Hello, My name is Claire, I have just bought a PC.

I have a Sony Handycam DCR-TRV245E with the cable to put my recordings to PC. The problem that I have is that My PC is saying that I need a software disc which I do not have. Can anyone tell me where is get it and also how I transfer my recordsing to the PC for DVD transfer.

Many thanks

[MarkE19]

Hi Claire and welcome to the forum

How are you connecting the cam to the PC? Firewire or USB? USB needs software called 'drivers' that you need to get from Sony or by download off the internet. Firewire however does not need drivers and is also the only way to get full quality video onto the PC.
Do a bit of searching around this forum for advice on firewire as it is a common question. If you still have questions (which you are bound to ) then feel free to ask and we will do all we can to help

Mark.

Hello Mark,

Thanks for the reply. i have just found the manual it it says I need something called Image mixer! Have you heard of this?? Do you know where i can get it. I have a USb cable for my camcorder?

Thanks

Claire

[MarkE19]

AFAIK the software that is supplied with Sony camcorders is only for transfer of still images & webcam use. if this is all you require then perhaps somebody on this forum will copy their disc for you - my cam is too old and therefore was not supplied with any software otherwise i would send you a copy.

As I said above USB will not allow you to get the full quality of the video from the tape to the PC. The only way to get 100% quality is to use a firewire connection. All digital tape camcorders will have a firewire port on them - Sony normally refer to it as iLink, and it is also known as simply a DV port or ieee1394 connection.

Mark.

[felix2]

Hi, I've had a Sony DCR-TRV245E for 2 years (since Sony had to replace my TRV235E when the internal battery & charging system broke... it's amazing that they took several features off when they "upgraded" the 235 to the 245, but it's still been a great camcorder for the money!).

As Mark suggested, to get full quality video onto your PC, you'd need to use Firewire, rather than the USB cable you've got. Have you got a firewire connection on your PC? If not, you can get a firewire card for the computer & connecting cable very cheaply!

If you want to use USB, I'm sure you could get the USB Driver - and Sony's Image Mixer software - either from their website or if you phone them up. If you didn't have any luck, I'm sure they wouldn't mind me doing you a copy of my CD and sending it to you!

The Image Mixer software is a very basic movie editing suite, but to be honest I've never even loaded it onto my PC, because the Windows Movie Maker 2 that comes with Windows XP (in the "Accessories" folder) actually looks better anyway. I believe it will capture straight from the camcorder via firewire (you'd still need the driver if you're going to use USB), and do some basic editing (transitions, titles, music, etc).

If you then wanted to take the editing and DVD authoring a step further, and end up spending more money, there are several other programmes out there for around £35-£50 (and upwards!), which will do a bit more advanced editing. I use Ulead Video Studio, but the different alternatives (including Pinnacle Studio, Sony Vegas, Adobe Premier Elements) are weighed up on several other threads on here. I think you can sometimes get the programmes bundled up with a firewire card & cable "all-in-one" if that's cheaper, but see what Mark's said here: Firewire install - is it easy???

Good luck with it all anyway!