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Bronze Member Username: GromitPost Number: 20 Registered: Mar-05 | MJMS, Nero software is historically better known for burning files to CD and DVD rather than media editing facilities. The version of Nero6 I have doesn't even include any editing functions at all. But this doesn't mean it's impossible with your package. The editing software I am familiar with and can recommend is MGI Videowave and Ulead VideoStudio. Both are available as downloads for trial, and with the Ulead, you can sometimes find fully functional, free copies on the cover of PC magazines. As you do not run XP, the free applicaton Windows Movie Maker is not available to you. Hope that helps. Cheers |
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Bronze Member Username: GromitPost Number: 21 Registered: Mar-05 | Robert, The review here shows your camera as a high-end model so I think it should be good enough for normal domestic applications: http://www.pixmania.co.uk/uk/uk/52287/art/panasonic/camcorder-nv-gs400.html The linked page from the review indicates firewire as the method for outputting video. http://www.pixmania.co.uk/uk/uk/52287/art/panasonic/camcorder-nv-gs400.html#fich etechnique Firewire-equipped cameras do not normally use USB for DV transfer. Your manual should give you more info. Cheers. |
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Andy P Unregistered guest | Hi Guys Can anyone tell me how I can transfer movies from my Sony DCR-PC120 to my P.C? I know I can transfer from the memory stick but how do I transfer video? Thank guys |
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Bronze Member Username: GromitPost Number: 22 Registered: Mar-05 | Andy, use a firewire connection to your PC (buy a firewire PCI/PCMCIA card if your computer is not already equipped). Then follow the directions in your user guide and/or the instructions that come with software bundled with the firewire card. Cheers |
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WirelessMan Unregistered guest | I have a Canon ZR80 connected to a PC using a PCMCIA firewire card. Using WinDV or Windows Movie Maker or DV Capture, i can control the camcorder ie. play, pause etc. However no image/sound shows up in the preview screen and nothing gets captured. The camcorder seems to have only 1 relevant menu option AV->DV which i have tried as both ON and OFF. Does not seem to help. Any suggestions ? Thanks! |
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Bronze Member Username: GromitPost Number: 24 Registered: Mar-05 | Wirelessman, I have experienced this problem before but usually cleared it by rebooting the PC. Normally I would suggest re-installing the capture application, but since you mention that the problem exists with two different applications, that may not be a fruitful avenue to explore. If you have a friend with a DV setup, I would suggest you experiment trying your camera on his system and vice versa. Possible causes of your problem I can think of include: 1) some corruption in your operating system 2) faulty firewwire cable (allowing the camera to be controlled but no data to come back - this is just a hunch, I don't actually know if firewire can control cameras with a simplex connection) 3) faulty PCMCIA card 4) camera problem - either setting or hardware I know this is only giving you general guidance but I hope it helps. Cheers. |
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Andy P Unregistered guest | Gromit Thanks very much for the info. Kindest regards Andy |
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Unregistered guest | Gromit, Hi is there any really great software out there under $500? My friends and I are making a war movie but we need good fake explosions, is there software where we can "paste" that in? can we digitally in put an explosion? if u don't know is there any web sites to help me out? P.S. remeber little words I'm only 13 |
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Bronze Member Username: GromitPost Number: 27 Registered: Mar-05 | MJMS, sorry, this time I can't offer any suggestions Good luck! |
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Unregistered guest | Gromit, Thanks for your help |
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Unregistered guest | there are a number of people suddenly who cant capture with firewire using nero, movie maker, intervideo etc. I have sony hc85, nero, and above programs and all worked fine last fall. Tried to capture now, and screen black. Interestingly I can control the camera functions from the computer, but no audio or video in nero, and the other two (intervideo, and moviemaker) just lock. Others have aluded that this may be SP2 problem, and that is ALL that is different on this pc since last fall. MS KB search suggests dwnld KB885222, which I did, and this fixed nothing. Other forums discussing same problems. In reading thread, I think all are suffering from same bug with SP2 and firewire video transfer. Will there be/ is there a fix?? |
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Pravin Unregistered guest | I am buying a dcrHC42 handycam. Please give suggestions. Is is easy to transfer data from it to computer? |
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Bronze Member Username: GromitPost Number: 28 Registered: Mar-05 | Davolson, see the following link which describes how one user overcame apparent XP SP2 issues by reverting to the SP1 drivers. As per the moderator's comments on that site: "Use at your own risk, and let us know the results" http://www.camcorderinfo.com/bbs/t106716.html Hope that helps. |
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Bronze Member Username: GromitPost Number: 29 Registered: Mar-05 | Pravin, it's pretty easy normally to connect camcorders to PCs. Golden rules are: 1) Follow the instructions in the manual 2) Use Firewire for DV transfer UNLESS your manual indicates that USB is the recommended method 3) Use USB for stills transfer and webcam if your camcorder supports that function 4) Make sure your PC is adequately specced for the job. Cheers |
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chuckw Unregistered guest | i have a jvc gr-dvl720u and do not know what to buy to get capture digital movies to my xp sp2 computer. please help |
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Bronze Member Username: GromitPost Number: 30 Registered: Mar-05 | Chuckw, first step is to check in your User Guide that your camcorder uses firewire for DV transfer (this is a 95% certainty), then if your computer is not firewire equipped, buy a PCI/PCMCIA card, preferably with software bundled. That should get you moving on the right path - post again if you need to. Cheers. |
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New member Username: Psharath12Post Number: 1 Registered: Mar-05 | I have inspiron 600M (Dell laptop), there is no I1394 port(connector) to this model laptop, Dell is saying that I need to FireCard400 PCMCIA Host Adapter. Basically I have Canon Elura60 camcorder and I want tranfer the pictures from mini DV(casette) to my laptop. Could you please tell me how I can do it without spending $. |
