You're a Freakin' Genuis...

jandrewnelson

...if you can help me out.

I have a Sony DCR-HC46 Digital Videocam. It worked great on the desktop that had Windows XP on it.

I bought a laptop yesterday that has Windows Vista on it.

The camera is NOT compatible with the Windows version I have. I've searched all over the net for a driver/patch to fix the problem. Can't find one anywhere.

The Geek Squad tells me that a "firewire" would fix the problem, but alas, there is no place to connect a firewire.

Any helps? Suggestions?

Thanks in advance
Jerry Nelson
www.meesoon.smugmug.com

ian408

Hmmm. I got nothing for you except that you can downgrade Vista to XP. That could be the way to go.

cmason

Well, Google suggests that your camera is a Firewire compatible camera. Firewire doesn't need drivers etc, its plug and play. All you need is 1) your PC to have a Firewire port, and 2) a Firewire cable

Sony calls Firewire 'i.Link' just to be confusing. (Firewire, i.Link, IEEE1394 are all same thing)

Cables are available at BestBuy, etc, but it helps to know what you need, and this is governed by the connectors on you camera and on your PC. Your camera most likely has a 4 circuit female, and your PC most likely has the same or a 6 circuit female. Therefore you want a 4 circiut male-male cable or a 4 circuit male to 6 circuit male cable. Better still, check out these images of the connectors and just match them to what you have and need, and just look at the cables in the store: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_1394_interface

Of course your PC needs to have a Firewire port as well. If you do not have one, there are plenty of cheap add on cards if you have a desktop, and lots of USB adapters as well: Newegg

Most any video editing software will recognize the DV camera over Firewire.