Do I need special software to view home videos with Windows XP

[mom2boys]

I have Windows XP Home Edition. I have plugged my Sony Digital 8 HandyCam into a USB port & connected the other end to my computer. No program automatically comes up. Am I overlooking a program? Do I have to purchase a separate program?

 

[Feralpeg]

I'm certainly no expert, but my video camera came with a CD to view and edit movies. I've never used it. Good luck!

 

[N.Bailey]

I've been doing some research on this because my kids have an upcoming documentary to make. I believe that you're probably trying to hook your camera up to your firewire port, but with the camera you have, I think you must have a video capture card to view it.

The digital cameras can use the firewire port with cameras like the miniDV, but I don't think your camera can.

You can check this site out. It's been a great resource for me lately.
http://forums.afterdawn.com/

 

[N.Bailey]

I have Windows XP Home Edition. I have plugged my Sony Digital 8 HandyCam into a USB port & connected the other end to my computer. No program automatically comes up. Am I overlooking a program? Do I have to purchase a separate program?

IF your camera is digital, I see you've stated it was here, but I'm just not sure, use your Windows Media Movie Maker software for the transfer. It's standard with Windows XP.

 

[N.Bailey]

I just checked and now I feel bad because my 1st post was wrong. You don't need the video capture card. Hook your cam up to your computer via the firewire port and use Media Movie Maker that's standard on all XP computers and you should be okay.

I confused your camera with the Hi-8.

 

[N.Bailey]

One last thing. If you ever plan on doing any editing to that film, make sure you save in DV-AVI format. That media player that you're using will suggest to save it in the best quality available, but it will save as WMV format, and you'll lose quality and it's much more difficult to edit.

After editing (not sure if you're gonna do that or not?) the program will ask again which format and again, it will recommend you choose the best quality, but that will change the format again to WMV. Just select other settings and click on DV-AVI.

If you never plan on editing it, it's no big deal, but you still lose quality.

 

[jfulcer]

Well, first - the USB connection is most likely to download the photos off the still camera inside most video cameras. Most likely right next to the USB connection is a 'DV' connection you would use to transfer video off the camera. Yes, it is normally a Firewire connection (also called 1394). That is what you use to capture video from the camera.

While Movie Maker that comes with Windows will do a okjob - if you plan on doing ANY continueing work with this, I'd recommend investing in something like Ulead VideoStudio or Pinnacle Studio. I use both pieces of software and they are easy enough to understand and work with.

I also agree that you should use the DV format, as you will not lose quality during editing. Only for your final product would you make it any other format - Windows Media format is generally the best.

Of course, if you are editing video, you also have to remember you will need 13 gigabytes of space for each hour of video on your computer. Not meg, gig. It's a good idea to invest in one of the inexpensive 100-200 gig drives that are around now.