Transferring video from handycam using Tv tuner

K

KHUBBU

Disciple
Hi,
I have a Sony Handycam TRV285E:) , a USB cable was bundled along for transferring video but the transfer is too slow:( and takes huge:mad: space, stops after some time stating disk is full, then I have to again start capture and in the end I Have to compress the whole video. The Burn VCD option is not working since my CD RW drive is in all probability not supported.:huh:

I have tried transferring thru Composite cable and the Tv tuner card, the video was coming fine but i cud not configure the audio. I mean there are three heads in the composite cable, yellow, white and red. Yellow is I think for video so i inserted it in the yellow port on the Tv tuner card. Now the rest two i think are for audio but the problem is that my tuner has only one audio input point. How do I get everything work right, I mean both audio and video. Is there any way out? :S .
Plz help ASAP :huh:
 
KHUBBU said:
Hi,
I have a Sony Handycam TRV285E:) , a USB cable was bundled along for transferring video but the transfer is too slow:( and takes huge:mad: space, stops after some time stating disk is full, then I have to again start capture and in the end I Have to compress the whole video. The Burn VCD option is not working since my CD RW drive is in all probability not supported.:huh:

I have tried transferring thru Composite cable and the Tv tuner card, the video was coming fine but i cud not configure the audio. I mean there are three heads in the composite cable, yellow, white and red. Yellow is I think for video so i inserted it in the yellow port on the Tv tuner card. Now the rest two i think are for audio but the problem is that my tuner has only one audio input point. How do I get everything work right, I mean both audio and video. Is there any way out? :S .
Plz help ASAP :huh:
Click to expand...

Is the audio input in your TV tuner a 3.5mm stereo input? If yes then you'll need an RCA to stereo cable that can be gotten from any electrical shop for 30-40 bucks.

About the video capture bit, yeah RAW video does take a huge amount of space. There's nothing much you can do other than skimp on the resolution. If your TV tuner supports hardware-accelerated video encoding, then I suggest that instead of RAW you straightaway let the card encode in realtime to whatever format it supports (MPEG1, MPEG2). Using the CPU for realtime encoding while grabbing video is not recommended. It'll end up dropping frames like crazy resulting in choppy video. So you probably have no option other than freeing up space, or doing the job in batches.
 
Keep arnd 15 Gig spare (13 for the file 2 for the thrashing) for ~ 1hour of raw video...

once u have the raw DV video, u can convert them to more manageable file sizes in DivX/Mpeg2/mpeg1 format depending on your choice.

I had posted a more detailed guide on this here:

http://www.techenclave.com/forums/burning-cd-handycam-capturing-tv-feed-857.html

If you try dtaking the TV tuner route, you'll end up lwith really fuzzy videos...

Also, try using a firewire port for the raw DV transfers as USB 2.0 will in all probability lead to a lot of dropped frames
 
@KHUBBU:

transferring the video through usb route is a pain but is worthy effort.
as i have one step up model from the same sony line up and what i do is

use : sony`s provided software, record in bits of 1 gb each, when only 5 gb left on drive i leave there.
reencode them to a new format (dvd / divx )
join them with joiner software
rip to dvd.

while using tv tuner card i had to use rca to stereo connector but it dropped too many frames and quality suffered ( i used pinnacle pctv plus card)

@superczar:
i dunno whether this handycam in question and that i have will support firewire transfer? i have no idea can you throw some light.
the manual mentions usb sign to the port (is the camera end of firewire and usb cable same? i have no idea about firewire cables)
 
Last edited by a moderator:
From the link below, it seems that this model does support firewire...Basically every DV modekl will definitely have firewire support because till USB 2.0, there was absolutely no way to trfr DV without IEEE1394 i.e firewire

The firewire port is physically different from the USB (though about the same size)

To use firewire, you'll need to have a firewire port on ur PC (All Macs, Many Wintel laptops , few Wintel desktops have a firewire port) If you don't have the native port, you can always add a PCI firewire card (~600/- including the cable)

For DV transfers, firewire was and still remains the interface of choice...

Architecture - FireWire vs. USB 2.0



*

FireWire, built from the ground up for speed, uses a "Peer-to-Peer" architecture in which the peripherals are intelligent and can negotiate bus conflicts to determine which device can best control a data transfer



*

USB 2.0 uses a "Master-Slave" architecture in which the computer handles all arbitration functions and dictates data flow to, from and between the attached peripherals (adding additional system overhead and resulting in slower, less-efficient data flow control)

FireWire remains the performance leader. And is the best choice for DV camcorders, digital audio and video devices, external hard drives, high-performance DVD burners and any other device that demands continuous high performance throughput.
Click to expand...

source:http://www.cwol.com/firewire/firewire-vs-usb.htm

Product specs from:

http://www.ciao.co.uk/Productinformation/Sony_Handycam_DCR_TRV285E__6110696
 
^^Yeah and quality video editing programs (like Premiere, DV Express etc.) support DV control from within the software. But this only works if you use Firewire; not USB 2.0. With DV control, you can forward, rewind, play, pause and perform any other operation from the software itself. So you won't have to touch the DV cam at all, once it's connected. It's really convenient.
 
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