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Video Edit Magic
v4.47 |
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Connecting
a Digital Camera to Your Windows PC |
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The digital camcorder is one of the most popular home products
of all times. Camcorders have made shooting videos
simple, quick and fun. You can make your home
videos even more enjoyable by copying them to
your PC, editing them, adding titles and
removing those unwanted scenes. Video editing software
like Video Edit Magic can
help you edit your home movies to make your memories last forever.
You can also convert the edited videos to an appropriate
format and create a DVD or upload
them to an Internet server and share your
memories with family and friends. |
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However, many users
face problems while connecting digital camcorders
and cameras to their PCs. This article aims to
guide you through the process of connecting a digital camcorder
to your Windows PC. |
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Checklist for
connecting a Camcorder to your PC |
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To connect
your camcorder to your Windows PC, you require: |
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A FireWire or USB Port on your PC. |
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Microsoft © DirectX version 9.0c or
higher. |
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Appropriate
connecting cables (usually bundled with the
camcorder). |
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FireWire Port
and USB 2.0 Connection |
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A Fire Wire Port (also
known as IEEE 1394) allows users to connect digital
video camcorders and other peripheral devices to their
PCs, and transfer videos or other data at high speeds.
Most digital camcorders also have a USB 2.0 connection
and this USB connection can be used to capture the video
as well as the photo snaps taken by the camcorder. Be
sure your PC has a USB 2.0. While a USB 2.0 device can
transfer data using a USB 1.1 connection, the transfer
rate will be dramatically lower, and video capture may
not be successful. |
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Most new PCs have a
FireWire port or a USB 2.0 connection available. If your
PC does not include these ports, you will need to purchase a FireWire
expansion
card. These cards can be bought at any
computer store and are inexpensive. |
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Microsoft ©
DirectX © |
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DirectX is a Windows
technology that enables higher performance in graphics
and sound. For older operating systems, you should
upgrade Direct X. This will ensure that the FireWire
will function properly with your digital camcorder. You can
download the latest version of DirectX from Microsoft's website. |
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Connecting
Cables |
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There are are two types
of FireWire connectors– 4 pin and 6 pin. |
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The FireWire port on the
PC usually has 6 pins. Two pins are for providing power
to FireWire devices like printers, scanners or external memory. A
digital camcorder’s FireWire
port (usually called DV out or i.Link) usually has 4 pins
as the camera does not need to power other devices. This means that in most
cases you would need a FireWire connecting cable with
4 pins (for DV out of camcorder) on one end and 6 pins
at the other end (for your PC). |
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Connecting
your Camcorder to your PC |
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Physically connecting
your camcorder to your Windows PC using a FireWire
port is easy. Plug the IEEE 1394 connecting cable
into the PC and the camcorder. We recommend making the connection
before turning on the camcorder. When you turn on the camcorder, it should be
automatically detected by Windows
XP. |
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TROUBLE SHOOTING |
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Many camcorder users
have faced problem connecting a camcorder
to their PC. One of the most common problems is “nothing
happens” after connecting the camcorder to the PC. The New Hardware Wizard does not run and Windows fails
to detect the camcorder. |
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This can mean one of the two things:
Either the DV port on the camcorder (or computer) is
not working or the FireWire cable is faulty. Try a
different FireWire cable. If the camera is still not
detected by the PC, try connecting it to a different PC. If the Camcorder is still not detected, then your
camera's DV port is most likely at fault. |
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Confirming
that the FireWire Port on you PC is working fine |
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You can check the status
of the FireWire port with the Device Manager. To open
the Device Manager,
right-click on My Computer and then click on Properties. Select the Hardware
tab and click on Device
Manager. If you cannot see the FireWire
controller (probably listed under "IEEE1394 Bus host
controllers")
in the list, then it is not properly installed. If you see a
yellow exclamation mark, then
you need to install the drivers, which are usually on
a CD that comes with the FireWire card. (These
instructions are for Windows XP. They will vary
slightly for other versions of Windows.) |
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Importing your
Videos from the Digital Camcorder to your PC |
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You can use Video Edit
Magic’s capture
tool to import all your video and audio files from a digital
camcorder. The instructions for video and audio
capture are
here. After importing, you can edit these
files using Video Edit Magic. |
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Now you are ready to
learn about Video Editing. You can find additional
information and articles on Video Editing on our Resources
page. |
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