We bought our Sony DCR-HC30 last year before our son was born so we could record events in video. I consider myself fairly computer-literate but have not been able to stream the video from the digital camcorder to the PC. I have the software that came with it and also purchased Pinnacle Studio because it had a lot of good reviews and I figured it would work better than Sony's software. Neither program could find the camcorder even though the computer see the device. I have USB Streaming on and am in play/edit mode on the camera. We just purcahsed a new computer(the old one kept crashing and was 3 years old) and the same thing happens. I can see video on the pc if I am using it as a webcam but cannot transfer the video we have already recorded. Please help this newbie figure out what he is doing wrong! Thanks.
in pinnacle have you already gone to settings and changed the capture source to mini dv??? cuz i always have to change that, it never remembers what you want to select.
I am pretty sure. I will check when I get home. I finally got the software that came with the camcorder to work but it won't capture the recorded video and according to Sony's website, it is because I do not have the correct CD/DVD burner. Amazing how FEW of them are compatable! My best bet, I think, is getting Pinnacle's Studio 9 SE to work.
You're using the wrong connection, SonyHelp. DON'T use USB to transfer your video. First, quality is not as good as it can be, and secondly, almost no video editing can capture from a miniDV-cam through USB. Use Firewire instead. If your PC is quite new, there is a good chance that you have Firewire on-board. If you haven't, you can buy such a card for around $20.
Thanks! I will go out and get one today and try. My pc does have a firewire connection. Will the PC recognize the camera immediately in the new port? Thanks
Yep. Connect your cam, turn it on to VCR mode and your camera will appear in the device manager. And because you apparently have Pinnacle installed, a window will pop up with a couple of options including "Record and edit video with Pinnacle Studio". Select it, press OK and Studi will start. You now can even control the cam (rewind, forward, play, pause, stop etc.) using the controls in Studio. You can even do step by step, play the tape backwards and other things you cannot do on the camcorder itself. Have fun!
Thanks! That worked great! Was able to pull all video over, burn to DVD, and watched part of it on the big-screen tv with very little work! Thanks again! Amazing that the Sony documentation didn't mention that at all.
Hello, Can you tell me how to activate VCR mode on the hc30? (As per TPFKAS's post) I just got a firewire card for my laptop, but the camcorder is only recognized for a moment, then everything slows down, and the program Windows movie maker and Ulead VideoStudio freeze, then go to "not responding". Any suggestions? Your help is appreciated, while I have hair : ) Joe
I am using Pinnacle's Studio 9 Video editing software which recognized the camcorder and started the process of importing my video immediately. I recommend the software highly. Very easy to use, good editing software for the novice, and it worked when my Sony software would not.
I don't think it is the software that is causing the problem. To check, try one of the freeware capture utilities from here: http://www.digitalvideoclub.com/downloads/freedownloads.php (I prefer WinDV myself).
