For some reason, when I transfer scenes recorded on the mini-DV tape of my Sony HC-96, the size is only coming out at 320x240. For the life of me I can't figure out why. I already have some scenes from the same mini-DV that I recorded a few weeks ago, transferred to my computer, and the size/resolution was 720x480, with the sound at 48000. Now, when I transfer those same scenes, it's at 320x240, with the sound at 44100. I've checked all the settings and can't figure out what's going on. I've used the (crappy) Picture Package, as well as Ulead Video Studio, to do the capture, and it doesn't make any difference. For some unknown reason, I keep getting the "Memory Stick" resolution of 320x240 from the Mini-DV tape, instead of 720x480. This is driving me nuts. Please help. Thanks.
You're probably capturing at the "standard" settings. Make sure you've chosen DV-AVI, Type I, as your capture settings. It should be in Project Properties for Ulead VS (Edit File format-> Microsoft AVI files, hit the EDIT to double check your settings).
Thanks for your response whassup. I think the problem, however, had to do with somehow having inadvertently used the USB cable vs. the i-link cable to do the transferring from the camcorder to the computer. It's a little tricky with the HC-96 because of the "Handycam Station" -- the USB and i-link cables are both connected all the time, rather than using individual cables to do the transferring. Apparently, the USB will only transfer at a 320x240 rate, whereas the i-link transfers at the full 720x480 rate. At some point I disconnected the USB cable from the cradle to connect it to a multi-port card reader, thinking it didn't make any difference since I was mainly using the i-link to transfer the videos anyway. But for some reason, that seemed to mess everything up. It took some fiddling around (i.e. disconnecting ALL the cables going to/from the station, then reconnecting them, rebooting, etc.) to get it working again. I think I understand the reviews better now that said some people are going to really like the station on the HC-96, and some people are not.
I have the same Sony as you, and I have to ask. Why on earth would you have the USB cable connected at the same time that you have the firewire cable connected? If you connect your Sony, to your computer, via USB cable, and you are trying to capture video from the MiniDV tape, most software program will see the Sony as a Web cam, and the downloaded resolution will be crap, as you found out. Capture, using the firewire, and capture as .avi. This Sony is outstanding!
Thanks for your response GrandpaBW. When I first got the HC-96, I found the directions to connect everything up almost impossible to follow. So I had both cables connected. Then, I decided to only connect the firewire cable, but the computer didn't recognize the camcorder. The only way I've been able to get the computer to recognize the firewire was to keep both the USB and the firewire connected. I'm not sure why. But at least now it's working properly, and it does differentiate between the two. In fact, the problems all started when I disconnected the USB cable -- thinking all I needed was the firewire, since I was transferring photos via a separate memory stick card reader. It was only after I reconnected the USB cable that things started working again. If you have any idea what I'm doing wrong, please let me know. (And yes...the HC-96 is awesome!)
If you are downloading photos from the the memory chip, in the Sony, then you do have to use the USB cable, but after you are done, close out of the program, shut down the Sony, unplug the USB cable, plug in the firewire cable, open whatever program you are using to capture, then turn on your Sony, and try to capture via the firewire. I use Roxio EMC 9 for capturing my video, and I have never had a problem.
I'm using Ulead Video Studio to capture the video. It came free with the firewire card I got (it was a total surprise, since it wasn't even advertised), and it works much better than the crapola Sony bundled with the HC-96. That thing was a joke.
If the Ulead software will let you capture as an .avi file(DV-AVI), try what I suggested in my last post.
The Ulead definitely captures to a DV-AVI file. (Unfortunately, it's a format that is unknown to Virtual Dub, but I take the avi that's generated and plug it into TMPGEnc, and create an MPEG-2.) Unfortunately, for some reason, on my system, both cables seem to need to be plugged in for it to work properly. At least with them both plugged in, everything is working. As long as I select "Stream" from the "USB Select" screen, everything is A-ok. I just leave both cables plugged in all the time.
Something just doesn't seem right, but if you get a good capture, with both of them plugged in, then you are at least getting a good quality AVI. Does that AVI play, and look good, in Windows Media Player? I wish that I had Ulead, so I could see if I could recreate your problem. If it happened to me, then at least we would know that there is nothing wrong with your Sony docking station. Or, if you had a copy of EMC 8 or EMC 9, you could see if you could capture with only the firewire plugged in.
The AVI that's generated by ULead plays perfectly in WMP. The crap that came with the Sony only allowed 5 minutes or 10 minutes (I forget; I tried to forget everything about that buggy program); the ULead allows the whole 60 minutes to be captured and turned into an AVI. The quality is perfect. (It should be; the file size is huge.) And the quality of the videos that get cranked out by TMPGEnc after I load in the AVI are extremely high quality too, but with a much smaller size. The thing that I've been doing is taking the original AVI generated by ULead, opening it up in Sound Forge, taking the audio track, saving it separately, working on that to remove the background noise that sometimes ends up on the recording, then saving that as a separate wav file. Then, when I load the AVI into TMPGEnc, I use the modified wav file, and the muxed result is awesome. As far as needing the two cables attached, if you say it shouldn't need to work that way, then I'd say something is off on my system. But as long as it works, and allows me to easily transfer the video at 720x480 with no problems, and copy the jpgs from the memory stick, I'm a happy camper. But thanks again for your responses. sk
You are welcome. And I say that if it works for you, and you are happy, then there isn't anything wrong with your camcorder or docking station. I really like my Sony, and I am VERY satisfied with the finished video product that I get from it.
