My dad has a Sony Digital 8 Handycam (DCR-TRV250) and he films my cousin's band gigs in clubs and theatres. Not really lit all that well all the time. He does use a tripod at some points and I believe pans while connected to it. Well he's not the computer person as I am but I never needed to know anything about what I am about to ask so I am a complete and total noob... What I'd like to ask here is how should I go about capturing the video? As of right now USB is our transfer method. From what I've read that seems to be pretty weak. Firewire that much better? RCA? We don't have any drivers or any type of video capture or editing software installed just yet. I've read about a lot of different programs and bookmarked their guides. If any of you use this camera that would be awesome! Basically I am lost in everything. What drivers (if any) are needed, capture program and possibly what settings to use. I'm not totally new to finding help in forums so I will continue to use the 'search method' and hopefully learn as I go. Please provide any info you think will be helpful to us as we intend to put the gigs on DVD and I will be in another forum section soon after I get this step down, LoL. Thanks, PDaddy
Hi, I recommend you to read this article: http://www.digitalvideoclub.com/basics/transfer.php The other articles in the "Basics" section over there will probably also of interest to you. Anyway, the answer to the question how to capture is very easy. If your PC does not have a Firewire connection buy a Firewire card (sold for around $15-$20) plus a cabl. Don't use USB and don't use RCA. You can use any video editing program to capture your video, including Windows Movie Maker which is part of Windows XP, or one of the freeware programs listed http://www.digitalvideoclub.com/downloads/freedownloads.php
