I'm a relative beginner at all this but I've managed to capture and edit a video on my PC and I now want to transfer it to a VCR tape but this is proving a big problem for me. I've been trying to record the video back onto my camcorder but every now and then when recording the camcorder flashes up 'No Signal' and the recording is temporarily interrupted with a blue screen before going back to recording again. I have no idea whether it's a problem with my PC or the camcorder. Please help me! It's driving me insane. I wonder whether trying to record from my PC straight to a VCR would be better but I have no idea what equipment I need to do that.

What type of Video Camera are you using?
What software are you using to transfer to the Camera?
What type of leads are you using?
Any other details on Operating Systems and other software would also be useful.

The camcorder is made by Sharp model VL-Z8H.
I've tried using Edit Studio and Videowave III to transfer the video but the same problem occurs with both.
I'm using a DV cable from the PC to the camcorder.
My operating system is Windows XP. I have 2 hard disk drives - 160GB each - with a master/slave relationship. The hard disk with the video and software on (the slave) I reformatted to the NTFS file system to be able to build a file larger than 4GB but the master drive is still FAT32. Could that be anything to do with it?

I would definitely keep trying with the PC to Camera via firewire.

I must say that I don't personally use the software you mention. However,

Your Boot drive being FAT32 and your video drive being NTFS should not be a problem, unless your temporary disk space (for Edit Studio and Video wave) is set to the boot drive (the FAT32 one). It is theoretically possible that the lack of temporary space may present some glitches in transferring your movie. Again theoretically, this could also happen if your disk is seriously fragmented.

In the first instance it would be worth while having a look at your software to see if you can set the temporary files to your video drive (the NTFS one).

Sorry I can't be of more help, but perhaps there are other contributors who are more familiar with Edit Studio and Videowave.

Good luck though!

Thanks for your help. I'll check out the temporary files thing...

I am having the same problem with my Sharp VL-PD3AE (from Singapore). When going to output avi to or project to Mini-DV my PC controls the camcorder and synchronises with it but then when it goes to record it says 'No Signal'.

Wonder if this is a SHARP issue?

Hi there. I managed to get my edited video back onto my camcorder in the end. After trying everything I eventually discovered it would only transfer to my camera without error if I used the software that came with my firewire card - I had used some other software to edit the video. So I assume the problem was a compatability issue between the software I was using and my firewire card. Are you using the software that came with your card?

I didn't get any software with my firewire card, just the drivers. I think the issue may be compatibility with the camcorder and software. Vanessa, what software was it that came with your Firewire card?

I'll try and source this and see if it works.

Ah ha! Sharp camcorder. I recall from recent posts on a sharp camcorder that these cameras need to adjust the delay on pre-roll times. I use Ulead myself with a Sony Camera but I am convinced that this relates to delay and pre-roll. See post,

http://www.videoeditingforums.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=904

Unfortunately I do not know how to adjust this in Videowave, but if you read the post you will get an idea of what is required. I'd be surprised if its a driver problem as Microsoft use standard DV drivers for video tranfer.

Have go and post back to let us know how you got on.

It was VideoWave III SE that came with my firewire card. Good luck!