Hi i have a sony DCR-HC22E mini DV but i'm having problems with what to do with the video recorded, i can transfer to VHS without problems but i want to use digital. All i want to do is to transfer to the pc without editing and then onto a DVD for viewing, i was hoping that this was going to be a simple process ? I first tried with the sony software supplied but this seems to suggest that i can only go to DVD if i use a sony laptop. I transferred the video to my pc but on playback in media player the image was very small, when blown up the quality was very low. I have just tried again using windows movie maker but get the same quality issue, the file size looks too small at 240Mb for a 62min file, the audio is also missing. Does anyone have any recommendations as to either incorrect settings, movie maker default settings are set to an output size of 320*240, how about the frame rate or audio souirce settings ? are there easier and simpler software packages to use. Any assistance would be gratefully taken as i am getting very frustrated and wish i had stuck with my old brick size 8mm unit. Thanks
I have just tried deleting and re installing the software supplied, i get the following message when trying to install the 'Sony digital imaging audio', An error occured during the installation of this device, driver instal file for device missing a neccessary entry, maybe because the INF was written for Win 95 or later, contact hardware vendor. My pc runs winxp pro Anyone know where i can get this file ?, i bought the camera online. Thanks
Firts I recommend that you read this article: http://www.digitalvideoclub.com/basics/tapetodvd.php Bottomline is taht you use a Firewire connection to do the transfer. If you want to use MovieMaker to do the transfer, read this: http://www.digitalvideoclub.com/tutorials/moviemakermistakes.php You cannot use MovieMaker to create DVD's, but you have to buy a good DVD authoring program to create DVD's from your movies.
Thanks for the info I had already seen the first item but not the second, i had fallen into the trap of using the recommended option, after reading the file i tried to use the AVI but it was grayed out so i used one of the others for trial, yes the quality is better. If i understand correctly 1 gb is used for approx 5min of tape, does this mean i can only get less than 30 min on a DVD? Finally back to my audio problem, do you have any ideas ? Itried on my laptop where the audio is fine, on my desktop i have the above message ? Finaaly what is a simple program to use for capturing Thanks again
DV-AVI is around 13GB per hour, so 1GB for 5 minutes is roughly correct. When creating a DVD you will compress to MPEG-2 which is a lot smaller, so you can store much more on a DVD. MPEG-2 can be compressed using different bitrates (which will determine quality). On a single layer DVD you can get between 1 to 2 hours of video. I don't quite understand your issue with audio. Don't use the software supplied with your camcorder, just throw it away: it's not much good anayway. If you capture in DV-AVI, all should be fine.
i found your post because i am going thru the exact same issues.. did you resolve your quality issue? i imagine my pc isn't fast enough to capture and write hq video to the harddrive as fast as the camera is sending it. did you have any luck? also, i had the same audio problem but there is a dropdown for audio source and a million different capture types and sources, but i had one pertaining to my exact video camera. it was the last on the list.. sony ___ maybe you have a similar one for yours.
Hi - I'm also using a Sony DCR-HC22E and want to know one simple thing - is there any difference in quality between a USB2.0 and a Firewire transfer of the video from the camcorder to the PC? Does Firewire transfer the data 'digitally', whereas USB transfers it in a different way (analogue), or am I wrong in thinking that?... I assumed that the resultant video files on the PC would be the same whether I used USB2 or Firewire to transfer from the camcorder. Am I wrong?
Transfer over Firewire is a digital data transfer. Transfer over USB is done by streaming a video signal in VGA mode (just like a webcam) at a lower quality level. This is done because there is no guarantee that the sustained bandwith of USB is enough to transfer full size, full quality video data. Bottomline: Firewire transfer results in much higher quality.\ Check section 2 of this article: http://www.digitalvideoclub.com/basics/transfer.php
that is true for USB (1.0) usb 2.0 is a digital transfer (like firewire) so it should make no difference. USB2 is actually faster than firewire 480mbps to 400mbps but as far as quality, both are digital and should be the same highest quality transfer.
You'r welcome, vento99. And gauglerb, you're mistaken. Of course USB (1 and 2) is a digital connection. However transfer of video from a camcorder over USB is not a digital transfer in the sense that it copies digital data from the tape directly to the hard drive, like Firewire does. In the case of USB the camcorder converts the digital data in streaming video which is digitally transferred to the PC (like a webcam). You are right that the maximum transfer rate of USB2.0 is higher than Firewire (that is IEEE1394a), however, the problem is that there is no guarantee that this maximum will always be sustained. This makes it not suitable for transfer of DV quality video which needs to be done in real ime when using tape. Personally I still don't understand why camcorder manufacturers started to put USB connections on their models (that started about a year ago or so) for transfer of video. It is perfectly OK for transfer of stills form a memory card, for which it was used before on camcorders. Also for DVD camcorders it can be used because this also does not need to be done in realtime (and the video is compressed more on DVD anyway)
what about tv - mini dv for recording purposes, I need some news footage so I can edit it in discreet combustion. I have the canon MV830 I think and it surports dv -out/in I think thats whats required but when I plugged it in through the *audio/video in-cable* it just was recording from what the camera saw I didnt see what the tv was seeing on the lcd screen. I hope you dont think am been rude by posting on your thread its just minidv related. Greatful for any help, Adam
Hi I have a Sony DCR-HC20 and I tried to copy from camcorder to VHS tape (for relatives who don't have DVD). I used s-video out to triple plug but I only got black and white transfer. A commercial firm said I needed to use a NTSC to PAL video decoder. Serafin11 said he got an OK transfer. Any help? Thanks
I used the usb output on the Sony dcr-hc36 and it seems when i streamed to the computer it took about 1 g for every 5 minutes, so your saying I would have got better quality using firewire? Does it take up even more space using firewire? Can any one confirm if I have the maximum quality on my computer in these large streamed files?
Streaming through USB does not determine the compression in the file that you create. Looking at your figure of 1Gig/5minutes it seems like you are compressing the incoming stream using a DV codec. That is like taking a relatively low quality video signal and put it in a file using a high quality codec. You will end up a with the same size using transfer via Firewire, but the quality will be beteer because there is no decompression/compression involved in this transfer.
have you found and difernec in quality using differnt types of firewire or 1394 cards? I have no qfire wire cable however i see them for very cheap on ebay - cheap asian cables. Also my creative sound card control has a imput for SB1394, will this input server the purpose i need or does it need to be a direct card? Thanks in advance
There is no difference. The card either works or it does not work. A $10 card can do the job just as good as a $60 card. Never heard of "soundcard with SB1394 input". The Firewire connection will transfer both video and audio, so you won't need the soundcard input.
