Hi all
I'll start by saying that I am completely new to this and don't have much of an idea so it seems!
I have a basic Sony Handycam DCR-DVD205, I doesn't have any output for direct connection to a PC, but I thought that I could just place the mini DVD into my laptop and edit it using Windows Movie Maker.
I seem to always get an error message saying that I don't have the right codec for the file I'm trying to import (if it's the right file in the first place?).
Can I do the editing this way or should I be looking to buy some editing software to enable me to import the DVD movie into my PC via the disc itself?
Which one, if any would let me edit this way?

Sorry for the basic questions but I am a complete numpty at this and need some help
Thanks in advance
powelly999


Just realised.... I've posted this in the wrong place :-(

Just my personal opinion I cannot imagine what Sony was thinking when they created camcorders that use those little dvd discs.

Now that I've got that out of my system I recall that the mini-dvdiscs come out of your camcorder already formated to play in a dvd player so to edit those files you need to either open them in an editing program that will recognize and support them or you need to transcode the file to something more friendly to your movie maker program. Some call this "ripping" a dvd file.

Last time I took a dvd .vob file and tried to open it in - for example - ULead Video Studio version 10plus the ULead program recognized the file type and asked me if I wanted it transcoded to allow editing and so with that program all I had to do was click on yes and I was in business.

There is a free file transcode program called mediacoder and it is safe and relatively easy to use and, so far, for me it has transcoded ever file I have tried it with. If you are a fan of Kim Kommando I recall that her site lists this program as highly rated in her download section.

So in summary before I rattle on too long you need to transfer your mini-disc dvd files from the disc to a folder on your PC's drive and then either buy an editing program that will support that file type OR use a transcoder program to change the mini-dvd file to an mpeg2 or other editing friendly file type.
GoodLuck