Getting Video onto PC

[Paul-r1]

Being a complete newbie and getting confused by all the "Firewire" and "USB" talk, I have an idea that I would like your feedback on.

I wish to edit a load of video footage on my PC. Now, instead of connecting my camcorder to my PC, my plan was to connect my camcorder to my mates home DVD recorder. Record all the footage onto a DVD, then pop the DVD into my PC and record the footage I want to edit onto my PC's hardrive.

The above sounds so easy, it's bound to not be possible. We all know anything where PC's are concerned, complication is the name of the game.....

Anyhow folks........time to shoot me and my idea down before I even get to the end of the runway!

Cheers

[MarkE19]

Yes it is possible

If you friends DVD recorder has a firewire input (not all do) and your cam is a DV/Digital8 cam then you will be able to copy to a DVD-R at no/little loss of quality.

BUT WHY?

You can add a firewire port onto your PC for the cost of half a dozen DVD-R's and then you do not need to rely on anybody else to help you out.

If you have Windows XP then you already have editing software and the firewire card will cost around £20 from www.dabs.com or www.ebuyer.co.uk
If you do not have XP then as long as you have Win 98SE or later then you can get a card with software from around £30 from the above sites.

Good luck,
Mark.

[David]

There's an even more important reason to follow MarkE19's advice which is that the DVD recorder will only record compressed MPEG2 quality footage, whereas capture via Firewire is lossless (full quality AVI).