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Bronze Member Username: GromitPost Number: 31 Registered: Mar-05 | Sharath, Dell's advice is accurate and a PCMCIA firewire card should cost you no more than $30 to $60 depending on the brand. If you are running XP, you can use Windows Movie Maker f.o.c. Cheers. |
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Unregistered guest | I HAVE A PANASONIC DS-65 MINI DV CAMERA. PLEASE HELP ME HOW CAN I TRANSFER THE TAPE TO VIDEO CD IN MY COPUTER. |
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Bronze Member Username: GromitPost Number: 32 Registered: Mar-05 | CVS, use firewire (buy a card if your computer is not firewire-equipped) for DV transfer, and a VCD authoring programme such as Nero Vision Express to create the VCDs Post again if you need more detailed instructions. Cheers |
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Decksta Unregistered guest | Gromit here gromit You're the guy to talk to by the looks of things very intelligent person Tell me more bout dma how to detect if its set up how to set it up right I know it direct memory access to devices i.e. hard drive how do I set it up???????? I have had my cam for bout a month now came the day before I went on holiday lucky of corse the fire wire card only got here yesterday (g.a.y) no time to play really but frame rate sucks im very fussy have to be perfect or not at all comp 1.6 Pentium 256 5200rpm hard drive (might be hard drive) need to get max f/r how do u turn preview off in windvd, video presenter, Nero whatever need ur help!! Saving for a car don't have money for new h/d but will if have to oh wanna by a vl anyone perfect cond $4800 soz had to ......... by the way a lot of people fall in the trap of thinking they can transfer the movie via the usb a lot more info should be available took me 2 days before I found out that u needed fire wire thanks for reading A.K.A me Decksta |
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Bronze Member Username: GromitPost Number: 34 Registered: Mar-05 | Decksta, For DMA, check out this URL (I Googled it) http://www.real-knowledge.com/dma.htm Capture programmes normally have a check-box which you can uncheck to turn off preview. Certainly the two I use (MGI/Roxio Videowave and Ulead Video Studio) both do. Post again if you need further help. Cheers. |
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Newfie_Player Unregistered guest | My cam is not a DV Cam, just a HI 8. I am wondering if there is a way to conect my camera to my pc to transfer my camera footage to my PC. Is this possible. Is there a cable I can buy or do I have to buy a new Video Card. The only connecters my camera has are the S-Video and mic port on my Hi 8 Camera, to an USB port or one of them old fashion printer ports on my pc,which is worthless I can imagine,lol. Any help would be great and thank you for any responce you may have in advance. P.S. If there is anyway I can connect my VCR to my Computer please let me know. Either wasy would work. I just wanna put my Footage on my pc to convert to SVCD or VCD to watch on my DVD player. Thanks again. |
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Bronze Member Username: GromitPost Number: 37 Registered: Mar-05 | Newfie, both the results you are trying to achieve can be obtained using an analogue TV/capture card, such as those from Leadtek. Just check that the one you choose has an S-video input. Your PC will need to be reasonably new to make this work without losing frames, e.g. more than 1G processor. Hope that helps. |
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Unregistered guest | Gromit -- you seem pretty cluey -- hope you can help. My sony vaio with i.link (ieee 1394 Firewire) died. I purchased a new dell without firewire. The sony firewire plugged into the mother board. Can i take that out and simply plug into the dell motherboard, or am I better off to purchase a firewire card and install it and forget about the one on the Sony. (both systems are XP w/pentium 4's and pretty fast and 512 memory) |
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Unregistered guest | Hi Gromit, I have an JVC GR DX27E and i'm triying to put my home videos in my PC, and I recently bought an USB cable, but I always get an error message on my windows XP, apparently he doesn't recognise my equipment. What can I do? Do I need any special software? |
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SlayerGrim Unregistered guest | Hi i have a Sony DCR-HC18E and want to transfer a 3minute long movie. But when i start capturing it stands in swedish "en fellog har skapats" think it means runtime error or something lika that in English. Im using the USB-cable who follows with the camcoder. Please help me if you have had the same problem. |
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SlayerGrim Unregistered guest | Im using Pinnacle Studio 9 |
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SlayerGrim Unregistered guest | Worked it out!! |
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Unregistered guest | Evening. Wonder if you can help.We have just got a new canon DVcamcorder and seem to have a problem.When we play back captured footage from the cam straight to our television we get an excellent picture(via s-video cable).Also when footage is played in an editing suite windows/Ulead and the like;the picture is great when it is small to medium in size.However when the picture is full screen or similar the picture shows signs of digitalisation i.e.it becomes blocky and almost unwatchable. Recording to any type of media seems save this effect and makes viewing when played back on the dvd player to our telly again unwatchable.What are we doing wrong?.We connect to our pc using firewire into a connection on our soundcard,but the editing suites seem to have no problem capturing the video.Should we be looking to capture the video to a specific capture card or is our set up adequate?.Any help would be most appreciated as we are new to the video editing game.Our PC is a pentium4 with a sata120gb harddisk and 512mb 0f ram and we us the pal standard cam Kind regards Sheddie |
