My canon DV cam corder won't upload my videos to my lap top,?

Question

I have a new canon camcorder, and am running XP on my lap top. I open windows movie maker and it recognises my camcorder, when I try to capture the tape, it rewinds the machine, and makes all the noises to look like its doing it, but nothing comes up in the preview and it wont draw in the video, I bought a firewire, and it fits.

Is it the firewire, the software or my camera.

Also whats the best video editing software.

Any help please

Answer 1

You're sure you have the right tape in? If you do, and it isn't reading it, try play back on your camera and make sure it taped it correctly and you can view it on your camera.  

If you have the money, but Sony Vegas Pro.  It is great.

Answer 2

Did you ensure to unlock the security tab on the tape cassette?

Is your camcorder a newer High Definition model?  Did you record in HD?

- If so, you may need to change the camcorder's settings to output the video in SD instead of HD.  All HD camcorders can do this downgrade on the fly.  Consult your owner's manual on how to make this change.

- You can leave this change in place.  This does not affect your recording or tapes.  It only affects the output you send out the ports.  If you connect the camcorder directly to an HD TV, you might want to change the setting back to HD for viewing the full quality video.

If this does not work, try resetting your camcorder.  Your owners manual will explain how.  Your owners manual will also explain what to check for this problem too on your particular camcorder.