camcorder to computer help

firbyfred

My father in law recorded a school play with a sony handycam which records it onto a small tape, I have downloaded the play onto my computer When I replay the image it is small and when on full screen it is broken up, but when it is played through the camcorder on the wide screen tv the images are perfect, clear and take up all the screen.
I was hoping to burn some copys onto DVD's to playback onto tv for other parents.
Am I trying to do something that is not possible?
I was using Windows moviemaker.

BigMan

What spec is your pc?

For a computer to enlarge film footage it uses a lot of graphics memory

Sput2001

What connection did you use between your camcorder and PC?

What model camcorder is it? I'm guessing it's a Mini DV type.

firbyfred

I'm not sure the computer is in my son's bedroom, so I can't find out the exact spec, when it was bought 18 months ago they were able to play age of empire 3, the sims games etc with no proplems, not sure if that makes any sense or good enough

firbyfred

it is a sony handycam, model no. DCR-HC19E and it saves it onto little tapes, I used a cable that was in the bag with the rest of the stuff, similar to a digital camera cable with a usb at 1 end.

firbyfred

I have never had a camcorder so I assumed that I could download it onto a computer then burn it onto a DVD without losing any quality.
The father in law just keeps the tapes to replay

S0litaire

It sounds like the way the PC converted the DV Tape to video file.
there are 2 types of connections USB and I.Link (firewire)
USB is slower of the 2 and has the worse conversion.
I.Link is faster and has better quality.

If it's a desktop then it probably will NOT have a I.Link (Firewire) socket.
Some laptops have this small socket. (usally labelled IEEE 1394).

Sput2001

firbyfred wrote: »

I have never had a camcorder so I assumed that I could download it onto a computer then burn it onto a DVD without losing any quality.
The father in law just keeps the tapes to replay

In theory you should be able to do just that.

There's probably just a setting somewhere that's gone wrong OR you need to look at connecting to the PC via the iLink (a.k.a. Firewire or IEEE1394) rather than the USB. Your camera certainly can output that way, it's just a question of whether the PC has an input socket. They're not too expensive or difficult to fit if it hasn't.

A firewire will give you a more consistently fast connection to the PC, and should lead to fewer dropped frames, if not none at all.

roddydogs

SONY dont help things by saying that the USB is "Good" for copying to a comp-it aint- you need a firewire as already described

spakkker

You can get a firewire card and fit into one of your comp's pci slots. Some motherboards do have firewire connections built in but they may not be connected.
See this - http://svp.co.uk/products-solo.php?pid=407&ref=googlebase&id=441
Some dvd recorders have a dv -firewire- input.
Eg. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lite-LVW-5115GHC-Multi-region-Multiformat-Recorder/dp/B000CCOEBC

firbyfred

Thanks everyone for all the advice, I have just checked the back of the desktop computer and there is a socket/port with the number 1394, I presume this is where I plug the cable that has been mentioned?
If it is what is the name of the cable? is it a standard cable I could get off Ebay etc? or is it one that is only made for Sony camcorders?