transfering from cam to computer

I have a sony handy cam with small tapes ..i cant transfer the videos to the computer when i hook the cam to it...i do have an older computer 2001 but i did alot of upgrades on it i installed firewire card and a new hard drive and memory..i only have windows movie maker that didnt work i also tried 2 freeware they didnt work either...it always freez...
what is it i need to transfer these tapes to the hard drive??? should i buy a software?? i just wanna make sure that my computer will do the work before buying any software.

 

What are the specs of your computer? Video work is cpu intensive.

 

ok ..yesterday i tried dvio that software worked but the qualtiy is is off its really bad compare to the real video then i tried to convert dvd files with windv and burned it on a cd quality was bad but this time the sound was distorted...

 

You need to burn the video to a DVD. CD video is lower quality video.

 

yes but when i watch the video on the computer before burning the quality is still kind of dark and blurry???

 

Never looks good on a pc.

 

alot better on DVD cd but still bad quality picture!!!

would buying a software would help?

 

I think you are doing something wrong here.
WinDV is not a conversion utility. After capturing your movie you have to feed it into a DVD authoring program that will convert your movie in the right format and create a proper DVD structure.
Check this page for a description of the complete process from tape to DVD: http://www.digitalvideoclub.com/basics/tapetodvd.php

 

sorry ...i used divxtodvd that program converts avi to dvd but i dont know why now when i use dvio to capture from cam it saves to wmv and im pretty sure i i saved it as avi the first time i used dvio the program is samll and there no setting to it? but i think ffdshow has somthing to do with all video programs and it has alot of settings that im not sure what box to check...but im working on one now and i will get back to you. i made one an hour ago it was great quality but no sound

 

Indeed, capturing to wmv is not good if you want to go to DVD.
I recoomend to use WinDV for capturing: freeware, hasslefree and it guaranteed does not mess around with formats. You'll get the movie in DV-AVI.
The quality of the final DVD will then depend on the conversion that will be done by the VD authoring program. I never used divxtodvd so I don't know the quality of the encoder that is built into it.

 

divxtodvd sucked coz the final dvd was good quality but delay in sound??

what do you use to convert the avi to dvd??

 

I always prefer to do the mpeg-encoding by a separate encoder in stead one that is built in a DVD-authoring program. I personally use TMPGEnc to do the conversion and then import that into a DVD authoring program (I have several ones).

 

i have a new problem...every time i try to capture from the cam to the pc its forcing to wmv even though i check the avi format....whats happening here??? is there a setting to the ffdshow..or im i missing something here?

 

What software are you using to capture?
As recommended earlier in this thread: use WinDV for capturing. With that it is impossible to capture to any other format than DV-AVI.

 

With that program, which is better to capture as, type-1 avi or type-2 avi?

 

windv is not working for me it freezing..im using dvio.

 

I always capture Type-2 because this has the highest compatibility. However, if you experience sync problems you should go to Type-1.

This is very strange and it means that you have some problems on your system, probably too many conflicting codecs. Personally I am not in favour of installing large codec packs (like ffdshow) on my system. Only install those codecs that you absolutely need...

 

Thanks TPFKAS. I take it that the quality of both is the same?

 

Yes. The only difference is that in type-1 audio and video are combined in one stream and in type 2 they are put in separate streams.

 

I decided to do some reading on the types, and it looks like Type 2 actually has a combined video/audio stream, and an additional separate audio stream.

When I get a chance, I am going to compare the 2, from a short capture from a miniDV tape.

Thanks for explaining all of this. I am still learning.