How do you put video onto your computer from a camera?

Question

OK, I might sound stupid but i've never done it before. I just want to record something on a camcorder, put in on my computer. How do I do it?

Answer 1

Just need a USB  cable, the computer will prompt you once it's plugged in.

Once you have the cable you will see which end plugs into the computer and which to the camera. Plug it into the computer and turn on the camera, the computer will tell you what to do next.

Answer 2

If your camera is MiniDV, meaning it uses the small tapes, you have to plug it in by Firewire to your computer. If you have no Firewire ports, you may need to buy a Firewire card.

If you have an HDD camera (hard drive camera), you can plug it in by USB and take the clips directly from it (go in My Computer and click on the camera).

If you have a DVD camera, you have to finalize the disk and put it in your DVD drive, and use included software or Handbrake (available at www.handbrake.fr) to take the clips from the DVD.

Assuming you have a MiniDV camera, film onto the tape, then rewind it, turn it off (extremely important), hook up a capture cable (DV to Firewire 400) to your camera and to your computer. It has to be Firewire; if your computer does not have a Firewire port you will need to buy a card. Macs have them by default. The cards are really cheap to buy and easy to install. Once the hardware hookup is done, you can turn the camera on, open your favourite editing program (you can use Windows Movie Maker or iMovie) and find the capturing function (usually File -> Capture). This will play the tape and record what is playing onto your computer. If your tape is an hour long, it will take an hour to capture.

Once one of the above methods is done, you can edit your movie however you want it!