Heya Peeps,

This is my first post here, i hope to become a regular once i get used to my camera .

I have a Sony Handycam DCR-PC7E PAL which uses MiniDV tapes. I want to get my videos onto my pc but i'm not sure how.

The camera has a DV Out port which looks like a 4pin firewire slot but i'm not 100% sure, could anyone confirm this?

Also if it is.. would i just get myself a 4pin to 6 pin firewire cable and plug the camera directly into the PC? If so.. then what? How would i get the videos onto the PC.

Kind Regards,
Robin.

Yup, Sony cameras have a four pin firewire port (or i-link as those rather nice people at Sony like to call it). So you plug the four pin into the camera and the six pin into your firewire port on the PC.

To start capturing set your Camera to Play (or VCR) and use some software to capture. For example if you have Windows XP you can use Windows Movie Maker to capture and get started. Once you are happy that things are set up, you may want to look at some of the commercial software. Marc Peters has posted a link to this at


http://www.videoeditingforums.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=548

Some of the vendors provide free trials.

Good luck with your new hobby!

Thank you very much for the help , i just ordered myself a 4pin to 6pin firewire cable.

I'm definately looking forward to creating videos, i spent 5hours today filming my friends doing dirt jumps on a BMX, some great footage, i will upload it when i get it onto the PC.

Good luck with it mate!
Here is the formula for working out how long it takes to make a dvd from all your hard work..
Hrs of video shot x 10 - an Easter Bank hols. weekend + a couple of hours encoding = 1 dvd (10 mins in length)