Hello All, I have Sony DCR HC42 camcorder. 1. The mini-dv has a 90 minute video on it. I used the firewire to transfer videos from mini-dv to my computer, and the filesize (AVI file on PC) is 500 MB just for a 5 minutes video. I canot imagine how much it would be when I put th entire video on my PC.
2. The 'Burn to DVD ' option is not enabled on my camcorder. If I say Burn to VCD it burns only a 10 minute video and closes the CD.
From what I have learned, a 10 minute miniDV clip can take up as much as a 2-3 GB! I decided to invest in a DVD burner ($75) and DVD Santa (program)($40). I have a firewire port on my computer now (the card cost me $25). So I hook up the camera to the firewire and transfer to computer with DVD Santa. I have a 160 GB hard drive, so when its done transferring i burn it to DVD with the DVD Santa and then delete from my comp. Hope this helps. Cost me $140 in total, but I had 10 tapes and they want $20-25 per tape to do it professionally. This way I have the equipment myself.
