Sony DHRHC40 issue w/Capture via USB2 using Power Director

[tarheelfan]

Firsly, let me say I'm new to this so please be gentle..

Hardware/software

Sony DCR HC 40
USB2 Connection ( )
Dell D600 running Windows 2000
Power Director Software

The Issue

The camera is new and I'm trying to figure out if the issues are me or a problem with the camera before I return it. After trying the useless bundled software (Picture Package) I bought Power Director. Putting the camera on play/edit and chosing VCD Burn told me there was a connection error. Power Director was running on the desktop but no capture ocurred.

Eventually I simply played the clip and this appeared in power director and I was able to capture it.

The PQ was very choppy and no sound came across.

My Questions
Was the poor PQ simply a function of the USB connection?
Should I have got sound - I assumed so?
Is there an issue with the camera or me?

Thanks for any help to this NU B

[victor010170]

One thing for sure. USB will not give you good quality when compare to firewire. I went through myself. Use windv (free) or other software to transfer the movie from cam to pc with firewire. MAke sure to put hte movie in avi format. Any thing will go smoothly from here. Many things to learn in this website, this forum.