I used WinDV when I needed this but you'll have to test it on Window 8.
Bob
-> http://windv.mourek.cz/
sometime ago I gave a Sony DCR-TVR25E camcorder to my son as I bought an HD camcorder, I managed to dump all my mini tapes (some 48 of them) onto an external HD well I did manage not thinking that the external HD would fail, I had retained all the tapes so I have borrowed the camcorder back from my son but now I cannot remember how I transferred the tapes onto the hard drive, the operating system I am running is W 8.1 I have a fire wire connection, when I plug this in I get the notifying sound that it is connected but cannot see this in Windows Explorer I have also tried a USB connection but this does not seem to work any help would be appreciated

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