How do I capture Mini DV to PC and using which program

[TimBooth4Eva]

Hi all, I'm new to the camcorder stuff so please excuse what is possibly a basic question.

I have recently purchased a Sony HC24 camcorder which records onto Mini DV tapes. My laptop has USB ports but no firewire.

I want to put my recorded video onto DVD to give to family, so how do I do it?

I have tried transfering the video using Windows Movie Maker but the reproduction on my PC is extremely poor when compared to playing the tape through the camcorder to my TV

Why does it look so poor and what is the best program to use to convert from Mini DV to my PC and subsequently to a DVD?

Many thanks.

[Baldrick]

Maybe because of https://forum.videohelp.com/viewtopic.php?p=1656061#1656061

[12Quidkidinnit]

no firewire..........

I want to put my recorded video onto DVD to give to family, so how do I do it?

I have tried transfering the video using Windows Movie Maker but the reproduction on my PC is extremely poor when compared to playing the tape through the camcorder to my TV

Why does it look so poor and what is the best program to use to convert from Mini DV to my PC and subsequently to a DVD?

Many thanks.

Are you using USB to capture from the camera ? I tried this when I first used a camcorder, but got so many dropped frames that it was useless, so I put a firewire card in the pc and have had no problem since.
Windows Movie Maker seems to work well enough for what it is, but it is fairly basic compared to some of the more expensive ' paid for' editing packages. Chances are that anything viewed on a TV will look better than it does on a comupter monitor, but if it's really bad, what export setting did you use for the videos that weren't very good quality ? In the Save Movie wizard, if you click on 'Other Settings', you get the option of DV-AVI, and this should be of the same quality as the original footage from your camcorder.
Movie Maker doesn't have a DVD authoring facility, but there are some free ones that do. I can't remember the names of any, but there was a topic on here somewhere very recently that discussed this.
If you don't mind spending some money, I'd reccommend Adobe Premiere Elements. Not only is it packed with very useful features, but it is very good for DVD creation

[TimBooth4Eva]

Maybe because of https://forum.videohelp.com/viewtopic.php?p=1656061#1656061

Checked that out. What does it mean in English, Baldrick?, Thanks.

[gadgetguy]

It means USB transfer is low quality designed for things like web cam use. To transfer at full quality you need to install a IEEE-1394 card (also known as firewire or i-link) in your laptop.
Something similar to this (Click Here)

[thecoalman]

Checked that out. What does it mean in English, Baldrick?, Thanks.

In English it means you need to transfer over firewire as DV-AVI, the USB is for using your cam as web cam or transferring still images from a flash card if your cam has that feature. The video on USB is low quality web style video. The "capture" program you use to get it to your computer is really irrelevant because it's not a capture but a transfer when done via firewire as DV-AVI. It's a bit for bit copy of what's on tape, very simialr to copying a file from one folder to another.

One thing to note the video your cam records is interlaced (you will notice this as horizontal lines when viewing a still frame), this type of video will never look as good on a monitor as it will on a TV.

You cannot make DVD's that will play in a standalone DVD player with Windows Movie Maker.... Since you new at this here's what I suggest you need to do:

1. Get a firewire card so you can transfer as DV-AVI, without firewire you are just wasting time.
2. Get a decent starter program like Ulead Video Studio, you can go from capture to burn with this.
3. Get a RW disc fro testing purposes.

Using Ulead video Studio or other software:
4. Capture a short segment of video, preferably one with a lot of motion.
5. Convert and burn the short segment to DVD and see what it looks like on your TV.

The results should look nearly identical to how it looks when played from cam to TV, if they do you're on the right path.

Take it from there and have fun...

[gadgetguy]

You also need to be aware that DV-AVI will require a large amount of disk space (about 13 GB per hour of video) so if your laptop does not have a large drive with a lot of available space it might be a good idea to get an external hard drive.

[TimBooth4Eva]

Thanks for the quick replies guys.

I only bought this laptop at Christmas and wasnt bothered that it didnt have a firewire. Now my other half has given birth to twins, it looks like I'll need it to transfer decent quality video.

I have lots of spare capacity (it's a 120Gb drive) so it looks as if all I need is the firewire card and a decent program?

I'm in the UK, I take it that it's just as easy to pick up a firewire card here?

Thanks again guys.

[ron spencer]

tp capture use WinDV

[TimBooth4Eva]

Just had a quick look at my laptop, it's a Compaq Presario C350:

http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/uk/en/ho/WF06b/21675-38187-179483-179483-179483-1272364...-77921173.html

I've got a feeling it doesn't have a place to slide in an cards?

Is there anything like a USB to Firewire cable that I could use?

It's a sickner if my new laptop can't use a firewire connection of any sort

[gadgetguy]

For your sake I hope I'm wrong, but I don't think there's any way to add firewire capability to that laptop. I'm not aware of any USB to Firewire adapter and it's my understanding that the two technologies make it unlikely that there ever will be.

[TimBooth4Eva]

I have a feeling you will be right gadgetguy