VideoTransfer Quality problems with V Studio 9

[JimG]

I have had problems with the quality of my video when transfering it to my PC and recently purchsed a new one to try and address the probelm but that does not seem to have been the issue! Expensive mistake!!
When I capture my video clips in Video Studio 9 they appear to be in blocks rather than smooth and look like a brick wall texture, I have looked through the manual and on line to try and find the answer but have been unsuccessful, can anyone help?
I am transfering via USB cable
Using Sony DCR-HC90E Camcorder
I used the software for around 2 1/2 yrs with no problems
It looks the same in XP & Vista

Hope someone can give me the answer in laimens terms so I can fix it with the least amount of hassle.

Cheers for your feedback, Jim

[Ron P.]

Welcome to the forums,

2 important factors;
1. You're using a Mini-DV camcorder, which records in DV format (Great choice)..

2. You're trying to transfer using a USB cable. (Bad, bad choice).

USB is not made to transfer DV video from a camcorder to a PC. It simply does not provide for a matching quality. So unless you really want to keep the USB cable for transferring any still images, I'd throw it in the trash can.

If you don't already have one, purchase a Firewire (Sony calls it iLink) cable. IF you don't have a Firewire port on your PC, and you have an empty PC card slot, purchase a Firewire Card to plug your firewire cable into. Total cost for both probably is not over $20 (US).

Once that is done, then you transfer your video from your camcorder to your PC, in DV Type-1 format. You will find that it will have the same identical quality as what's on the tape in your camcorder. It has to, because you simply copied it from one to the other...

Also if you're able to successfully run VS9 on a Vista machine, you're real lucky. The capture plug-in was changed from the DSW, to IVI, which according to Corel is due to Vista not supporting the DSW capture plug-in/devices. I know that you can run older programs under compatibility mode for XP, however some of the older drivers just will not function correctly with Vista.

[Ken Berry]

To capture, apart from the totally correct Firewire advice Ron has already given you, you can download a small freeware program called WinDV from windv.mourek.cz Note that it too requires firewire. But it works under both XP and Vista and does a fine job of capturing without dropped frames.