Transfering from Sony Handycam to a computer: software advice?

January 5, 2008 3:55 PM

I want to transfer footage from a Sony Digital Handycam to a Windows computer for editing, for free. What program should I use?

Whatever program came with the camera is long gone, says the guy who owns the camera and who has never transferred things to his computer. What is the simplest freeware software to use that will let me get the video off the camera, into the computer, and allow me to edit it?

posted by 23skidoo to computers & internet (6 comments total)

Probably Windows Camera and Scanner Wizard, or more specifically, open Windows Movie Maker and do it that way.
posted by DMan at 4:01 PM on January 5, 2008

Seconding that. If the camera has a firewire (1394) interface you're good to go. Windows Movie Maker is surprisingly good for video imports.
posted by krisak at 4:09 PM on January 5, 2008

Jahshaka (& SF link).
posted by tra at 10:56 PM on January 5, 2008

Thirding Windows Movie Maker for easy and no-additional-cost video capture, though if you want to do anything other than the most basic editing and canned transitions, you might want to then work on the video in something else.
posted by aught at 5:25 AM on January 6, 2008

If it's not a MiniDV or Digital8 camera then you could have more difficulty as most apps need a DV video signal across Firewire. If it's a MicroMV, DVD, HDD or some other type of camera, then you'll need the Sony download app which will allow downloading other types of video. The apps should be able to be found on the web.
posted by sycophant at 10:18 AM on January 8, 2008

Windows Moviemaker worked for me. Thanks all.
posted by 23skidoo at 9:19 AM on January 18, 2008