What's my must-have software for my Sony DV cam?

March 1, 2007 9:35 AM

So I've come to own a Sony DCR-HC38 DV camera. What's my best options with regards to inexpensive software?

I had some gift cards and wanted to use the on something I'd never spend my own money on and this caught my eye in Best Buy. It may or may not have been the best quality or deal but after my gift cards and a discount cluepon it ran me $7 with some tapes.

So now what? It came with software but I have no reason to believe it'll be any better than typical Sony quality so I'd just as soon stick with 3rd party stuff. However simply plugging it into the computer's USB port has not yielded any auto-discovery so I suppose I'll need something else.

What's the best thing for an apathetic videographer to aquire? It'll be used very sporadically - my interest runs more to still photography - but I'll want to pull video over as quick as possible and do minor edits. I expect VirtualDub will do fine for the edits, but I'm open to other suggestions.

posted by phearlez to technology (4 comments total)

I have heard good things about Premiere Elements—cheap and much more usable than Windows Movie Maker. I've used full-on Premier, 6.0 I think, as well as WMM, and the former was much more usable than the latter.

You mention plugging it into the USB port—my handycam has both USB and IEEE1394/Firewire/iLink ports, but only the Firewire port is useable for video transfer—the USB port is used mostly (or possibly solely?) for transfering still images captured in digicam mode.

If you don't have a Firewire port on your workstation, you may have to acquire a bit of extra hardware to transfer the video. Check the HC38's documentation on this.
posted by cortex at 10:11 AM on March 1, 2007

You need to use your firewire port.
Avid Free costs zero, but is a little arcane (in some ways).
posted by filmgeek at 12:00 PM on March 1, 2007

You didn't specify what kind of computer you have, so I suppose you have a Windows machine, but on the off chance you have a Mac, you certainly want iMovie.

I've heard good things said about Ulead Studio on the PC, but I've just moved straight up the [iMovie -> FC Express -> FCP] Apple chain.
posted by Kadin2048 at 12:35 PM on March 1, 2007

You are correct, all, about the firewire; confusingly, Sony puts this USB port on their video cameras and the documentation says they are only good for copying data on and off memory sticks... which this camera model doesn't have. Why it still has the USB port is a mystery for the ages. Perhaps I will write "ha ha you moron - love, Sony" above it.

I will try Avid Free and ponder purchasing Elements.
posted by phearlez at 1:27 PM on March 1, 2007