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Bronze Member Username: GromitPost Number: 38 Registered: Mar-05 | All recent posters: sorry, email notification seems to have stopped working for me for new posts. I just logged in by chance this evening. MJR: even though Sony are somewhat a law unto themselves (Dell too, come to that), it's certainly worth trying the firewire card you had in the Vaio (I presume it was PCI) in your new PC. Let me know if it works. Yuri: you will probably have much more luck if you try firewire and Windows Moviemaker or some software bundled with the firewire card you purchase. Also, read the post above about SP2 if you get desperate. SlayerGrin: glad you got rid of your skapats. They can be quite unhygenic. Sheddie: Your PC is almost certainly adequately specced for DV capture. As I have stated above, I can capture 100% reliably with a 667MHz Win98 machine with a 4 year old IDE HDD. First thing for you to check is that your capture programme is not indicating dropped frames. There should be warning message if it is. So long as you are NOT dropping frmaes, then it should be possible to get decent playback. But FYI, my PC doesn't playback perfectly captured avi files very well. The PC/video card isn't fast enough. However, when I make a DVD using Ulead Moviefactory on my PC, the results when played back on a TV are very satisfactory. So don't assume that you have degraded the file until you see an authored DVD using a standard commercial package. By the way, what sort of soundcard are you using? Soundcard with firewire sounds a bit groovy. Mine is a very plain 3-port firewire card. Hope this helps get you going - post again as needed. Cheers all. |
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Anonymous | Im trying to get the Mini DV recording into my computer, When I use the Image mixer provided with Sony, Im able to play the recording fine on the PC - Once I capture the movie and try to play it is very hazy. I cannot understand/determine if dropping frames is the problem, can you ple help |
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Antonio Modena Unregistered guest | thanks Gromit, you are the greatest person, donīt stop to help us, you are a glass of water in the dessert |
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Unregistered guest | How can I transfer video from my canon mini-dv to my computer without a fire-wire? Can it be done via a S-video cable? |
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Bronze Member Username: GromitPost Number: 41 Registered: Mar-05 | Anonymous, I am not familiar with the Sony Image Mixer software. But if you can, check the settings on the programme and make sure it is capturing in "DV", or "avi" or "native" or "best quality". Also, please describe in a bit more detail what you mean by "hazy" Antonio, you are too kind. By the way, did you mean "desert", perhaps? Braduah, I believe most if not all Canons only use firewire. The cards are pretty cheap so why don't you try getting one and see how you go with it? If you use S-video that entails analogue capture which is harder, worse quality and probably more expensive! Cheers all. |
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gipo Unregistered guest | hello gromit I have been having problems getting my movie onto dvd. I can capture fine onto my computer, using ulead, movie maker and nero. I want to make a pal dvd. In ulead when I want to finish the project it says in the manual to save it as a pal dvd... but I cannot select this option.??? When using movie maker, first of all I save the captured footage as an avi file, then I edit it but I'm not sure, when I have the editing done what to save it as again. I tried to use a converter software which I tried to convert an avi file to mpeg2. It did but when it was saved it will only play as a media player file. I dont have the option to copy it to dvd. I hope you can help as I am very frustrated |
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Bronze Member Username: GromitPost Number: 44 Registered: Mar-05 | Gipo, 1) Use Windows MovieMaker to capture and edit your video, unless you have some other programme such as Ulead VideoStudio or Roxio VideoWave. 2) After editing your avi files, save them again as avi. Because the format is the same, this is normally quick. These avi files can then be used by the DVD authoring programme which will convert them to MPEG-2 and build them into an authored DVD. 3) I think you are using the full version of Nero as a DVD authoring software. I don't have the full version but I guess it works fine. However, I doubt that it would include conversion between NTSC and PAL. Whatever is the mode your camera works in, your DVD will be the same. Does that perhaps explain why PAL is greyed out? 4) Other software can be used to convert avi files to MPEG-2 (the format used in DVDs), but unless those MPEG-2 files are authored into a DVD (this means make menus, set up the DVD folders, combine the MPEG-2 files into something called vob files etc), a set-top box will never play them. That's why they are only opening with media player. Hope that answers your questions and sets you in the right direction. Cheers. |
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gipo Unregistered guest | what do you mean by an authored dvd or authoring. How do I use nero as authoring software? But I have created an mpeg-2 file (video ts folder) and encoded using dvd shrink but the picture was bad. My camera is pal so there is no need to convert between ntsc to pal. I was considering buying windvd but does this do everything, including automatically burning onto dvd. Sorry I am not understanding as I am fairly good at this sort of thing. |
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Bronze Member Username: GromitPost Number: 45 Registered: Mar-05 | Gipo, any software that allows you to create/burn video DVDs by dragging and dropping video clips into a composition window or storyboard and then selecting "output to DVD" or similar is doing all the DVD authoring for you. This process is invisible to the user - apart from sometimes a very long wait while the format is changed. The main aspects of authoring are listed in my point (4) above. The version of Nero that I use does not include DVD authoring. You need the "full" version for that. I use Ulead MovieFactory to make DVDs. I bought this after evaluating a couple of programmes for video quality. To my rather amateur eye, MovieFactory looked best. I have never heard of DVD Shrink being used to render video from camcorders. Maybe that has something to do with your quality problems. WinDVD is only a DVD PLAYER, i.e. software that you use to play back DVDs on your PC. It won't help you with video editing and burning DVDs at all. Hope that helps. |
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Unregistered guest | Thanks Gromit, Having problems but I have read all your comments and I am at least a lot wiser. I am downloading the Ulead software now hope my probs are solved. |
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Help Please Unregistered guest | Hey I am having a problem: I have an old panasonic mini dv palmcorder model number "pv-dv151-k" and windows XP operating system. I have a functional internal firewire port installed on my pc and a cable to attach my camera through its i.dv output. I dont have my manual or any software (drivers) for the camera however I dont think that it had any. When I open windows movie maker and try to capture device i get the message "a video capture device was not detected". Camera is in playback mode and turned on. I dont know if i need drivers or if firewire port is busy with other stuff...i have a network running between two comps using IEEE 1394 ....people seem to keep saying that matters....please help im very confused.. thanks |
