URGENT: Importing with Sony DCR-DVD301 using Pixela

Kegan

Kegan

Spam Assassin Mod
Hey everyone,

I have a friend whose using one of those old miniDVD camcorders and she's in a bit of a bind. She needs to get the footage off of it by tomorrow and she's having a helluva time.

She has Pixela (the software that accompanies the camcorder), installed but when she opens it and goes to click on "Capture", it automatically closes. She's using a dual core laptop, running XP and its not picking up the camera at all.

She's using a 4 pin to USB (which may be the problem) cable and nothing is showing up. I need to get this thing to show up, because I feel bad for her. Apparently all these Sony Handycams give trouble like this.

I've heard Ulead can capture the video pretty good and a conversion might help with editing a bit. However, what can I do to get this laptop to recognize the camcorder? Buy a 4 to 4 pin FW cable?

Please let me know - thanks,

Kegan
 
You say she's using a 4-pin to USB cable? I'm guessing that will only be for transferring stills taken with the cam. If it has a firewire port, then I'm pretty sure she'll need a firewire cable to transfer video footage. But I'm no expert on MiniDVD cams -- MiniDV are what I'm most experienced with.

I did have (briefly) a Sony camcorder that recorded to an internal hard drive. It used a USB cable to copy the video files to the computer. The MiniDVD cams may do that too, I don't know. But like I said, if the cam has a firewire port, then it probably requires a firewire connection to capture video.

Good luck!
 
Okay, I was reading an online manual for a Sony MiniDVD camcorder. Apparently it does use a USB connection to transfer video, and has no firewire port.

One thing it says is if you connected the USB cable before installing the USB driver from the installation CD, then it may not work properly. Solution is to disconnect the USB cable, then reinstall the USB driver and reboot the computer.

Next thing I notice is it says both computer and camcorder should be turned ON before connecting them via the USB cable. No guarantee that's true for your friend's camcorder, but thought I'd mention it.

It also says it isn't guaranteed to work if a USB hub or add-on USB port is used -- they recommend using the USB ports that came installed on the computer.

If none of that helps, then it may be that the USB port on either the camcorder or the PC is bad.
 
Hmm, thanks a lot David for your prompt response. There's no USB driver on the disc, nor any available for download from my research. It says that it should already be installed with XP.

Do you perhaps have a link to any others?

Kegan
 
Hmm, thanks David - not sure what the issue was, but she tried it on a desktop and it imported. Very weird - I'll ask her what she did when I have some time. Either way, your help is much appreciated. I'll post back once I know so that others can figure it out if need be.

Kegan
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top