# cant get video from sony handycam to my computer



## dakota5369 (Apr 27, 2010)

ok, first of all i am as dumb as it gets when it comes to electronics. please keep that in mind.

i just shot some video on a sony handycam dcr-dvd610 and i am trying to transfer it to my computer and have no clue. i thought using the usc cord it would be the same as my digital camera. it isnt.

i have read for hours online how to do it but nothing i can follow because the directions always stray from what i am able to do. i have the usb cord, the white, red, and yellow cord, and the mini disc in the camera. i have no manual or any papers for it.

when i plug in the usb cord i get an option for print, usb with a little disc symbol, and usb with some other symbol. that is as far as i can get. any help would be appreciated


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## Noyb (May 25, 2005)

When connected via USB and the camera is turned on ... 
Does the camera show up as a device when you click My Computer ??


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## dakota5369 (Apr 27, 2010)

no. everything i click on says i need to insert something. funny thing is when i first tried a couple daqys ago, it said there was new hardware detected and a new device or something. but that all disappeared and i could never find it again


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## antimoth (Aug 8, 2009)

Usually, the USB cable is only good for still photos off the camera's memory card. 

If your video is on the mini DVD, finalize the disk and put it in your PC's DVD slot. Then you can copy it to another DVD or convert to something else. If your video is on the memory stick, then get a card reader for the PC. 

I believe the Sony has some ability to copy video from memory card to DVD too.


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## dakota5369 (Apr 27, 2010)

thanks for the advice. i put the mini dvd in the pc, but my computer kept saying i needed to insert the disc. so i am guessing it didnt recognize it. as fir the memory stick, it says it has one on the stickey on the side of the cam, but as far as i can see there isnt one anywhere to be found. i borrowed this camcorder from a guy who knows less than me, so i am not sure if there is one or not


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## 01000111 (Nov 11, 2010)

i'm going to have to disagree with antimoth. in most modern cameras there are only two places you can store data. 1) the removable disk or 2) the camera's harddrive, Which is usually pretty small. if your video is recorded on the harddrive or an sd card the only way to get to it would be to move it to a removable disk or via the USB. if the usb isn't showing up in My Computer (assuming you're using Windows) then the problem would be with your computer, not the camera.

i wish i could be moer specific but i am not familiar with this particular camera, however this is a link where you can download a pdf manual for this particular brand, i hope it helps.

http://www.retrevo.com/support/Sony-DCR-DVD610-Camcorders-manual/id/12050ci371/t/2/


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## 01000111 (Nov 11, 2010)

Try uninstall and reinstall of usb drivers

Remove and reinstall all USB controllers
To remove and reinstall all USB controllers, follow these steps:
Click Start, click Run, type sysdm.cpl in the Open box, and then click OK.
Click the Hardware tab.
Click the Device Manager button.
Expand Universal Serial Bus controllers.
Right-click every device under the Universal Serial Bus controllers node, and then click Uninstall to remove them one at a time.
Restart the computer, and then reinstall the USB controllers.
Plug in the camera via USB, and then test to make sure that the issue is resolved.


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## antimoth (Aug 8, 2009)

01000111 said:


> i'm going to have to disagree with antimoth.


Here's the Sony page. It uses neither SD card or hard drive. It's one of them awful mini-DVD cameras, and was made when Sony was still ramming memory sticks down the customers throats.

http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs...ngId=-1&productId=8198552921665286953#reviews

To the original poster. You have to finalize the DVD. Otherwise, it can only be read by the camera. Look in the handycam menu.


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## 01000111 (Nov 11, 2010)

Touché. Alternatively, if you have the necessary software, to save time ripping from the disk, you could capture it while the camera is in playback mode via the RCA chords. I use Adobe Premiere, they may or may not have a trial version available. you're probably better off just finalizing the disk though.


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## dakota5369 (Apr 27, 2010)

thanks a lot for the responses guys. ugh. i dont even know what finalizing the disc means, let alone how to do it


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## antimoth (Aug 8, 2009)

When you write a DVD disk and keep it open so more video can be added, most other machines cannot read it until you close it by adding trailer files. Called finalization in DVD recorders and DVD cameras.

How to finalize is detailed in the manual, which you can download from the Sony website. http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/model-documents.pl?mdl=DCRDVD610

By the way, DVD storage is problematic and known for failures in cameras, mainly due to bad media. Back your vids up asap.


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## Cimabue (Mar 5, 2011)

i've had a Canon GL2 for a long time, its mini-DV, to transfer the tape somewhere, the DV out is firewire. the usb out will transfer from the card, or stills on cam, but not the tape. 
and i guess i missed a decade, the laptop doesnt do firewire. the WW2 desktop did and it was fine, but of course i just had to upgrade.

"Dazzle" makes a USB transfer cable/device which will do it, $50, i think mostly for the incl. software, Pinnacle. couldnt find just the usb/firewire converter.
another idea was pickp an old laptop with firewire, more than $50, but it would have that additional functionality.

just sharing that, might be helpful. esp. when saying "it can't be this difficult!?" how do people shoot and upload to youtube?

right. skipped all the old tech. wow. like Back to the future, and living in an HG Wells story set.

Canon was not very helpful, and it is difficult to communicate one's tech, what, status, POV? to those who have not evolved through those stages themselves. or to realize one is out of date, when one had been striving for years to stay up to the moment.
one blink and its gone : ) just a warning.


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