.

Ok...But thats not what i wont to here. i don't wont to fork out more dosh.

If you want to capture video to your computer to edit and then place on DVD then that is the way you will need to go. Canopus is a good card, Pinnacles are OK, there are more things needed to look at as well, like the speed of your hard drive you are capturing to as well as the speed of your computer and the software you are capturing with as well. Adobe Premiere is software to think about, comes bundled usually with video capture cards, Canopus have sofware bundled with it's cards as well. But remember nothing in Photography is cheap except the sun as a light source.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Passe

Do i still need a video capture card if i use FireWire instead of USB.

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You dont necessarily need a video capture card i think...i have a Panansonic GS 50 and use a firewire/miniDV port to download the data onto my computer using the Ulead software that came along with the firewire card...the card cost me some 20 dollars odd

Hope this helps!
Kunal

ps: CAN someone please tell me a good compression software? i want to convert this raw DV data to DivX