This may be pretty basic, but I am not able to get the audio when capturing video from my Sony Handycam. I am using the Sony software to capture and then Creator 9 to edit, render and burn to a DVD. When I play the DVD there is no audio and the video is not near the quality that I get when I connect the camcorder directly to a TV. Any suggestions or help? Many thanks.

How are you capturing? What format? After you capture, what does the video look like in Windows Media Player?

If that is all OK, then we''l get to the settings in VideoWave and MyDVD. How long is the video?

What are your computer specs? If you put them in your signature via My Controls (top of this page) and look in the menu on the left, you can add your specs. It will attach to all your posts including this one.

Thanks for responding. I am capturing using the software that came with the camcorder, ImageMixer, and the included driver for USB streaming. Once I have the video in MPEG format on my hard drive, I transfer it to my data file for Creator 9. If I try playing back from ImageMixer I have no audio and the video looks OK there, but after I burn the video to a DVD I get very pixelated image on my TV. Not good. I found out that I had to activate the USB option on my audio card in the Sounds & Audio Devices icon in Control Panel. I followed the instructions given for this, I believe it was a Microsoft link, but when I get to the "select USB streaming option" I have no such selection. So now I suspect something in my audio card, I need to research this possibility some more. I also have been having some problems with the Sony USB driver that came with the camera. It works intermittently and I have had to reload the driver a couple of times. I suspect a problem with using USB streaming and am now thinking about trying the Firewire connection from the camera. It looks like I can capture directly from Creator 9 if I use the Fierewire connection, but I am still researching this. This is where I am right now. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

What Sony model? Most Sony camcorders use the USB for 'streaming' video which means hooking the camcorder to the PC like a webcam. There is NO AUDIO when connected this way. For full quality video, you should be using the firewire port and Media Import 9 shouldn't have any trouble capturing. There are a few exceptions to this USB rule like some miniDVD and hard drive camcorders which do use USB to transfer video.

Don't purchase a really cheap firewire cable. We have seen problems related to those. Even Walmart sells a fairly good firewire Belkin cable.

Thanks for the reply. I am getting ready to use the Firewire cable that came with the camera, it says Sony on it so I guess it's all right. The Creator 9 User Guide isn't real helpful about capturing directly from the camera, so I assume it will be intuitive. I am having to load Creator 9 on my laptop because that is the only thing I have with a Firewire port, but it's a new laptop and fairly well equipped so I'm thinking it will be OK. I figure once I get the video on my laptop in MPEG format I can always transfer the files over to my desktop for editing, etc. The camcorder I have is a Sony Handycom, model DCR-TRV80. Please let me know if you think I'm headed in the right direction here. Thanks again.

Capture the video as an .AVI file. Are you sure that you got a firewire cable with that Video Camera? They usually come with a USB cable and the cable for plugging into a television.

Bruce, I think you are right. I'm not sure where this Firewire cable I have came from but it says Sony on it and apparently it works good. I just captured a small piece of video and .AVI was the default. Then I tried MPEG2 but the file seems to be huge. Can you explain the difference? Thanks.

For the same length of video the avi file should be several times larger then the equivalent capture to mpeg2. One hour of avi capture from a DV camcorder should create an avi file of about 14GB

OK, I think I'm making some progress...I managed to capture a couple of scenes of video of about 6 minutes each. I am getting good quality video and audio now with Creator 9 and the Firewire connection as opposed to the USB streaming method I previously tried. I was getting no audio with the USB cable using the Sony software. I understand now that Sony equipment is designed around the Firewire connection. I am still not clear on why I should capture in the .AVI format as opposed to MPEG-2. If the MPEG files are smaller it would seem better unless there is another reason for AVI. Is this just personal preference? When I get ready to burn a project to a DVD will it make any difference which format I capture in? I think probably not, and my guess that the format used to burn to the DVD is MPEG-2. Am I wrong? My 6 minute scene is about 1 gig in AVI and about 800 meg in MPEG, approximately, give or take. My next attempt is going to be to insert these two scenes into a production I started on Creator 9 and then burn to DVD to see if everything works. Thanks.

A lot will depend on if you need to edit what you capture, or plan to just burn it as is. MPEG2, even in highest quality, is a compressed video format. It's fine usually if you do not plan to do any editing, but if you are, then it's best to capture using DV-AVI as that is an uncompressed format.

Thanks, Larry. I really need to get educated on video...can you suggest any material suitable for a beginner. I would like to get one of the new Sony HD camcorders, but I best do some research before I make a purchase. For example, I know nothing about MPEG-4 and whether it works on Creator 9. Thanks for your help.

Well, you can find a lot of info on video by "googleing" the net. One of the places that a lot have recommended is http://www.videohelp.com for starters.

MPEG-4 is actually a more compressed format than MPEG-2 is, so if the idea is to end up making home dvd's, that's not ideal IMHO. Basically, the more a video is compressed, the more loss there is to it, and rendering it "up" to a less lossless form will not get the quality back. It can actually makes it worse. You'll probably find that quite a few still prefer to use cameras that record digital video to tape if you can find one. Whatever type of camera it is, you want to make sure it has a firewire port for hooking up to your pc with. that's going to give you best possible quality.

What you might want to do is make a new post in the main General Discussion area asking for camera recommendations from the other users here.

Now, here is where acronyms play an important role. If you are talking about a Sony hard drive (HD) camcorder, the one that you have now is FAR superior to ANY hard drive camcorder.

If you are talking about a high definition (HD) camcorder, I think that the one you have now has that capability. I am not sure though.

I have two gurus on these forums to thank for steering me in the right direction to get a miniDV (tape) Sony camcorder. ml and ggrussell know more about camcorders than I will never know. But, I do know, from working with the mini DVD's from my daughter's Sony, that the capture from the miniDV (tape) camcorder that I purchased in January, is superior.

one very simple answer -- DV AVI is not as compressed. When you edit by adding transitions, overlays, text, etc., the video MUST BE rendered in those places. Think of it kinda like making copies of old VHS tapes. After so many generations, the quality deteriorates.

Add to that, editing MPEG 2 can introduce other problems like video and audio ouf of sync because of the way MPEG 2 is compressed (very complex with 4 types of compressed frames). If are you are NOT going to do much editing, perhaps a few cuts, then using MPEG 2 should be fine.

Most editors have been designed for editing DV AVI and editing is much FASTER with these files. With compressed formats like MPEG 2, MPEG 4, DivX, etc., these files must be decompressed on the fly for editing and then recompressed in MPEG 2 for final output to video DVD.

Thanks Bruce. I could ask a million questions but I don't want to take up any more bandwidth when I could be researching on my own which I will do. I like the miniDV tape system I have now so should I upgrade my current camcorder, I would look to better a lens and more pixels instead of HD which seems a bit of a stretch now without being able to burn to HD-DVD or Blue Ray. Perhaps we need to see which format will prevail before moving up to HD, not sure.

Thanks for your service to our country and welcome home.

Thanks for the thanks.

Camcorders are expensive. If you are satisfied with the results that you get from you captures now, I would wait to see what happens with the hard drive camcorders.