In an effort to transfer video of my
daughter's recent school performance from my Sony mini-DVD camcorder to a
full-sized DVD I went on a long, long journey.
At first, I thought I could simply plug my
camcorder into my laptop via the included USB 2.0 to mini USB cable. That
didn't work, and I soon found out that a) USB is too slow to transfer video,
b) audio usually doesn't make it over with the video if it makes it at all
and c) you really need a FireWire cable to accomplish this.
Then I learned that there are both 4 and 6
pin FireWire cables available and that I could buy a cable with adapters,
but the only problem is my Sony camcorder doesn't have a FireWire port!
That left me with looking for a USB to
FireWire cable, but these are a) hard to find and b) rather expensive and
not reliable, so finally I thought I would try to use my old Play
Incorporated Dazzle.
Dazzle, in case, you never heard of it, is a
hub. You plug your camera in one side via RCA jacks for audio and video or
supervideo, and then you plug your PC in the other side. Then with the aid
of some simple software, you can edit, import, convert, and burn DVDs to
your heart's content. Except for one little proble. Dazzle stopped working
with Windows 98 operating systems, and Play Incorporated was eventually
acquired by Pinnacle Systems, the AVID video people.
I tell you all this so you'll
know how I ended up at Office Depot buying my third Play Incorporated video
converter. First Snappy stopped working after Windows 95, then Dazzle with
Windows 98 and so I had to buy their newest version called MovieBox with
Studio 11 software.
I rushed open, unboxed
everything, plugged in the converted, and installed the software -- except
the software did not like the serial number which accompanied the CD! So I
had to wait on hold for Pinnacle Systems support, who to their credit,
eventually generated a new serial number for me which worked fine.
Thereafter, it was exceptionally
easy to capture the video from the DVD camcorder, re-order and edit and burn
the DVD, which by the way played fine on the old DVD recorder.
So if you want to transfer and
burn full-sized DVDs from your DVD camcorder, don't go the route I did. Just
go buy this Pinnacle Systems product. Click the banner for more information.
