Transferring mini dvd to pc.

I recently asked this question on your website, “HOW DO I TRANSFER MINI DVD VIDEO TO MY P/C?”. The moderator set me straight, he told me that my Sony 505 is made to record video and make DVDs. The video isn’t intended to be edited. He said that I could still copy the files with the video clips and edit them in an editing program. I also said that I had used the installed PICTURE PACKAGE program . I told him that it transferred files but the contents were blank. When I said that I had bought a firewire, I learned that it was not necessary for this camera.

Several weeks have past. I'm still not been able to find a way to transfer the video to my hard drive. I was reading a camcorder forum, and the person said to “PUT THE DVD INTO YOUR COMPUTER’S OPTICAL DRIVE AND THEN COPY, RIP, TRANSFER, UPLOAD OR WHATEVER.” Presto and it would be done. When I put my DVD in my computer it only wants to play it. When I open an editing program it expects to capture the video from an external devise. When I go to the Sony website, I get instructions to use the Picture Package, which doesn’t work for me. The website also tells me how to download using analog , usb , and firewire. This doesn’t help me either.

I get even more confused as I try to gain more information. The videoFAQ.com website brings up the issue of CAPTURE CARDS. Then I start to ask myself if I need this to successfully accomplish this step.

I would love to pay for a basic class on editing with a sony 505 handycam. I do not think that they even exist. I spoke to a local camera shop. He said they don’t offer video classes because they are too complicated. Plus everyone has a different camera and different computers with different operating systems. Your moderators are very helpful. I just really don’t know what to do. I feel like boxing up my camcorder and never using it again.

Sincerely,
JO- lost in camcorder land

I really wish people would stop saying this. It creates a completely false impression that editing video from DVD is somehow difficult or nearly impossible when this is not the case at all. Provided you use the correct editing software, doing editing with MPEG2 files (the type that are recorded to miniDVD) is quick and easy.
The best software to use is Ulead VideoStudio 10+ and Womble Mpeg Wizard. Ulead will copy the video straight off the DVD into the editing program, Womble is a little bit less user friendly, but very fast.

See these threads for more info
http://www.camcorderinfo.com/bbs/t128838.html
http://www.camcorderinfo.com/bbs/t128126.html
http://www.camcorderinfo.com/bbs/t127124.html

If you look around you will find many more as this subject comes up often.

Regards, Mike

I have the Sony DCR DVD 403. I have had it for about 10 months. I purchased 12 Sony DVD-RW miniDVDs at Wal-Mart for about 4 bucks a piece. They used to be a little over $5 in single packs, but then Wal-Mart started selling a 3-pack for under $14. I pre-formatted all of the disks in the camera. I used video mode. I tried VR mode one time and was not happy with working with it, so I use video mode exclusively. I do not edit any of my footage.

When I take my camera I don't like to carry the bag so I take an extra battery that I carry in my pocket and I carry 2 zip lock bags. On one bag I wrote "Used" with a sharpie. I put all of the formatted DVDs in one bag and transfer them to the other bag when I have used them.

I record in the best quality mode, which will give you about 20 minutes of video on the DVD. As soon as one of the DVDs is full, I eject it an put a new one in. I never finalize the disks until I get home.

When I get home I immediately finalize the disks. I am not using the USB cable. I have a DVD writer on my computer. I put the DVD in the drive and copy it onto my hard drive. Now when you do this it will store it in a folder called Video_TS. After the files are transferred I rename the Video_TS folder to whatever I want. For example: 04-09-2006 Disneyland 1. I also have 2 other DVDs for the Disneyland trip called Disneyland 2 and Disneyland 3.

I then use windows explorer to copy these files onto a DVD. These can only be played in the PC, but I do this for archiving purposes. I can copy 3 mini-DVDs to one regular sized DVD.

After I do this I burn at least 2 copies of each miniDVD for playing on my DVD players attached to my TVs. I use the Copy DVD selection in Roxio Easy Media Creator 7 to burn copies. Again I do not do any editing. There is an option in Roxio that allows you to get the files off of your hard drive instead of your DVD player. You do not have to have the folder named Video_TS to burn it to another DVD. I use the Disk Image option and search for the files with my video. Roxio will recognize that the folder you named to whatever has video in it.

After I burn my copies I put the miniDVDs back into my camera and reformat them. I am now ready for the next family event, etc.

I should qualify that I am using Windows XP Home Media Edition.

Like I said at the beginning I don't think this will solve your problem, but maybe this will give you another idea about how to film, save, and copy all of your memories.