So it's a warranty issue? Armed with your sales receipt get it fixed or your money back.
As to transfers I had to do this for "one last time" for my dad and will not take that on again without some ungodly budget. It involved no less than a collection of players, recorders and a few PCs. The entire system is undocumentable as I had to use no less than a dozen different systems and connections to work through the pile of tapes.
Point? Don't hang your hopes on one device?
Bob
Hi,
I am a technophobe, with technical problems...so my need is great
My initial problem is a stack of old standard 8 and Hi8 tapes which need transfering to DVD or HDD. When I say need...SWMBO has been wating for years now for this to happen, so that she can view her happy memories of years gone by. Her patience and my excuses have both now run out, so my life now hangs by a thread! And, I suppose as we are both in our late 60's to 70, time is not on our side, lol.
In order to try to achieve this, I have purchased a camcorder to replace the long dead original these tapes were recorded on. I bought a Sony DCR-TRV304E, which is Digital8, but backwards compatible with Hi8 and standard 8 tapes. This cam, although being an old model, is actually new...it was stored unopened, seal on the box intact, until now...so obviously in perfect condition.
The output sockets are...DV (i.Link), USB (mini B), 'S' video, A/V and Lanc. I paid good money for this, as it was advertised as having Analogue to Digital conversion and pass through, which I hoped meant the signal from my analogue tapes could be passed through digital connections, giving me the best chance of a decent transfer to disc. At least, that is what I am told. However, having failed dismally to make these connections work with either my DVD recorder (Sony RDR-DC100) or my laptop (Sony Vaio VGN-FZ11ZU) I am in trouble. I should mention that the add said it DID have this signal conversion, and the specs in the owners manual in the box confirms this...however, in my thrashing around since then I found specs on a Sony site which said it DIDN'T...utter confusion!
When I connect the cam via the DV input on the DVD recorder and ask it to dub to HDD or DVD, it pops a message up saying 'Unable to control the Sony DV/D8 camcorder...please check camcorder, and will not work. When I connect it via the USB lead, despite switching on 'USB streaming in the cam menue, the DVD recorder does not even recognise a device is connected.
When I connect to the laptop via DV, it recognizes the device and activates my software (power director) and ALMOST gets there, but the picture in the monitoring window is either completely broken up with noise bars top and bottom that almost meet, or it switches the camcorder off after 3/4 seconds of running time...utter ruddy failure.
I cannot connect to my laptop via the USB out, because the disc with the driver which came with the cam is for Windows 98/2000/XP etc...but NOT the Windows7 I have...and I can't find one for my OS anywhere online....'aint life a *****?
I should add that if I connect to the DVD recorder via A/V lead, it does play...but the picture quality is absolutely dire.
Please...where am I going wrong?
Best regards,
Dave

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