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Bronze Member Username: GromitPost Number: 46 Registered: Mar-05 | Barbs, glad the forum is helping you! Guest, normally, you don't need specific drivers to connect firewire devices. My new camera worked on my old Win98 PC without the need for any additional drivers. I suggest that before you try anything too tricky, it would be worth temporarily disconnecting the firewire PC-PC network. Next, I would try the old "your camera on a friend's PC and vice versa" trick. Another avenue is re-installing MovieMaker and/or downloading a different capture programme such as Ulead VideoStudio or Roxio Videowave. If none of the above give you a hint, then with caution scroll up to Mar 20th and look at the XP SP2-related correspondence. Let me know if you fix it! Cheers |
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Vishal Unregistered guest | Clarification needed regarding carpturing VDO --------------------------------------------- I have panasonic pv-gs200 mini-DV , when i transfer tape recording on PC with firecard +DV cable it creates huge files. 1.Is it correct behavior or is there any other method for capturing VDO to PC without losing Quality. 2. If i want to write this huge files on vcd does the VCD burning software reduces the size. Note ---- I am using ulead6.0 for capturing VDO. Thanks |
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Bronze Member Username: GromitPost Number: 47 Registered: Mar-05 | Vishal, 1) Yes (about 1 G every 5 minutes); No, no other way. 2) Yes, but it may take quite a while to process (render) the video. Cheers. |
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DhhhK Unregistered guest | The video quality on the dvds I've been creating with my burner is far inferior to the quality on the actual mini-dv tape in the camera. Here's the process I'm going through. (1) Capture the video using either the software that came with the camera (the camera is a Sony MiniDV Digital Handycam and the software is Pixela Image Mixer) or the video editing software(Magix Video). (2) Using the editing software, I clip and edit, etc. (3) Using the Magix video software, I export as DV-AVI. (4) Burn that DV-AVI onto the DVD using the burner. The quality of the video is mediocre at best, though portions of the dvd with titles or my digital photos are perfect. The handycam is connected through USB port and I think this may be the problem, but I'm a novice with no real clue. How can I improve my video quality? |
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Marcellinus Unregistered guest | My experience is similar to Dhhhk's: DVD quality created is far inferior to original Sony digital 8 footage (jerky, less bright) 1) I used Nero software (on Windows XP prof) that came with the DVD burner for both capture (via USB) and burning. I didn't edit, since this was a first trial. 2) Being a novice I didn't change any settings. Frankly I think I shouldn't have to understand any of these details. Anyway, I had 6m35s of footage which was saved as a size 373 MB .mpg file. Nero says the file is 704x480(D1) whatever that means (resolution I guess) 3) The DVD cannot be read by my 5 year old main DVD player but it can be played by a 1 year old European PAL/NTSC player and by the dvd drive on my Imac. 4)My main problem is the unacceptable quality. Apparently there is no bit-for-bit copying going on. My questions: 1) do I really have do become an expert in this area and learn all about bitrates, the many compression schemes, the even more formats, etc? 2) Is it possible to transfer the exact bits on my tape to my PC? I don't care if that would take a long time because of USB instead of firewire. 3) If not an exact copy, how do I at least avoid quality degradation. Hope anyone can help... |
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Bronze Member Username: GromitPost Number: 49 Registered: Mar-05 | Dhhhk and Marcellelinus, This is a combined reply as parts of your questions overlap. 1) DV in/out, also known as firewire, IEEE 1394 or i-Link in Sony's own universe is the preferred way to transfer video from your camcorder to your PC. You can view it as effectively lossless (unless your capture programme is indicating dropped frames due to performance problems on your PC). There is a quite easy to follow guide on DV capture here: http://www.jonesgroup.net/media/videostudiodvcaptureone.htm. Unless you have Ulead Videostudio and want to adjust the settings, just refer to pages 1 and 10. 2) Some manufacturers, particularly Sony, are starting to use USB instead of firewire. This is not invalid, but it may complicate the capture process - in particular you might need to check the settings to make sure you are really getting DV quality. 3) If you PC is fast enough, you can view the avi file prior to burning a DVD to check the quality. If your PC is not fast enough (like mine for instance), the result will be jerky. 4) When you make a DVD for playback on set-top boxes, the DV format is compressed into something called MPEG-2. That compression (which takes a long time) can be adjusted: more quality, less time available on the DVD. Always use "best quality" unless your home movies are more than an hour (in which case nobody would probably want to watch them anyway!). If you can't find the "quality" setting, refer to your user guide via the "Help" menu. 5) You might be able to overcome the problem of old DVD players not being able to read home-made discs by experimenting with DVD formats. So long as your burner supports DVD+R and -R, you have something to try. Post again guys if this doesn't give you the help you need. Cheers. |
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AmIdumb Unregistered guest | I have a sharp vlz7u and cant seem to get it to transfer what i record. ive tried everything. Do you know anything about this particular camera and its ability to transfer data? |
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AmIdumb Unregistered guest | I have a sharp vlz7u and cant seem to get it to transfer what i record. ive tried everything. Do you know anything about this particular camera and its ability to transfer data? |
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Bronze Member Username: GromitPost Number: 50 Registered: Mar-05 | AmIdumb, Look here for a spec on your camera: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0000899VT Use firewire for video transfer to your PC. If your PC is not eqipped with firewire, buy a PCI or PCMCIA firewire card as required. If you are already trying firewire and are having problems, post again. Cheers. |
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Unregistered guest | Can any one help me, I am having a Samsung Camcorder. How to download the captured movie from DV Tape to PC and then convert the same to CD. Can any one suggest me the software for downloading the same. |
