Using a DVD Camcorder

[Jennifer]

I have a Panasonic DVD camcorder. Even though the camera is installed on my computer, it is not listed as a source in the capture window. The camera is also not listed as an Imaging Device on the Hardware Manager. Can anyone help me with this?

[lancecarr]

Because you are using a DVD cam there is no "capture" step so your cam is not a capture device. Your cam is creating MPEG2 files on the fly and burning them to disc. The cam is also not an imaging device. All you have to do is import the files off the disc on to your computer. Open VS and go to the edit tab. Right click anywhere underneath the folders area and you will get the option to import DVD, DVD/R etc. Click DVD and browse to the cam, open the folder and import. The cam should be showing as a storage device or another DVD drive. Try that.

[Jennifer]

Thank you very much for your help.

[BrianCee]

Your DVD camera may not have a suitable connection to transfer video as suggested by lancecarr - in which case simply take the mini disc out of your camera and put it in the DVD tray of your computer - it will fit - just centre it carefully - then follow the 'import DVD/DVD-VR..' option to browse to the disc and select the VIDEO_TS folder and click OK that will then import the video to the timeline/storyboard of UVS8

[GeorgeW]

Hi,

In some cases, users have to "finalize" the dvd in the camcorder prior to trying to import it into their computer using their dvd-rom drive.

Not sure if that's your case, but if you are having problems reading the dvd, try "finalizing" it first...

George

[THoff]

You are correct, if it's a DVD-ROM drive, the disk may require finalizing to become readable. DVD burners should have no trouble recognizing the disk, however.

[Jim_W]

Jennifer -

I also have a Panasonic DVD camcorder. As previously mentioned if you are recording onto a DVD-R disc in your camcorder you must finalise it before downloading the files (clips) to your PC. If you are using a DVD-RAM you may download at any time. You can either use your PC's USB to connect to your camcorder or take your disc out of its holder and place the bare disc into your DVD drive and download from there.

I usually go to Movie Wizard in VS8 and click on the Import DVD/DVD-R icon. Follow the instructions from there. Be forewarned that if you have a full disc (30 minutes) it takes quite some time for VS8 to recognise all your files. It must recognise (and thumbnail) all your files then you select which ones to download. The download process is quite a bit quicker than the recognition process. I find the camera gets quite warm throughout this procedure.

There is another alternative whereby you can simply copy the entire contents of the DVD disc (when you put it in your DVD drive) to your hard drive then Import from your hard drive to another file on your hard drive. Unfortunately VS8 cannot use the file format directly from your camera.

Jim

[c4791p]

Jennifer -

I also have a Panasonic DVD camcorder. As previously mentioned if you are recording onto a DVD-R disc in your camcorder you must finalise it before downloading the files (clips) to your PC. If you are using a DVD-RAM you may download at any time. You can either use your PC's USB to connect to your camcorder or take your disc out of its holder and place the bare disc into your DVD drive and download from there.

I usually go to Movie Wizard in VS8 and click on the Import DVD/DVD-R icon. Follow the instructions from there. Be forewarned that if you have a full disc (30 minutes) it takes quite some time for VS8 to recognise all your files. It must recognise (and thumbnail) all your files then you select which ones to download. The download process is quite a bit quicker than the recognition process. I find the camera gets quite warm throughout this procedure.

There is another alternative whereby you can simply copy the entire contents of the DVD disc (when you put it in your DVD drive) to your hard drive then Import from your hard drive to another file on your hard drive. Unfortunately VS8 cannot use the file format directly from your camera.

Jim

Jennifer, Jim

I have the Hitachi MV580A that is the twin of the Panasonic V70. Capture works just as advertised in the camera manual and by Ulead, but only after I installed the driver software that came with my camera and restarted my system. My computer then recognized my camera as a separate drive and I could transfer files via USB2 cable. That worked quite well.

However, I really don't like transfers via cable since there are a lot of electronic and hardware things that could go wrong right in the middle of the transfer and make all your work worthless. So, I decided to just put the dvd's recorded by the camera in my computer dvd recorder tray and then use V8's File Input to Library feature as Jim described above.

Not one problem with the DVD-Ram discs.

BUT, significant problem with the DVD-R discs that isn't VS8 fault.

Unless you send files to your computer via cable and the software that accompanied your camera, the DVD-R must be finalized and you can only finalize on your camera. Once the disk is finalized, VS8 will recognize files directly recorded on the DVD-R and you can import them to VS8 timeline or library and manipulate them at will.

While attempting that "finalization" however, I have had the camera report errors on two discs and had the discs fail before finalization finished. I've ended up with two coasters and lost a full day's worth of irreplaceable footage from Mexico during my wife's vacation cruise.

Based on that hard learned experience, I highly recommend that you try and try again to get your computer to recognize your camera before you do anything else, so you can send files to it via USB2 cable.

On the Panasonic and the Hitachi, you have to use USB2 connections so you need to make sure you have a USB2 port in your computer. You may have to add an extra card to your computer. Don't think that just because a computer is new it contains the newest USB ports. I bought my new one last April for my birthday and it came with USB 1 ports, although others on the shelf had USB2 ports.

Then you must use the cable that came with your camera and connect it from the little port on the side of the camera hidden behind the fold out video screen to your USB2 port. Don't try to transfer files using the video cables and connections on the front of the camera under the lens.

Connect your camera, set it to playing one of your recorded DVDs, and then install the manufacturer's driver disk again.

If still no success, call Panasonic. I understand their technical support is more fully staffed than Hitachi's so you should get really quick support. Plus they have a users group bulletin board like this one so you can get help there too.

LASTLY, BEFORE FINALIZING YOUR DVD-R, send the files to your computer so they are safe. Only when you confirm your files are safe should you plug your camera power supply into a wall outlet and finalize your DVD-R so you can play it back directly on your DVD player and TV if you desire or copy files from it to your heart's content.

That way if your camera burps while you are finalizing your DVD-R, your memories are safe.

I have complained to Hitachi, blaming a hardware or firmware (software) error in the camera and they came back saying that even the slightest variation in power to the camera while finalizing the disk can cause the disc errors. (So essentially they are saying the problem's not in the camera but in power system built into my house.)

Good luck. When you get this working right, you'll find the pictures are fantastic.

[maddrummer3301]

c4791p,

Can I ask what type media were you using that failed to finalize?
Also, even if the finalized phase failed, could you still at least read
the files in the recorder?

Don't throw those valuable memories away, 321 studios has a
dvd recover program and there are also some other dvd recovering
software utilities out there.

MD

[Jim_W]

C4791P -

I have found the DVD-R discs (and the attendant process) touchier than DVD-RAM discs. I have from time to time "lost" a clip where VS8 refuses to download one or two clips from a finalised disc. When this happens it also fails to recognise the clips following the corrupted clip. I must then go to the end of the disc and force it to recognise each clip on a clip by clip basis. This is a nuisance (to be polite).

In addition I find I occassionally have problems with transitions on clips from DVD-R discs. The clip will "jump" back 4 or 5 frames and repeat at the beginning of a transition.

I have never experience either of these problems with a DVD-RAM disc.

As a result I prefer to use the RAM discs notwithstanding their greater expense.

I also don't use the DVD tray in my computer because this shortens the life of the disc. The manufacturer (Maxell) claims that you can get over 100,000 uses from a DVD RAM. However if you remove it from the holder that is reduced to the normal 1,000 uses.

Thanks for the good hint on downloading files from a DVD-R before finalising. I didn't know you could do that. I will download before finalising in the future. (I still have several blank DVD-R discs sitting around)

Jim