Windows 10 & Camera Compatability

[TAMc]

Having trawled through a lot of previous on this I have decisions to make & would value others' experience. Two main issues arise from 'upgrading' to a new Windows 10 PC, firstly its (probably rectifiable) lack of an IEE1394 port and Sony's advice that my Sony Handycam DCR-TRV145E is not compatible with Windows 10. I can still download from the camera onto DVD through my DVD recorder & then insert into VS, but need to work out if restoring full functionality is possible & worthwhile. Is this something anyone has worked through & can advise please? Thanks so much.

[BrianCee]

Not at all sure I have come across a "is my camera compatible with windows " question before - surely the question is "is my camera compatible with the software I want to use "

I do not follow Sonys' advice that your camcorder is not compatible with Windows 10 - the camera has a !E1394 port - which Sony like to call I-link but the rest of the world call it firewire

I have a windows 10 computer with a firewire port and although I did have to change the driver - available from Microsoft - to get it to work it functions 100% correctly even with my very old Panasonic camera

to be honest I have upgraded both camcorders and Windows over the last 15 years or so and never once did I ask if the camera was compatible with a version of Windows - always was it compatible with the software I wanted to use - or had - or did I need new software

So ask instead - what output does my camcorder have - can the software I have accept that output if I fit the right hardware

if you really want a new camcorder then nowadays virtually all 'domestic' grade cameras record to SD cards - so as long as your computer has an SD card you are hame and dry.

[TAMc]

Thanks for your quick & helpful response, Brian. I'd need to invest in changes to the computer to make PCIE space for IEE1394, & I wanted to avoid then hitting a different problem. I don't really want to invest in new camera equipment as this one's fine for my limited purposes & the main aim is to keep access to my own & son's collections of video/digital 8 family history. Google threw up indications from others that they'd hit Windows 10 driver problems with older Sony devices & compatibility information on their website seemed convincing; but perhaps best to try it & see.
Thanks again.

[Ken Berry]

But that is a driver problem. Microsoft has changed the Firewire driver which comes as part of Windows. But if you strike that, come back here as there is a fairly simple way of resurrecting the 'legacy' or old Firewire driver or have a look here: http://forum.corel.com/EN/viewtopic.php ... 73#p318973

By way of background, I am an avid Firewire user since forever: originally I was using standard def DV camcorders which use Firewire. Then my high def Canon HDV20 also uses it. And I purposefully bought a Sony DCR-145 Digital 8 camcorder some years ago especially to transfer by old analogue 8 mm tapes to digital format and burning to DVD. My newer computers don't have Firewire ports and I have not tried to add Firewire cards to them. But I have two older ones with Firewire ports -- and Windows 10 on both -- which I use to capture the video, and then transfer it to my newer video editing computer for processing. I had to convert the Windows drivers on those older computers back to the legacy Firewire driver. But as I said above, this process is really pretty easy and safe.

[TAMc]

Thanks for your wisdom on this, Ken. I'll keep exploring & see where it takes me.