Sony Video Cam to PC?

[Squid_uk]

Hi all i rencently bought a Sony Handycam DCR-TRV265E http://www.sony.co.uk/view/ShowProduct.action?product=DCR-TRV265E&site=odw_en_GB&categ...=CAM+Digital+8 and would like to see if you guys know how i could take the footage off the hi-8 tape i have used and put on my hard drive where i could then put it on a dvd the cam came with a USB cable which plugs in the front of the cam and obviously into the pc. Would be really helpful if you guys could help as this is footage of my mates band playing at our annual festival.

Many Thanks

Squid_uk

[Richard_G]

Your camcorder is a Digital 8 one that records DV quality on Hi-8 tapes (or Digital 8 tapes if you want but Sony Hi-8 HMP tapes are identical to Digital 8 tapes and cheaper). The USB connection is for transferring stills and very low quality webcam type video from the camcorder to computer. To transfer DVD quality footage you need to use the i-Link port (Sonys name for Firewire or IEEE 1394).

You'll need a Firewire card in your computer if it doesn't already have a Firewire port on the motherboard and a 4 pin to 6 pin Firewire cable. Firewire cards are very cheap (www.svp.co.uk have one for £6.99). You'll then need some software to transfer the footage to hard drive, more software to encode it to mpeg and yet more again to author it (turn it into a format your DVD player recognises). Alternatively, spend £20 on Ulead DVD Moviefactory which does the whole lot from start to finish and gives pretty good results. A 30 day free trial can be downloaded from www.ulead.co.uk so you get the chance to play with it and see how you get on.

Once you have mastered the basics then you might want to start getting a bit more advanced and will need something with a bit more flexibility, but I've always found it's better to learn to walk before you start trying to run!

[Squid_uk]

Rich u've been very helpful after reading all that i think all i need is the i-Link port as i think i have a firewire port in my system and i already have ulead on my system,

So is it quite easy to get going then?

Also i have TMPEnc Xpress would i b use that to convert to the correct format?

[Richard_G]

Your camcorder has the i-Link port somwhere. It's a funny looking oblong socket but slightly bigger than the small USB ones. I'm trying to think what Sony will have marked it as. I've got 3 Sony camcorders, a Digital 8 (a DCR-TR8000e) and 2 MiniDV ones (a pair of DCR-VX700e). On the VX camcorders the socket is simply marked DV but I can't remember what the TR one is marked as.

What Ulead software is it you have? A lot of DVD burners come with a cut down version of VideoStudio which is editing software. It will do what you want but might be a bit more complicated than DVD Moviefactory.

Once you get a Firewire cable to connect the camcorder to your computer, you'll be ready to get started. Even Windows Movie Maker (as long as you have version 2) can transfer from DV (DV as in Digital Video which is what your camcorder stores on the tape, the only difference between yours and a MiniDV camcorder is the MiniDV tapes are physically smaller, ther data is exactly the same) camcorder. You can use TMPEnc to convert to mpeg if you want to, but it needs a bit of an understanding of what you are doing. Get it right and the results will be as good as your camcorder can give, get it wrong and it'll look horrible! You'll still need something to author it afterwards though.

[Squid_uk]

I have got Ulead DVD movie factory 2, also i am quite familiar with TMPGEnc so no prob theres i have managed to find the cable i need on the sony website jst need to find what pin fire wire i have got

[Squid_uk]

Also jst not sure what my firewire port looks like never used it before

[BJ_M]

[Richard_G]

OK, thanks to BJ_M for the pics, now you know what a 4 pin Firewire socket looks like. You'll have one of these on the camcorder but the one on the computer will almost certainly be a 6 pin. I've only ever seen 4 pin ones on laptops. A 6 pin socket is rectangular but with one end going to a point and is slightly bigger than a USB port.

DON'T buy a Sony Firewire cable!!! They are a pretty purple colour but cost over 20 quid! I've got the super expensive Sony one that I bought because I needed one now and my Local Jessops had one in stock, but I've also got a generic one. It is twice the length, a boring black colour but only cost £3. They both do the same job but the cheap one will still do it if the camcorder is on the other side of the room. PC World and the like will also sell you a branded cable in half a ton of packaging with a price tag to match. If you've got a local computer components supplier, go there first.