rustier, if I understand you correctly, I may need to buy a piece of hardware called a firewall to install between my handycam and a usb port on my computer. If my usb ports are 4 pin, the firewall needs to be 4 pin to 4 pin.
If my usb ports are 6 pin, the firewall needs to be 4 pin to 6 pin.

I do not know what VMS is or I would have ask questions about that as well.

sorry to be a pain!

No, not a "firewall", but "firewire". Firewire is an alternative to USB and doesn't use the USB ports or cables at all. Your camcorder should have a firewire port on it, probably labeled "iLink" or "DV". Your computer will have to have a firewire port as well. If your computer doesn't have one, you can pick one up pretty cheap at places like newegg.com. Most cameras have a tiny 4 pin jack and most computers have a larger 6 pin jack. If you get a 6 pin port for your computer you'll need a 4 to 6 pin cable. If you get a 4 pin port for your computer then you'll need a 4 to 4 pin cable. Expect to pay between $10 and $25 each for the port and the cable.

Don't even bother trying to capture with USB. The quality is so bad you'll hate it.

quick clarification, I assume you are using a miniDV hanicam and not a DVD handicam. miniDV and DVD will be handled quite differently.

My ignorance is surfacing on this one.

My camcorder is a Sony "HDD Hard Disk Drive Handycam" camcorder. The model number is "DCR-SR40".

I do not find any output option other than the USB connection to my computer and an A/V output for direct play to my television or my monitor. There is one very small (1/8 inch wide by about 3/16 inch high) port under the door that all the rest of the ports are located. It is not labeled but it does appear to have the possibility of four electrical connections. It is not mentioned in the instruction manuals.

Sony advised me yesterday that their Vegas Movie studio will not work with my Handycam. I have sent them quotes from their own instruction manual which states otherwise.

Thanks for your help.

That small port you describe sounds exactly like an iLink/firewire port. Is there a small nub on one of the longer sides?

That camcorder most likely records in MPEG2 format. Vegas can edit this, but it will be slow and ornery.

I took a quick look at what specs I could find of your camera.

Amazingly enough there is no fire-wire connection. (Firewall is something else - that protects your computer) I am scratching my head on that.

VMS is an abbreviation for Vegas Movie Studio - which I assume you have since you are posting in this forum.

Don't worry about your level of understanding. Your are smart enough to come to the right place to get the answers you need - this forum is a great help to a lot of people.

What Sony meant to convey to you is what I said - that the capture program included with VMS (Vegas Movie Studio) does not import through the USB. You can however still transfer your mpeg through the USB to your computer and VMS can work with mpegs.

As Kelly said - working with the mpeg format your camera uses will be "ornery". This is because the format your camera is using - even though its a Sony - is a more highly compressed type. You will discover through time there are quite a few formats - some more compressed that others.The "mothers milk" for VMS is an avi type format. And just to throw out another concept for you - avi is a "container" format which means there are "types" of avi files as well. Is your head hurting yet?

So why ornery? It is the way mpeg squeezes the video file. The simplest way to explain it is that mpeg saves space by only noting the changes in a scene. So say you have the camera on a desk, recording your friend and your friend waves. If nothing else is moving in the background - mpeg will "say" hmmm I can save space by just repeating the picture - and all I have to "change" in the video file is the motion of the hand waving. Bada boom badabing it save itself 60 frames of "space". Now you import this into VMS and want to edit it - say right after the first swing of the hand in the wave. VMS had to try to figure out exactly how many space saving frames are used to cut it where you want - and this is hard to do - and sometimes VMS figures wrong and you have to "play with it" to try to get it right.

Your camera is geared more for a person who simply wants to take what you recorded and slap it straight to a dvd disk. You can edit with VMS but now you know you have a little more of a challenge.

Good luck with it.

No, there is no nub on this possible port.

Thanks for correcting me on that one. A "firewall" might cost somewhere upwards from $250. I could get new glasses for less than that!

with your HDD cam, when you connect the USB from cam to computer, the pc should see it as an external hard disk.
All you have to do is locate your video files (i think it's .mpg files) and copy it to your pc hard disk.
then you can drag and drop it to Vegas Moviestudio to edit.

there's no need to use the Capture option.

HTH

I am going to have to chew on this one for awhile. Unfortunatly, I did buy the camera for the straight foward camera to DVD transfer. My daughter, knowing that I had a new camera decided to buy me the VMS for Christmas. Once you break the seal, you own the software. It's kinda fun to play with, but frustrating as hell!

I can export video from my Handicam to my computer hard drive, and use VMS to design a video. When I try to put it on a DVD, all goes well until the "Video Architect" software(provided with VMS) gets to the point it is supposed to "burn" the DVD, and all it does is ratchet the "time remaining" to completion window up and up and up. I usually give up about 2 hours and 30 minutes into the process and call for a "cancel". I experimenting with a two minute video clip!

My computer does not see the camera hard drive at all. As I replied earlier to another responder, (two minutes ago so you may not have read it), I can send my video clips from my camera to my computer hard drive (a camera function). VSS allows me to then modify it to my heart's content, but when I try to burt it to a DVD using DVD Architect(provided with the VMS) all goes well until the software gets to the point that it is supposed to start burning. It says it's burning my 2 minute test clip, but the "time remaining" window keeps ratchating upwards. I usually cancel the operation when it gets above 2 hours, but have let it ratchet as far as 2 hours 30 minutes.

BTW, it only takes a few minutes to ratched to 2:30, but the cancel operation takes 15-20 minutes.

I must be doing something wrong!

What format are you saving your file from VMS?

How much memory do you have?

How much "editing", i.e. adding extra stuff, did you do to the 2 minute file?

Did you pre-render?

As for the other, if you can export to your hard drive, that's all you need.

It sounds like you have gotten beyond worrying about the camera, capturing, VMS, etc. You are having DVD burning issues. Have you upgraded DVD Architect Studio to the latest patch level? Can you give the exact make/model for the DVD burner? Do you know if the firmware is up to date. (I know that is a hard question to answer -- you will need to go to the manufacturers website to find out.) Is your windows software up to date? What exact brand and type of writeable dvd discs are you using?

I know, you are wishing this stuff was all easy and it would just work. Well, having been in the computer business for over 30 years and can unequivocally tell you that computers suck. But, I still get a lot of pleasure out of tinkering with them as well. You have to just deal with it and consider these stumbling blocks part of the challenge, or give up. It doesn't hurt to bitch and moan at the people who create these products -- it doesn't often help that much, but at least you can vent your frustration.

The software Womble might be a better option for you when it comes to editing mpeg. I understand it does it without resampling.

That being said - can you describe your work flow to get the video to DVDA? The reason I ask is that even though mpeg is "ornery" to edit in VMS - and I would expect it to take a while to process, two - plus hours for a two minute clip seems off. In VMS what was your choice for rendering? Are you using the default settings? When you edited your video did you add a bunch of special effects?

Also when it comes to rendering - check and see what programs you have running. You may have something running that may be interfering with the process - like some anti - virus and some screen savers.

Sorry I have been so long replying to you and others. I live in Springfield, MO and as you probably know we had one bad ice storm a week ago last friday. I have been without electric service at my house until yesterday about 3 p.m.

Anyway, I finally got back on my VMS software and this morning and I managed to burn the movie that I was playing with, onto a DVD. I can think of nothing that I did that was different from the previous tries, except for the type of recordable DVD I was using. I had been using FUJIFILM DVD+RW. Today I used Memorex DVD+R. The Memorex says "Up to 16X" the FUJIFILM says "up to 4X",

I think I will continue to work with this software, using the +R DVD's.

Thanks for your reply!