I have a Sony Handycam and i was wondering how to hook it up to the computer to edit my videos. any ideas?

Question

I have a Sony Handycam and i was wondering how to hook it up to the computer to edit my videos. any ideas?

Answer 1

Not sure if your handycam is a minidv or minidvd?

If you have a mini dv (cassette) camcorder….

Your dv camcorder needs 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. Make sure your camera is in playback mode.

The fine print in your manual makes reference to firewire (ieee 1394) connection.

If you have a mini dvd camcorder….

You will have to finalize your dvd in the camera and then put the dvd in your computer's DVD burner (top loading only) and then you will have to convert the files (I downloaded handbrake file converter free) and import them into your editing program. Use the HELP feature in your editing program to learn about editing. Once you are ready to burn, your project will be burned to a different DVD and you can file the original away.