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Bronze Member Username: GromitPost Number: 51 Registered: Mar-05 | Satish, by "captured movie" I am guessing you mean "movie I recorded on my camcorder". Most people would consider a "captured movie" to be something that is already transferred to your PC. The normal way to transfer video from your camcorder to your PC is using firewire. Use the software bundled with your firewire card, or, if you use XP, Windows Moviemaker is OK. My preferred capture/transfer software packages are Ulead VideoStudio and Roxio Videowave. For a guide on how to transfer video, check here: http://www.jonesgroup.net/media/videostudiodvcaptureone.htm To make a CD, you can use normal burning software, but watch out for the file sizes! Only a few minutes will use up a CD. Alternatively, use Nero VisionExpress to make a VCD. Hope that helps. |
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Unregistered guest | I have download the video's from my cam to hard disk using WinDV, but for 10 mins recording, the file size 2 GB in AVI format. How do i reduce the file size of AVI format with maintaining same video and audio quality? |
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Unregistered guest | Hi, I have a JVC GR-DVX707A digital camcorder, I am trying to copy the DV footage to my computer, the software provided with the camcorder does not see the DV tapes. I can see still images and short footages taken on the SD card, but I copy any of the DV footage to my computer. Does anyone know of any software that will allow me to copy this? cheers rax |
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Unregistered guest | Hi, I have a JVC GR-DVX707A digital camcorder, I am trying to copy the DV footage to my computer, the software provided with the camcorder does not see the DV tapes. I can see still images and short footages taken on the SD card, but I copy any of the DV footage to my computer. Does anyone know of any software that will allow me to copy this? cheers rax |
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Bronze Member Username: GromitPost Number: 53 Registered: Mar-05 | Samton, Ah, if anybody could find a way of reducing avi file size without reducing video/audio quality, they would become rich indeed! The best compromise available today is to use an MPEG-2 rendering programme such as Ulead Moviefactory to turn your avi files into DVDs. On a TV, you won't notice much difference and the file size is reduced to about one fifth of the original. MPEG-2 may not work well on your PC, though. Rax, sounds like you are connected with USB. Get firewire and capture using Windows Moviemaker, Ulead VideoStudio, or Roxio Videowave (my own favourite) Cheers. |
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Unregistered guest | i have a Sony CCDTRV35E handycam, and GeForce 4 4200TI VTD8x (Video in and out) with a connector for Video(in and out). my cam doesnot have a firewire. so i am using the normal audio/video (black & yellow) cable. the problem is my system wont pick the cam, in premiere it says the device is offline, and in windows movie maker it says device not attached. can some one please help me with this issue? its around 4 months i am trying to do this on and off. but no use. |
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Bronze Member Username: GromitPost Number: 54 Registered: Mar-05 | mjp, all you get on a "normal" video cable is "normal video". There's nothing to indicate what the attached device is. It would be miraculous if your computer, and Premier/MovieMaker, could recognise the attached camcorder device by a simple video connection. You can capture video without firewire, but unless your video card is offering some very, very special features, you will need to buy a TV/capture card such as those made by Leadtek. This is a reasonable solution, but the quality is not as good as DV/firewire transfer, of course. You need a quite fast PC, as well. When capturing, it will just show "video device" or similar as you would still be using the "vanilla" video connection between your camcorder and the capture card. Does this help? |
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Unregistered guest | i have a amatuerish question. while transfering your video from your camcorder to pc, is it recommended to transfer through firewire or through USB? if you could explain why to that would be great, thanks! |
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Anonymous | Hi Gromit, I purchased a Sony handycam 18C. I also installed Picture package. I connected my Camcorder with USB port (as mentioned and available with pack). 1. There is a option burn DVD which is disable. Can you pls let me know why the option is disable 2. There is a option burn VCD which is enable. When I am choosing this option 'connection error' message is appearing though I have DVD/VCD writer is connected to PC. Ple let me know whty? 3. I used nero and able to download video from mini DV in the hard disk but the picture quality is not at par though sound seems ok. Picture is moving fast thats why there is no combination between sound and picture. Can you pls help me out |
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Bronze Member Username: GromitPost Number: 55 Registered: Mar-05 | Alex, firewire was designed with DV transfer in mind - at that time there weren't any other interfaces available with sufficient performance. These days, USB is fast enough to support DV transfer, but DV is already well-established as the main standard to use. In theory, both can work, but check the specifics on your camcorder and capture programme to make sure that if you do use USB, you are getting the full DV quality transferred and not something designed for webcam applications. Most cameras will ONLY transfer full DV over firewire. Some purists will also claim that firewire is more elegantly designed for efficient high-speed transfer. Anonymous, I do not recognise the Sony model you have. But in any case, I am not familiar with every model, of course. If you have firewire available, check out this guide for assistance: http://www.jonesgroup.net/media/videostudiodvcaptureone.htm Just FYI, the basic steps of making home DVDs are: 1) Connect the camera and capture the raw footage 2) edit the raw footage into usuable video clips 3) drag and drop the clips into a DVd authoring package and vurn the DVD Are you by any chance trying to do all three steps at once? Regarding quality, see my posts of April 1 and April 10. Hope that helps |
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huh! Unregistered guest | I'm and just curious What in your opinion is the best setup and method for producing movies at home. What equipment and software do you use and what format to make movies in? Just curious!!! |
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New member Username: BanskinatorToledo, Ohio USA Post Number: 1 Registered: Apr-05 | Help. I have downloaded Mini DV to my computer into Windows Movie Maker. I use video in the legal filed and now I need to convert my video file in MPEG1 because I have clients that use Summation and they need this format. When I download to Movie Maker I have a choice of a AVI file or for best use in my computer. Which is the best way to go for my use? Is there a good, easy to use, program to convert my files to MPEG1? What is the best way to do what I am trying to accomplish? I also have some clients that want a CD and others that want a DVD. Most of my video files are over 800MB and won't fit. HELP. |
