How can i transfer my videos from video cam tape to my personal computer?

Question

i need to transfer my video from my video cam tape to my p.c for editing... can you suggest any software?

Answer 1

If it's a VHS tape type camera then you need an analog converter. If it's a  dv camcorder, you need a firewire connection (ieee 1394) in order to download video, your PC probably did not come with a firewire port, so you will have to buy one and install it, since most computers (except possibly brand new) don't come with a firewire port, your camcorder did not come with a firewire cord so you have to purchase a cord too. Your camcorder did come with a USB cord and that is used for downloading stills from your camcorder.

Answer 2

The DCR-TRV33 is a miniDV camcorder.

It has a DV connector on the right side of the camcorder - right next to the USB port.

A 4-pin to 6-pin firewire cable will connect to your computer's firewire port. You cannot use USB to transfer video from the miniDV tape.

If your computer does not have a firewire port, they are cheap and easy to add if you have an available PCI slot in your desktop computer or PCMCIA slot in your laptop computer... for Windows. If you have a Macintosh, they have had firewire400 ports for many years.

Firewire, IEEE1394 and i.Link are all the same. Refer to the section in the manual (you can download from the Sony  support area for your camcorder) on "Connecting to other DV devices". That camera is old enough that most folks were not editing on personal computers, yet.

Windows comes with MovieMaker. Import and edit using that - You *might* need WinDV for the import. Macintosh comes with iMovie for import and edit.

When editing is done, export to a .avi, .mov or .mp4... or render to DVD using WinDVD or iDVD.

Answer 3

First off it depends on how old your camera is, if it has a firewire output, use that, and use windows movie maker.  If it only has video out, then I suggest buying a video card that supports video inputs, and then use the software that comes with it to record the video in and make it that way.  If all else fails several stores offer this service, and they will put it on a DVD or CD for you.

Answer 4

your cam is a digital mini-dv type and the best way to capture is using a firewire card. Best software for capture is Nero 6, about $20 on ebay. Editing software is much trickier. I prefer ArcSoft showbiz which is $100. There is cheaper and more expensive but showbiz works for me. You can do basic editing in Nero.