Sony HDR-HC7 - How can I import video from mini DV - camera not detected

[Piplyn]

Please... please... please... don't use Sony Play Memories Home crap. Use either WinDV or ScenalyzerLive. You can control camcorder i.e. forward, reverse, play and recorder. Have fund transfer your miniDV tapes to your PC.

Ahem! I see. OK. If I use Scenalyzer do I use the old version or the one from the developer? Alwyn, the link you sent opens the page but the developer link didn't initially work. Managed to get it now though.

[Alwyn]

Both sources are the same: version 4.00.

[Bwaak]

I think WinDV can start/stop the camcorder when capturing. It sure can start it. I like it for its no-nonsense UI. Just set Max AVI size to some large number like 999999 to capture a whole tape in one file.

Since you will edit the captured video anyway - no one will watch one hour of raw video - I find navigation controls superficial. Just capture the whole tape, then load the file into something like VirtualDub, select the pieces you like, mark in and out, deinterlace, maybe resize, and save into intermediate codec. Then edit in your favorite NLE.

[Piplyn]

Thank you all. I have now captured a whole tape and it looks very good. It's also entirely free now as it's an old program.

I think I will enjoy re-watching all those old videos!

Thanks again. Piplyn

[DB83]

For the benefit of others with 'similar' issues, can you elaborate how you 'solved' your problem ?

[Piplyn]

Well, It has been solved in the sense that, using Scenalyze,. I am able to capture the video from my Mini DV cassettes. But I'm still not able to transfer video in Sony's own program nor using première elements.

I did change the format to DV instead of HDV or AUTO. Also I updated the driver to the VIA chipset drIver.

Hope that helps.

[DB83]

Well I would not concern yourself that some software does not work. More often or not they fail when OS's get upgraded. Do bear in mind that DV is now legacy so it is not in manuf. interest to invest in upgrading.But glad that you have this working now

[dellsam34]

For the benefit of others with 'similar' issues, can you elaborate how you 'solved' your problem ?

Had he took the advice of post#2 in time the thread would not have spired out of control, But I've been here long enough to see thread starters skim off or completely ignore advice and get steered away to other areas where the problem is not there, I'm glad that finally the message went through and solved his problem.

[DB83]

Well I am not here to argue with anyone (unless it is justified)

But I have also been on here long enough to realise that quite often an OP does not give all the information to solve the problem and one has to ask the questions (I call it doctor and patient syndrome)

[dellsam34]

That too, and I've seen plenty of it.

[Alwyn]

@Piplyn, re using Adobe Elements or Sony, I have found, after doing hundreds of hours of this, that I prefer using Scenalyzer (or WinDV). That is because you can make Scenalyzer name each file with the Date and Time taken. This makes it a breeze to catalogue your videos for later editing. For example, you can group all videos of the same date, or range of dates, using the filenames.

With my editor, at least, while it does capture DV quite easily, I end up with one file per tape, which then becomes a bit messy, organisation-wise, later on, if it contains different events, especially over different dates (eg 10 minutes of a picnic, 25 minutes of a trip, 5 minutes of a birthday party).

But I have also been on here long enough to realise that quite often an OP does not give all the information to solve the problem and one has to ask the questions (I call it doctor and patient syndrome)

That is precisely why people do come here; they are the patient and we are the doctors. On the other hand, I have also read posts over on DigitalFAQ where people write almost a full page when the solution is obvious after the first couple of lines. So it goes both ways. And of course, if somebody gets stressed by the lack of info provided, don't participate. Simple.

[Piplyn]

@Piplyn, re using Adobe Elements or Sony, I have found, after doing hundreds of hours of this, that I prefer using Scenalyzer (or WinDV). That is because you can make Scenalyzer name each file with the Date and Time taken. This makes it a breeze to catalogue your videos for later editing. For example, you can group all videos of the same date, or range of dates, using the filenames.

With my editor, at least, while it does capture DV quite easily, I end up with one file per tape, which then becomes a bit messy, organisation-wise, later on, if it contains different events, especially over different dates (eg 10 minutes of a picnic, 25 minutes of a trip, 5 minutes of a birthday party).

That would normally be true. However, as all these cassettes contain material originally from VHS-C cassettes, the only time and date stamps are the date they were recorded onto the MiniDV tapes, some time in 2005.

But I have also been on here long enough to realise that quite often an OP does not give all the information to solve the problem and one has to ask the questions (I call it doctor and patient syndrome)

That is precisely why people do come here; they are the patient and we are the doctors. On the other hand, I have also read posts over on DigitalFAQ where people write almost a full page when the solution is obvious after the first couple of lines. So it goes both ways.

You're quite right Alwyn. Actually, I thought I had provided quite a lot of initial information. As I didn't understand the problem, I put in what I knew already. If I had known all the valuable things you people have instructed me on over the past couple of days, perhaps I wouldn't have needed your help.

And of course, if somebody gets stressed by the lack of info provided, don't participate. Simple.

Indeed.

[Alwyn]

all these cassettes contain material originally from VHS-C cassettes

D'oh! I see that now. Oh well, nice try on my part!

[Hugo Cortell]

Hello!

Sorry to necro this thread as a new user, but are there any programs to transfer DV for Mac (High Sierra OS version)?

So far, I have tried PlayMemories as per the recommendation of a support person at Sony. It did not work, the software can't seem to detect the camera.
I have also tried QuickTime Video, this does work, but unfortunately it works too well and it also receives the clock data or something, which causes the video recording to instantly stop the second that there is a cut in the videotape to another shot. This means I need to re-start the software and wind back the tape each time a cut happens, which is very time-consuming and usually leads to the first couple of seconds of video being lost.

If possible, I'd like to know if there so happens to be any software for my hardware that could just let me digitalize the entire video-tape hands off, even if it leads to it recording a couple cuts or empty spaces on the tape.
I'm not opposed to switching to windows, but the quality drastically falls when not using my Mac, probably because it is old enough to actually have a FireWire port that jacks directly into the camera itself.

I'm new to the forums (found this post as the 10th result on google!), apologies if I broke any rules. I just want to find a good way to finally get to digitalizing my family videos after weeks of failed attempts and fruitless experimentation.

[Alwyn]

Sorry to necro this thread as a new user,

Bad move. You probably won't get the response you need by hopping onto a topic unrelated to your issue.

Also, there is a dedicated Mac subforum here:

https://forum.videohelp.com/forums/17-Mac

I suggest you repost this there.

I'm now going to be a heretic and comment on this:

I'm not opposed to switching to windows, but the quality drastically falls when not using my Mac

DV is DV. If you do a proper transfer, the quality will be exactly the same on a Mac or a PC (provided that you have a working Firewire socket on your PC).

[Hugo Cortell]

Sorry to necro this thread as a new user,

Bad move. You probably won't get the response you need by hopping onto a topic unrelated to your issue.

Also, there is a dedicated Mac subforum here:

https://forum.videohelp.com/forums/17-Mac

I suggest you repost this there.

I'm now going to be a heretic and comment on this:

I'm not opposed to switching to windows, but the quality drastically falls when not using my Mac

DV is DV. If you do a proper transfer, the quality will be exactly the same on a Mac or a PC (provided that you have a working Firewire socket on your PC).

Hello Alwyn, thank you for your response! I'll do just that.