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Jazzy Unregistered guest | Hello, I am going to america where I can get a Sony DCR-HC42 (NTSC) for a lot lot cheaper than the DCR-HC42E (PAL). I live in the UK so I use PAL. Is it possible to edit the NTSC movie on my PC and then create a PAL DVD and still maintain High Video Quality? Also, what software would you recommend? Thanks in advance Jazzy |
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Bronze Member Username: GromitPost Number: 56 Registered: Mar-05 | Huh!, You have a lot of choice and quite frankly, for amateurs like me, most things work pretty well. Check out what's available at a good price in your local country, but some general guidelines are: 1) Try to get a decent camecorder. You almost certainly won't regret getting one with a larger CCD as the quality is a bit better. A large LCD viewer is very handy too. I am very satisfied with my Canon MX150i. 2) Ensure you get a firewire equipped camcorder. 3) If you are picky about sound, try to listen to the camcorder's recordings in a very quiet place. Most will introduce motor noise into the recording, some more than others. Even my Canon is far from perfect. 4) Any reasonably fast PC will do, but you need firewire. Firewire cards are cheap to buy. 5) For software, I am quite a fan of Ulead these days. It's easy to use and comes bundled with some players, such as Pioneer. You need VideoStudio for capture/editing and MovieFactory for producing DVDs. If you don't have a Pioneer burner, use Windows Moviemaker instead of Videostudio and buy a copy of Moviefactory on-line. I bought MovieFactory and got a free copy of VideoStudio on the cover of a PC mag. Of course, these are all just suggestions. Other people probably think their own systems are much better.... Hope that all helps. Cheers |
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Bronze Member Username: GromitPost Number: 57 Registered: Mar-05 | Betsy, I don't run Moviemaker myself as I don't use XP, but Ulead VideoStudio has options on the last tab for you to output your project into MPEG, and you can adjust the size to pretty much anything you wish. I think this will do the trick for you. There is also some freeware called TMPGEnc (Google it), but in that software I can't work out how to adjust the screen size to anything other than VCD standard. When you process ("render") the file from .avi to .mpg, the size will reduce enormously. Hope that helps - post again if you are still stuck. |
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Bronze Member Username: GromitPost Number: 58 Registered: Mar-05 | Jazzy, check out my April 11 response on the thread "Mini DV PAL vs. NTSC" and post again if this doesn't answer your question. Cheers |
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Unregistered guest | Doing a quick search for DV transfer help I ran across this, hopefully I can get some help. I started reading through the posts to see if something would help me, but, to be honest, I did not read them all. I have having problems transfering the video to my PC; Windows recognizes the connection, the software controls the camera, the software begins to record the video. However, it will not record more than 10 minutes of the tape. The tape continues to play but the program freezes up and stops responding. I have tried several differet programs to no avail. My PC: Windows XP Pro SP2 P4 3.0 1GB RAM C: 8GB free D: 15GB free Onboard IEEE-1394 Camcorder: Canon ZR-200 Software used: Adobe Premire 1.5 Microsoft Movie Maker 2.0 Roxio Easy Media Creator 7 All function correctly up until 5-10 minutes into a video (different tapes yeild same results). HAve no tried a different camcorder yet. I have turned my screen saver off, just incase that might effect it. My PC stays clean of unwanted programs running in the background or at start up. I am not usingthe PC at all while the DV is transfering. Can anyone think of what could be causing each of those programs to stop responding during the capture? My next step is to get ahold of a different camcorder (Sony) and see if the problem persists. Thank you in advance for your replies. |
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Bronze Member Username: GromitPost Number: 65 Registered: Mar-05 | DC, you should try defragmenting your HDDs. Transferring DV requires very fast access to vast swathes of HDD space (about 1G every 5 minutes). Even a relatively small glitch in file space availability (such as that caused by a fragmented disk) can cause problems. The fact that you are crashing out at a consistent time limit suggests that storage access might be the problem. After that, your mix'n'match approach with friends' equipment is exactly correct. Let us know how you get on. PS: I presume you are using NTFS rather than FAT? |
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Unregistered guest | Gromit, You are correct, NTFS. I will defrag the D: drive today and try it again later. I will let you know how things go. |
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New member Username: PrashanthPost Number: 2 Registered: Apr-05 | i cant record audio along with the video while converting DV Video from camcorder to pc. i am using movie maker to record.i have samsung sc-d107 camcorder.please help me. i will be thankful to ur answers |
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Unregistered guest | I have a Sony DVD 301 camcorder. I want to use Moviemaker to edit however, Windows does not see the camera in "My Computer" nor can WMM capture it for the same reason. Sony's included software, "ImageMixer" does not have an export feature and saves in MPEG2 format. How can I convert or import to an .avi filetype so I can use WMM? |
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Bronze Member Username: GromitPost Number: 66 Registered: Mar-05 | Prasanth, Forgive the dumb question, but it might be worth while checking that you really are NOT getting audio when transferring DV to the PC. Just the single DV cable carries both video and audio. I would be pretty amazed if you had managed to strip the audio while transferring DV. Hope that helps. |
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Bronze Member Username: GromitPost Number: 67 Registered: Mar-05 | Kip S, I xpect WMM is looking for a firewire connection which is why it is not picking up your camera. If you can use Windows Explorer to transfer the MPEG-2 files on the mini-DVD onto your hard disk, then editing programmes such as Videoewave (used to be MGI, now Roxio) can not only convert these into .avi format, but can even edit the .mpg files direct. (I just tried this for the first time and was more than a little surprised to see that it works). If you are planning to make regular DVDs, don't convert the files to .avi as they would need to be converted back to .mpg again for the DVD. Do the editing in native .mpg mode using an editor with this capability. Cheers. |
