How to Get My Mini DV Tapes Onto My Laptop
- 1). Plug one end of the firewire cable into the camcorder DV port. Plug the other end into your laptop's firewire port or the firewire cardbus adapter. Make sure your camcorder is in the "Off" position before connecting it to the computer.
- 2). Turn the camcorder on. An "Autoplay" dialog box for the Windows Import Video software will appear on your computer screen. This indicates that the laptop has recognized the camcorder. Choose "Import Video" under device options. The "Import Video" dialog box asks you to enter a name for your videotape, and allows you to select a folder location. Select the video format WMV or AVI depending on the video editing software you will be using to edit your videotape. Click "Next."
- 3). Select the next import options based on how you will use your transferred video. The first option imports the entire videotape as one long clip into your laptop. The second option imports the entire video in a format that can export to a DVD. The third option allows you to select the video clips you want to import. If you plan to edit this video, it is easier to work with smaller sections so in this case, the third option is the best.
- 4). Clicking "Next" on the "Import Video" dialog box rewinds your videotape automatically, starts your camcorder playback and begins the recording process. If you chose to import the entire videotape it will stop when it reaches the end. If you selected the third option to import smaller clips, you will manually start and stop the recording process.
- 5). Click the "Finish" button when you are completely done with the recording process. The video will now convert to a computer format and processing time will depend on the length of your original videotape. Once the processing is complete, your video clips are available for viewing or editing. Turn off your camcorder and disconnect it from your laptop.
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