Sony Handycam, Need Help ASAP!

MANDER

MANDER

Active member
Ok so i got a sony handycam for christmas a few years ago. Never used it until now. Me and my friend (Purple) are making a ski edit for a school project that we are filiming next week. The one problem is, cant get the video on my computer. Ive tried downloading all these programs on the disc it comes with and nothing is working. Im getting super frustrated and i dont want a big fat 0 on this assignment. If anyone can help i would love it. +++++K!
 
I'm assuming it uses MiniDV tapes? You have to use a firewire cable to transfer the footage onto your computer. I'm assuming you have either windows movie maker or iMovie? Either one of those softwares will be just fine if you're new to editing. Your camera may have a USB port in it, but these are only for transferring still pictures and will not work with logging video.
Basically you need a firewire cable (probably a 4 to 6 pin) and you need a computer with a firewire port.
 
my handycam has a USB port.

you can use WIndows Movie Maker to import the video onto your computer.

 
mine has a cord that attaches from my camera to the USB port in my computer. my computer isnt even recognizing that its in. when i go to WMM and click on import video, where do i find the camera?
 
I have had problems since the beginning with my Sony handy cam. The program that came with it called picture package is useless and freezes often but the camera has its own format for the video witch is unread able to any thing else so you need to use this terrible program. Make sure you have picture package and update it. Plug it in turn on the camera and go the the view movies section and it should say connect to pc and some other options, press connect to pc, open picture package and select viewing and handling pictures. Hope this was what you needed.
 
What i do is when the little screen pops up asking what i want to do i say copy pictures to my computer and they save as a picture but work fine
 
^^ yeah no joke, plug the camera in, then turn it on. that was my problem once. also, make sure yours is a usb, and not a firewire, cause theyre somewhat similar and most cameras use firewire, or atleast they used to.
 
A firewire port is just another type of plug on your computer, like usb but different. obviously. With basically every minidv camera you have to import with firewire. your camera may have a usb plug, but it will not work to import footage unless you have an SD card/hard drive based camera, some of which use USB instead of firewire. google search "firewire port" see what they look like, then see if there's one on your computer.
In fact, google everything your asking us right now because this is about the most basic question you could possibly ask and there are detailed answers all over the internet.
 
yeah i got the same camera too. its like the mpeg4 format and windows movie maker doesnt take it. sadly your going to have to try and find a new program. i have sony vegas which cost me like 50 bucks and now its works fine. also if you have windows vista with the new movie maker it sort of works but you need to keep clips short.
 
thanks for everyones help but its still not working. it used to not even detect my camera but then i found that it needs to be on USB mode. i did that and now it makes a beep when i put it in. also i went to my programs and under the picture package there was a thing called handycam tools. i clicked that and usb transfer came up. when i click it it says it cant find the camera!!!
 
ok, so now when i put the camera in there is a pop up with a bunch of options. i think the only option that would work is "copy tape to video cd". is this what i should do and then put the video cd back in the computer?
 
i do a lot of movie editting and i have a program called Sony Vegas. that just lets me upload straight from the camera to the program, but you can try opening windows moviemaker and uploading or imovie for mac
 
Hey, i had this problem too. I just needed to download the correct driver. Let me know the number on it (ex. DCR-TRV250) and i can get you a link to the driver.
 
i've said this like 5 times already but apparently this hasn't gotten through... You need a firewire cable. basically ALL miniDV cameras use firewire. Your camera may have a USB port on it but that doesn't mean you can use it to import footage!
 
okay well if your using a disk to record to, take out the disk, stick it into your dvd drive. then use the software that came with the camera to import into a folder on your computer.
 
you are able to stream via usb with sony handycams, but the quality is gonna be shitty compared to firewire.

you just have to download the usb streaming drivers from the sony homepage.

what is the exact description of your camcorder?
 
Sorry i didint read everything, and i guess the same answer i give allrdy has come. I have a sony handycam, model is not important, but atleast i didint get the usb port working and if im not wrong usb only works for photos taken with it, dont ask me why you can take pictures with a it, its just silly. You just need to use the fire wire and it will go smooth, dont use movie maker it just gives crappy quality and big fiels, use mac or download a good expensive program from a torrent. About the firewire, be sure you buy the right size of it, there are 4-pin and 6-pin versions, the end that goes in to the camera is 4-pin and the end that goes to your computer is usually 4-pin if its a notebook and 6-pin if you have a desktop, but as i said you should be sure what you buy. hope my advise helped you.
 
ok thanks. can i buy a firewire at radio shack or something? and where does it go into my computer?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top