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noypi Unregistered guest | Pls helped me get started along the right path. I have a Canon ZR80 (know nothing just to play/stop recording). Now am planing to transfer my tapes to vcd/dvd thru my pc. Right now im not financially sound so pls help me to find cheap one(transfer device/s). My PC specs: DELL Optiplex GX260 P4 2.4Ghz 2 hard disk (20G; 40G;) almost 30G free in total, free to format if needed to be dedicate one to my video files Memory 640Mb Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional - Service Pack 4 |
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Bronze Member Username: GromitPost Number: 68 Registered: Mar-05 | Nyopi, get yourself a firewire card for your computer (only about $25) with Ulead VideoStudio and firewire cable packaged and you are well on the way. If you want to make proper DVDs that can be played on a set-top box, make sure that the DVD burner you purchase has an authoring packge included. Most do unless you go for the "OEM" versions. If you merely want to store your video on CD/DVD, then a simple burning programme such as Nero (in conjunction with a burner) will suffice. Post again if you need further help. Cheers. PS: your PC is easily well-specced enough to support DV transfer. Note that Windows MovieMaker is not available to you as you are not running XP. |
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Unregistered guest | *update* Still no luck transfering my DV to the PC. Defragging didn't help. Nor did a 4th program. Neither did a thorough sweep of adware/spyware and uninstalling of un-necessary programs. Still have yet to try a differnt camcorder or a different PC. Those are next. *sigh* |
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Bronze Member Username: GromitPost Number: 69 Registered: Mar-05 | DC, thanks for the update, and sorry to hear about the ongoing woes. Please do let me know the outcome so I can eventually help other people with your hard-earned debugging knowledge. By the way, I always limit myself to about 10 minutes maximum transfer in one chunk, although I do have a special consideration which is file size ceiling in Win98/FAT32. Cheers. |
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Unregistered guest | Gromit, So attempting to transfer the whole 60 minute video at once is not a good idea? I don't think that it will a difference in my particular problem since it sometimes stops at 3 minutes, sometimes at 6, sometimes at 9, and every other number in between. Still waiting on the alternate camcorder.... |
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Adolfo Unregistered guest | Hi Gromit, I have a CANON NTSC ZR65 MC, what do I need to download the video captured within the Mini DV Tape?. After reading the userīs manual I understand that this equipment only allow me to download the still pictures/video captured within the MMC SD card using a USB cord, is this right? what can I do? Regards from PERU |
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memyself Unregistered guest | Is there any way to save my movie from windows movie maker directly to dvd? |
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Unregistered guest | hi, i was wondering what is the easiest way to get 'photographs'(still pictures) from a video camera recording? your help is enormously appreciated as the use of the technique would make my uni project so much easier. thank you, helena |
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NBC Unregistered guest | Hello Gromit, I hope you can help. I recently purchased a Sony DCR-HC42 NTSC. Here is the process I go through in the attempt to create a VCD. I capture videos via a firewire using Windows Movie Maker or Video Capturing Tool that came with the camera as an avi file. After editing, I save the file on my C drive and then convert it to the mpeg format. I've tried using MPEG Converter 1.05 and TMPGEnc that you've mentioned in one of your earlier responses. Lastly, I copy the mpeg file to a CD-R disk and finalize it by running "Make Compatible". I've tried converting to both mpeg1 and mpeg2 formats but can only play the resultant disk on my computer but not on my two regular DVD players (one is about a year old and the other one is brand new). Both of them open up the disk and display tracks but "refuse" to play them. Any help you can provide will be greatly appreciated. |
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kuchkuch Unregistered guest | Hi NBC, If you're trying to make a vcd, u should stick with mpeg-1 unless u intend to make svcd or dvd. one thing u have to make sure is that your encoded mpeg1 stream has the proper resolution and frame rate compatable to your system. i.e. 25 fps, 352 x 288 res for pal, and 29.97fps, 352 x 240 res for ntsc. hope this helps. |
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kuchkuch Unregistered guest | gromit, please feel free to correct me. Hi NBC, To add to my previous response, u seem to be copying your mpeg1 just as it is. this wouldn't produce a compliant vcd as vcds have their own structure with five folders namely CDI EXT MPEGAV SEGMENT VCD and your actual video will reside in MPEGAV folder with .dat extension. Ofcourse any good burning software should automatically do all these for you. However you must remember to choose the option: make video cds. I personally use vcdeasy(free) to make an image file(bin & cue), and use nero to burn the image. Nero does have the option to create vcd's without the use of vcdeasy, but more often than not nero tends to reencode my files to its own liking and destroys the quality. if u need help regarding the use of the aforementioned softwares, feel free to ask. |
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Anonymous | I left a message yesterday, but it seems to have disapered, regarding Sony DCR-TRV320E, IEEE1394 and the Message when attempting to download the video - 'Video Capture missing or device not connected'. When looking deeper in Device Manager nVdia video capture has a Yellow !, and then into device it states 'Code 10' My OS is XP Pro, i'm tying to use Ulead Studio 7 and my graphics card is GeforceMX4000. Has anyone any idea's????? |
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NBC Unregistered guest | Kuchkuch, Thank you for the response. Unfortunately, I am a true layman when it comes to home movie making and most of what I know I've learned at this site. Can you recommend a reasonably priced software (up to $50) that will do the "thinking" for me? As you have probably figured out, I have only a CD burner on my laptop and am trying to create video files that can be played on a regular DVD player. I presume my steps to the point when I need to convert an avi file to another format are correct. Would Roxio's Easy Media Creator 7 do the trick? Thank you. |
