How do I transfer miniDV to Windows computer

[timswim78]

I have a Canon ZR400 MiniDV camera, and I wish to transfer my video on it to my Windows computer. How do I do this? All of the software that I have found wants to transfer the video directly to DVD or encode it with some third party codec.

When I had linux installed on this computer, all that I had to do was type in a shell command and the video was transferred to a file on my hard drive.

[Nitemare]

Try WinDV it's freeware

[SingSing]

WinDV wll help you transfer the video from your camcorder to PC via firewire on PC.

[JohnnyMalaria]

Your comp profile states XP Home SP2, so all you should need to do is plug the camcorder into your PC's Firewire port, power up the camcorder and follow the instructions! A window *usually* pops up stating something like "New camera found - what would you like to do?" and Windows Movie Maker should be listed as a program to use.

If not, Windows Movie Maker is available from the Start Menu. Open the program and select File\Capture Video...

You can also use WinDV (free) or our Enosoft DV Processor (beta, free for now).

[redwudz]

Do you have a FireWire card in the computer? That is the best way to transfer the DV. The freeware WinDV is a good choice for a transfer program, and there are others. And of course you need a FireWire cable. Most of them are 4 pin mini FireWire to the full size 6pin FireWire on the computer card.

Once you have it on the computer hard drive, then most any AVI type video editor will work. I use the freeware VirtualDub Mod, but WMM will work also, both for the transfer and the editing. Output as DV, though, then you can encode to MPEG-2, if you want to make a DVD.

And welcome to our forums.

[Wile_E]

Another great DV software is ScenalyzerLive. This is what I bought and use to transfer my DV tapes.

[glider]

Exsate VideoExpress captures video and displays the date-time stamp

[mop59136]

Hello

I have a problem using WinDv, it's seem I can only capture 19min and 40 seconds after that it's still capturing but the file is only 19min (3.99gb), never more. I would like to transfer the whole tape(60min) in one file but I don't know how.

[bobkart]

Sounds like you are running into a 4GB maximum file size limitation. Try capturing to an NTFS file system.

[Nitemare]

You can also change the settings in WinDV by pressing the "Config" button and setting a max file size. WinDV will split your capture file for you at an appropriate size.

[guns1inger]

Win98 = Fat32 = 4GB maximum file size. If you want bigger files then you need to upgrade to Windows 2000 or Windows XP and convert your filesystem to NTFS.

This is not a winDV problem. You will find any transfers you do will stop at this file size, regardless of software.

[spanky123]

I'll second WinDV123 for capturing.

To whoever's using the FAT32 system, then you'll need to change the 'Max AVI Filesize (Frames)' in WinDV123. Maybe something like 22500 is a good value to choose if you're using 25fps (PAL) so that it splits it up to a new file every 15 minutes

That's just a suggestion. You should probably get another HDD for NTFS

[guns1inger]

If you look at their computer specs, they are running win98 and cannot use NTFS without going to third party translators. They have to upgrade.