Very New to VideoStudio

[detectingdavid]

Hi all
My name is David and I'm new to VideoStudio and the world of video editing, welcome to you all.
I would appreciate a bit of advice on how to capture video from my sony handycam.
I have managed to connect my camcorder using USB3.0 video capture connector
When I open VideoStudio and try to Video Capture I cannot see the video on screen.
The camcorder is playing and VS is also running as it capturing but nothing is showing on screen? Am I doing something wrong?
Many thanks in advance for any help
David

[lata]

Hi David
And welcome to the forums
The capture tab options are usually for analogue capture or tape based video.

If your camcorder records to SD card then its a simple matter of copy and paste from the card to the pc.
Your camera may have its own software to transfer video to the pc, otherwise windows may see the camcorder as a removable drive, again a copy and paste option.

Once you have transferred the video clips to your pc its a matter of inserting to Video Studio-Edit Tab
Right click the top timeline for Insert Video, browse your pc for the video files

You can also insert clips to the media library, again a right click for options, i would first suggest creating / adding a new library folder for these files, you can then drag and drop to the timeline, or right click clips for "insert to" options

[detectingdavid]

Hi Trevor,

Thanks for the reply and the welcome

The camcorder I'm using (a Sony Handycam DCR HC30e) and the video is on the small tapes (DV LP90) not an SD card
So the problem I'm having is getting the video off the tapes.

Any ideas why VideoStudio is not giving me a view of the tapes as they are playing?

Thanks
David

[Ken Berry]

Yes, we have a very clear idea, now that you have specified the camera model and what the video is on. You have what is called a DV handicam. I don't know how long you have had it, but it is rather old. I also don't know if you got a Manual with it, but you will find a couple a bit down on this page: https://www.sony.co.nz/electronics/supp ... /dcr-hc30e

The bad news is that to be able to capture DV properly -- and Video Studio can certainly do it -- is that you don't use a USB cable. At best that would possibly only give you streaming video quality, though increased USB speeds these days may have changed that. But DV video essentially only works properly with what Sony call Firewire or iLink. There is a separate cable for this, and the really bad news is that at the other end it is plugged into a computer which has a Firewire card. This is now regarded as rather old technology, and Firewire cards and cables may be difficult to find. My first video camera was a DV handicam, and I keep a 15 year old computer working simply because it has a working Firewire card and port on it. I moved up from DV to what is called HDV which gave me high definition video, though still using those mini-DV tapes and the Firewire setup. But I now have moved on to mp4 which doesn't require Firewire.

There are some capture devices which claim to be able to capture from a Firewire camera using a USB cable which has the camera at one end and the capture device at the other and with the capture device then connected to the computer also via USB. But you would need to do a search on your computer to see if such devices are still available.

[lata]

Mini DV Tapes are normally transferred to the pc using Firewire, Transferred in that they are not recoded so what you get is the same as on the tape, DV.Avi
I guess computers nowadays do not have Firewire aka IEEE

As you are connecting via USB you should be able to transfer as the USB speeds have improved over the years especially if you have USB3.

From the capture tab Capture Video there is a Format option, probably showing DVD, are you able to select DV (Digital Video)

I have not transferred DV for a long time and certainly not using 2023, If you are still having problems I will dig out the old camcorder to see how it performs with 2023

[Vdanny]

Hi David,
Welcome to the forum. If you don't have a Firewire card I have been recommending the "Elgato Video Capture device":
https://www.amazon.com/Elgato-Video-Cap ... 202&sr=8-3

(available from Amazon and others suppliers) to digitize the video from your camcorder using the supplied composite or S-video cable. It attaches from the video output of your camera to the USB port of your computer. The quality of these has improved tremendously over the last few years and are now nearly indistinguishable from Firewire capture. This is probably the best option if you don't want to install a Firewire capture card in your computer.

[detectingdavid]

Right, firstly, many thanks for your advice so far, it's really appreciated.

@Ken, Unfortunately, I no longer have the old Firewire cable and even if I did my new PC doesn't have a FW card.

I've had a look on line and ordered a Video Capture device, hopefully arriving tomorrow.
I've also ordered a AV2HDMI mini box, which I hope will take the A/V cable from my handycam via the RCA (Yellow/Red/White) connectors to HMDI output, if that's makes any sense (I'm not that techy..)

Lets seen what arrives tomorrow and I let you know how it goes.

Thanks
David

[lata]

I would have thought connecting using USB and selecting DV as the cature format would work, hmmmm

[Vdanny]

Hi,
USB only transfers still images from the Sony from a Memory Stick. No video can be transferred via USB. He will need the cable that attaches to the camera's AV port to allow for analogue capture. S-video connection will give the best results.

[RobertOZ]

IEEE 1394 Firewire cards can be purchased for less than $50, I made the mistake of taking all my Mini DV tapes to the local computer shop and had them copied to DVD.

I still have my Canon Camcorder with heaps of unused Mini DV tapes, which gave good quality videos, so may install a Firewire port and start using it again

[asik1]

IEEE 1394 Firewire cards can be purchased for less than $50, I made the mistake of taking all my Mini DV tapes to the local computer shop and had them copied to DVD.

I still have my Canon Camcorder with heaps of unused Mini DV tapes, which gave good quality videos, so may install a Firewire port and start using it again

I wished my Sony DCR40 DV port would have lived,
AS precaution I never used main power while connecting to the PC for capturing, only batteries.
And I used to capture VHS thru it as well,
Till it died, it did after I capture all my tapes, and many VHS's.
Recently I decided to try again to capture very rare content from VHS, only to find out that my VHS pansonic J47 died as well. Back in the days I payed top price for it.

[lata]

Contrary to anyone’s belief I can assure you that I can transfer my DV footage from my Panasonic GS 400 camcorder using USB2 with no dropped frames. USB 1 would have been too slow but usb2/3 will do the job. For those who do not believe - have you tried???
I did use Video Studio 2018, 2022 and 2023 which allowed for DV format, controlled the camera start stop pause from video studio in the same way as connecting via Firewire, shows dropped frames during transfer as zero and timecode when played back (2018 only), the tape was recorder in the year 2013
There was a slight delay after pressing Capture but that was normal even with firewire
However using 2023 the delay was a little longer, with the preview screen refreshing for a second, after which capture started as ok.
I would play the camera using VS controls below the preview screen, then pause before hitting the Capture button.
The preview screen was a little stutter during capture but the resultant video was smooth.
The resultant video being Video.avi

Go to Preferences F6 –
General - Display DV Timecode, showed for 2018 but not for 2022 or 2023 hmmm
Capture tab - Show Dropped Frames a bit of reassurance whilst capturing

From Capture Window – Source as Video Edit, and Format as DV, do not use DVD as that will recode / transcode the video to Mpeg2

[Vdanny]

Hi @asik1,
Sorry to hear about your DV port burning out. The camcorders thst could passthrough external video through Firewire were pretty cool. Firewire ports on camcorders always seem somwhat delicate. I was recommended to always connect the camcorder to the PC while both were off.

[lata]

Hi,
USB only transfers still images from the Sony from a Memory Stick. No video can be transferred via USB. He will need the cable that attaches to the camera's AV port to allow for analogue capture. S-video connection will give the best results.

We are referring to Capturing Mini DV tapes which require playing during transfer, has to be transferred in real time, not video saved to memory SD cards etc

[Vdanny]

I am also referring to capturing miniDV tapes which can be transferred in realtime only either via Firewire or analogue video from the Sony.