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kuchkuch Unregistered guest | NBC, I am not familiar with Roxio but I am sure it has the capability of burning image file. I see that you are already familiar with TMPGEnc. As I have alreay pointed out you have to select the proper framerate and resolution. this can be achieved by clicking the load button on the bottom right. you will find some predefined templates (eg. VideoCD 1246kbps (NTSC).mcf), choose the one you want: PAL OR NTSC, and start conversion. If everything went ok, u should have a mpeg1 file with .mpg extension. Open VCDEasy (free program), and add your .mpg file. Make sure to choose either vcd1.1 or 2.0 as your videoCD type depending on your dvd/vcd player from the drop-down menu on the top. also don't forget to select either NTSC OR PAL. Press go, and you will find two files(.bin & .cue) in the output directory. open your favorite cd burning software and choose burn from image option. locate your .cue file, open it and burn. you should now have a compliant vcd. there are more detailed guides available at http://www.videohelp.com |
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Bronze Member Username: GromitPost Number: 71 Registered: Mar-05 | To all posters who have recently addressed enquiries direct to "gromit", apologies for the lack of reply over the last few days. I've been away on a brief holiday but am now back and ready to tackle the backlog. Cheers |
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Bronze Member Username: GromitPost Number: 72 Registered: Mar-05 | DC, I do have friends who have transferred very significant amounts of DV in a single take. But those very big files tend to be a bit unwieldy (from both the file management and timeline manipulation viewpoints), meaning that you would probably chop it up into smaller pieces afterwards in any case. So, as the transfer process is not "protected" in the way that a disk to disk file transfer is, 10 minutes or so as a maximum works for me. In any case, if I go much longer than that, I exceed 2G which causes Win98 all kinds of problems. If I were you, I would want to find out why I can't transfer a whole 60 minute tape in one go, even if I never intended to use it in that mode. So don't give up on the debugging! Cheers. |
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Bronze Member Username: GromitPost Number: 73 Registered: Mar-05 | Kuchkuch, I am sure that your very knowledgable and helpful comments about VCD production are much appreciated by all readers. Thanks for these and future contributions! Cheers. |
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Bronze Member Username: GromitPost Number: 74 Registered: Mar-05 | Adolfo, yes, you are almost certainly correct in stating that the USB connection is only for stills. You need to set yourself up with firewire to transfer DV to your PC. A quite comprehensive guide on how to do this with Ulead VideoStudio (which is often bundled with firewire cards) can be found here: http://www.jonesgroup.net/media/videostudiodvcaptureone.htm Post again if you need further help. Cheers. |
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Bronze Member Username: GromitPost Number: 75 Registered: Mar-05 | Memyself, unless I am much mistaken, Windows Moviemaker does not include any "DVD authoring" capabilities. It is mainly used to import video to your PC, then do editing. Equivalent commercial packages are Ulead VideoStudio and Roxio Videowave. This means that the short answer to your question is "no", so long as you are talking about making DVDs with menus, etc. If you just want to store the video files on a DVD and later view them on a PC, then process the video with Moviemaker and just burn the resulting files using your preferred DVD burning software. Hope that helps. |
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Bronze Member Username: GromitPost Number: 76 Registered: Mar-05 | Helens, the reply I'll give you here is specific to VideoWave III, but you can probably achieve similar results with other equivalent programmes. 1) Load the video clip into the viewing window 2) Use the slider bar to navigate to the frame you want to capture as a .jpg or .bmp 3) Change the view to "edit" or "cutting room" 4) Click on a button marked "Extract image" The rest is easy - just navigate to where you want to save, etc. Let me know if that doesn't solve it for you. Cheers. |
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Bronze Member Username: GromitPost Number: 77 Registered: Mar-05 | Anonymous, just a couple of quick questions to start: 1) can you confirm that you are indeed connecting the camcorder to the PC using a firewire (a.k.a. IEEE1394) cable? 2) is your XP Pro OS SP1 or SP2? Cheers. |
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Anonymous | Gromit, Yes the cable is IEEE1394 -6pin to the PC 4pin to the camcorder. My OS is XP Pro with SP1 & SP2 cheers |
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kuchkuch Unregistered guest | gromit, thanks for the kind words. |
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Bronze Member Username: GromitPost Number: 83 Registered: Mar-05 | Anonymous, I am wondering whether the error messages you are seeing in Device Manager have something to do with a USB connection, rather than your firewire link. I would expect the firewire link status to be viewed via a heading called "1394 Bus Controller" or similar. Maybe you should try disconnecting all USB devices from your PC (especially the camcorder!) and then try connecting via firewire again. If you are completely stuck, then this interesting - and potentially dangerous - discussion about XP SP2 might be of interest to you. It does focus on Sony connection problems. But be careful if you follow this route - and PLEASE do let me know if it works. http://www.camcorderinfo.com/bbs/t106716.html Hope that helps. |
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New member Username: CarlosaguayoSanta Fe, California Los Angeles Post Number: 1 Registered: Apr-05 | Hi ! I live in Mexico! I went to USA and bought a Panasonic MiniDV Camcorder Model No. PV-GS9. I am tired to tray to upload videos or scenes that I filmed. I don't know what to do. I had a Sony HandyCam and I don't have problems with that. Please help me ! :D Exist any program or software? or a miniDV Player that I can connect to my computer and record.. or something? Please Help me ! :D SRLy... Carlos Aguayo |
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Bronze Member Username: GromitPost Number: 84 Registered: Mar-05 | Hello Carlos, Check out this guide for assistance on using Ulead VideoStudio to transfer video from your camcorder to your PC: http://www.jonesgroup.net/media/videostudiodvcaptureone.htm Just FYI, the basic steps of making home DVDs are: 1) connect the camera using firewire (buy a card if your PC is not already equipped with firewire ports) and capture the raw footage 2) edit the raw footage into usuable video clips 3) drag and drop the clips into a DVD authoring package and burn the DVD. Post again if that doesn't get you started. Cheers. |