Hey guys, serious newb here on the Video Editing scene. I bought a Sony DCR-HC42 for christmas, and have been playing around with some editing using the bundled software. My question is 2 fold,
First, If I have the option to transfer the video from the cam to the pc using USB 2 or Firewire 400, which would produce the best results? It is my understanding that Firewire is really for this type of thing, but isnt the USB2 interface faster?
Second, Do I want to bring the video over in AVI, MPEG, or other format?
Once the video is on the pc, my goal is to do some video editing, add some effects, transitions, etc. then put it onto DVD with the best quality possible.
Any thoughts or pointers will be nice. It looks like I have found myself a home as far as a DV forum is concerned. Thank you all so much in advance.

Ryan

Hi, Ryan, welcome to the forums!
Definitely use Firewire. USB 2.0 is said to be faster, but can't cope with sustaining a high transfer rate, like Firewire does.
Since you want to do some editing, you should capture in DV AVI, and only convert to MPEG-2 once your production is finished and you're ready to burn to DVD.

Just to add to the firewire point: the firewire standard allows daisy chaining and can link devices without the need for a PC. Transferring data between two camcorders is therefore possible. Add to this the high sustained data rate and the fact that bandwidth isn;t shared and you'll understand why firewire was chosen over USB as a means of DV transfer.

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Thanks for the help guys. I appreciate the input.
Happy Editing.

CPD5 is simple to use yet has many options and bells and whistle to keep you occupied Video Editing to your hearts content.