A Camcorder / firewire / DVD burner / software question

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I need advice and I need everything explained to me really simply and slowly. I borrowed a five-year-old digital camcorder and took it on holiday with me and shot about an hour and a half of footage. I've got to give the camera back soon, but the person who lent it to me forgot to give me the cables that you use to connect it to your VCR when you want to make the video.

So, I was thinking I could go out today and get the stuff necessary to make a DVD instead of a video. But I don't really know what this is. I've heard people talk about 'firewire' cables - would this connect the camcorder to the DVD burner, or would I need something which actually came in the box when the camcorder was bought? Also, I haven't got a DVD burner - I've got a DELL computer and someone told me their difficult to open up, so would I need to get a stand-alone burner like you would get for a laptop? Finally, what kind of software do I need?

― Teh HoBB (the pirate king), Tuesday, 30 August 2005 09:38 (twenty years ago)

your computer would need a "firewire" socket (as does your camcorder obv) which will then (if you have the right software - i think windows XP comes with a tool) let you transfer the video contents onto your computer. and then it's a case of transferring that onto the DVD.

― ken c (ken c), Tuesday, 30 August 2005 09:43 (twenty years ago)

i'm not sure what the best software is to burn the actual footage onto DVDs though (something i've never tried! But i'd assume it's similar to the ones you can use to burn DVDs from illegal videos.. some kind of transcoder and then burner).

― ken c (ken c), Tuesday, 30 August 2005 09:44 (twenty years ago)

What does a firewire socket look like?

― Teh HoBB (the pirate king), Tuesday, 30 August 2005 09:45 (twenty years ago)

like one of these.. it's like a rectangle but with a bluntish pointy end... it should have that Y shaped logo as in the picture as well.
http://www.cofa.unsw.edu.au/units/resource/equipment_guide/av_connectors/av_conn_images/firewire_imac_small.jpg

― ken c (ken c), Tuesday, 30 August 2005 09:48 (twenty years ago)

if your computer is fairly new it should come with it and it'll probably be somewhere near all the other sockets at the back.. otherwise you'll need to buy a firewire thing that you'd have to open your computer to fit in. (they costed like £25 when I bought it from a computer shop in hong kong but probably cheaper than that now)

― ken c (ken c), Tuesday, 30 August 2005 09:51 (twenty years ago)

Hmmmm. There isn't a firewire socket on the camcorder, but there is a DV socket (which looks a bit like half a USB socket).

― Teh HoBB (the pirate king), Tuesday, 30 August 2005 10:09 (twenty years ago)

ooh yes, DV socket is good - their are cables that are DV one end and firewire the other end. how is the computer looking?

― ken c (ken c), Tuesday, 30 August 2005 10:20 (twenty years ago)

the small end goes to the 'DV' socket (the one that looks like a sad mouth), and the other end goes to the computer.
http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00006345H.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

― ken c (ken c), Tuesday, 30 August 2005 10:22 (twenty years ago)

The back of the computer isn't looking promising:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/jamiefake/computer.jpg

Maybe it would be easier to buy a DVD player that can record as well?

― Teh HoBB (the pirate king), Tuesday, 30 August 2005 10:44 (twenty years ago)

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