Sony Handycam DCRHC 21 Help

Thanks, you are right on top of things. I appreciate it and your help. I dropped an email to a local computer repair shop asking if I could purchase one of those cards we talked about and if he could install it for me. I received this email this evening from him saying another way to to transfer VHS to DVD is buy a mahine that does that at Costo for about $275. I discounted that idea immediately but he also said...

<<If you prefer the Computer, then you need All in wonder graphic card. This will allow you to capture any AV input from your computer. The cost on this card is 390 and you may need DVDRW(69) if you don’t have one.>>

Can you tell me if this All in one wonder graphic card is the same as we see on ebay sucvh as in that site you sent me? He also says <<you may need a DVDRW(69)>> Is he saying my PC must be able to write a DVD? If so it can.

Wishing you a Happy New Year

 

An analog capture card like the ATI all-in-wonder is an alternative way. Buts since you have a digital camcorder with pass-through capability and you only need to buy a $10 Firewire card to achieve the same thing, I see no reason why you would want to spend mony on an ATI all-in-wonder. Atually you will end up wityh higher quality than can be achieved with the ATI card. Educate the local shop and tell them that you're doing a pass-through through your digital cam...

Of course you need a DVD burner in order to burn DVD's... you can buy decent burners for as little as $50 these days...

BTW: even if you have never opened up your PC, fitting in a new PCI card is very, very easy...

 

I am able to transfer the video from my camera to my computer using the Usb port and the video capture program provided, except i am not able to get the sound to record as well.. and the quality of the picture isnt very good considering i have the quality turned up all the way and a 2 min vid is a little over a gig
and suggestions?

 

It has been stated many many times before: USB is not suitable for streaming digital video transfer...
http://www.digitalvideoclub.com/basics/transfer.php

 

Going back to the original question of December 27 this is how I get VHS video into my editing program (Pinnacle Liquid 6.1). My VCR is a dual deck from go video. From the back of the VCR I have an a/v connecting cable (three rca plugs)connected to video out port with the other end (1 plug) connected to my sony digital 8 camcorder (audio/video input)and use the sony as a pass through to my computer. The camcorder must however have an AV to DV setting that you can turn on (mine is in the menu settings). The sony digital 8 is connected to my computer via firewire. With my editing program open and set to capture I begin playing the VHS tape. I can see the video in the capture screen and begin capturing. It has always worked great for me. With this method I can also capture TV progrms from my DirecTV as I have it connected to the VCR to the TV. If it's a program you want to keep, edit out the commercials, etc and burn to DVD or output to tape. I know this method is not new and I learned it from my Sony Digital 8 owners manual.

 

...So I've just finished reading this thread from Dec 27th. Yep, I totally agree with TPFKAS: If one is capturing from a VCR, it really IS that easy, if one has a PC with a good VGA card in it; most of 'em have video inputs for this purpose. I've been doing it for years (not cards designed for gaming, I mean like the All-in-wonder type cards).

And yes, if one is capturing from a Firewire digital camcorder, it's as easy as connecting the output Firewire on the camcorder to the input Firewire on the PC and just about all video editing programs out there (pinnacle, ulead, etc) support Firewire capture.

...However, if one is one of those poor saps like GrandpaD who has a *USB* digital camcorder, like the Sony Handycams (mine is a DCR-DVD301) ...yer out of luck. <

To the best of my knowledge, there's only *ONE* application out there that knows how to find the Handycam on the USB, and can capture data from it to the computer - Pixela's ImageMixer. And it SUCKS!! It barely works on Windows XP home edition, but at least it works.

I use it to capture the video and picture files to project folders on the hard drive of my laptop, through Pixela's laborious, tedious picking - dropping to folder process. Then I bring the resulting files into my video editor's libraries, where I can manipulate them.

I've looked pretty much everywhere for a special cable, like a USB to USB transfer cable, That has circuitry in it that will take USB2 as input, and output to either 4-pin or 6-pin Firewire. Nada; they don't exist. Probably because the USB and Firewire specs are incompatible.

So, I'm currently looking for some kind of USB/Firewire HUB; some kind of powered device where I can plug in my camcorder, then use my Firewire cable to plug the hub into the Firewire port on my laptop or server.

If anybody knows of hardware like this, or knows of any software that can find and read data from a Sony Handycam, I and many, many others would shoooore appreciate a post from you here!

- GrandpaD

 

You might look at the Sony DVDirect Video Recordable DVD Drive VRD VC20. You can burn DVDs directly to the drive using USB (no editing possible) but it will make chapters for you. It can also be used as an external DVD Drive and capture device and comes with Nero Express that you capture with. The drive is connected to the computer via USB and your camera is connected to the drive via USB. I don't know how well it works. You can get it at Buy.com for about $218.00 with free shipping. A bit expensive for a way to capture but you also get a DVD drive. I was looking at it as an easy and quick way to burn customers videos to dvd.