Download from camcorder. Help!

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x332race

MB Enthusiast
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Dec 10, 2005
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I have a Mini DV camcorder and I want to download video to my computer...The camcorder has a dv fire wire connection but my computer does not. I could record the tape onto a DVD on the DVD player / recorder connected to my TV although I do not have a DVD player in my computer...

What is the best way to proceed....should I get a firewire connector fitted to my computer (and probably a DVD recorder as well) or should I just get the DVD recorder and rely on the DVD attached to my TV to transfer from tape?
 
no dvd in pc!

is it off the ark?

you might be stuck

ive now dumped using camcorders and got a new 80. mega pixel samsung camera that records video in HD onto a sd card and then i USB that onto my desktop

camcorders are not really needed nowadays

as for your problem i cant see a way around it
 
It is about 3 years old...up to now have not had need for DVD, A CD rewriter was sufficient for my needs. I do not want to have to replace the computer and it is more than sufficient for my current needs.

The camcorder is also sufficient for my needs...I only use it to film my wife during her horse dressage lessons so she can see how she is performing, so do not see need to upgrade this either....just would appreciate advice on best route....it would seem fairly straightforward to add a DVD either internal or external????
 
Firewire cards are dead cheap & easy to fit ... I would go that route.
 
Nice one BTB500!

Don't listen to anyone who touts HD on SD as a credible alternative to DV....

Yep, a solid state HD camcorder might have pixel width and height advantages but editing AVI will always give a better result than messing with MPG or MP4 etc.

If desperate to get HD you could always upscale the edited output and achieve a better result than a native MPx device.
 
Exactly as above.
Video on SD cards on cameras is pants, and as for 80 mega pixel:crazy: ( I guess thats a typo)
Get a firewire card, theyre under £10 and a dvd writer is under £20
 
Watch out for the HDD space you need for playing with DV - with my DV camcorder I need about 11 gig of HDD space to download 1 hour of video from the camcorder's mini-DV tape to the PC, then another 11 gig to "render" the video (after playing with it in video editing software) before I can export it to DVD. It takes forever too - download is real time, rendering and outputting to DVD takes about 4 times real time!!
 
Watch out for the HDD space you need for playing with DV - with my DV camcorder I need about 11 gig of HDD space to download 1 hour of video from the camcorder's mini-DV tape to the PC, then another 11 gig to "render" the video (after playing with it in video editing software) before I can export it to DVD. It takes forever too - download is real time, rendering and outputting to DVD takes about 4 times real time!!

Noted: not too worried as I only want to download short clips of film probably only several minutes long.
 

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