Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years.

Thanks,

CNET Support

Question

sony handycam all picture and no sound..

Mar 8, 2015 4:35AM PDT

got my very old pc up and running so as i could convert all
my dv8 tapes to a flash drive or dvd only problem so far is
when i playback what i uploaded there is picture but no sound. the sound is set ok on my pc and the camcorder`s sound is fine. i am running windows xp and using the old 1.5 imagemixer programe. i have tried to use different usb to dv cables but still the same. is there a setting i am missing out.. ps i have no firewire port on my laptop and the addaptor`s dont work.. any ideas friends.

Discussion is locked

- Collapse -
Answer
Remember that all USB to DV (firewire) cables to date are
Mar 8, 2015 4:38AM PDT

"Scams"

This has been done to death so let's dismiss this now. There was only a few USB to Firewire "boxes' ever made so your old PC needs firewire.

I can't guess if you've read it all before and were hoping for someone to tell you such a cable works.

Tell more about the PC so we can see if the usual card will help.

In closing, VLC Player MUST be in the software brew. Why has been written so many times that I'll stop here.
Bob

- Collapse -
thanks for your reply bob
Mar 9, 2015 7:32AM PDT

just a bit lost, what does software brew mean i am a landscape gardner and am not up
with all the computer jargon thanks bob.

- Collapse -
Brew as in
Mar 9, 2015 8:30AM PDT

Titles of software we install to deal with video files.

- Collapse -
Sorry to jump in...
Mar 10, 2015 12:57AM PDT

Just trying to help.

Sounds like you have a Digital 8 tape based camcorder. (The same information can be used with a miniDV tape based camcorder.)

We don't know what you are trying to us for playback that is resulting in the symptom you report (sound only - no video). Installing and using VLC player from www.videoLAN.org is a great idea. It is a lot more robust than many other media players. If this resolves your issue, great. If not, the method you are using for importing may need modification.

To get the video from the tape in the camcorder into a computer there are two ways:

Firewire:
Camcorder off. Connect the camcorder's 4-pin DV/i.Link/IEEE1394/firewire port to the computer's firewire port with a firewire cable. Connect the camcorder's AC adapter to the camcorder and a known working power outlet. Power up the camcorder and put it into Play/Edit/VCR mode. Rewind the tape. LOCK the tape if it is not already locked. In the computer, launch the video editor and import/capture the video. If the bundled editor does not recognize there is a camera, download/install WinDV. I've seen it work where others could not.

USB won't work. USB-to-firewire cable/adapter/converter things will not work. Thunderbolt firewire adapters work great (don't think we have an opportunity here, just being complete).

We know nothing about the laptop you are using - other than it is running Windows XP. If it has an available PCMCIA or ExpressCard expansion slot, a firewire port can be added. If there is no available expansion slot, then we go to plan B:

Analog/digital converter:
Using the camcorder AV cable(s), connect the camcorder's AV-out to the AV-in of the analog/digital converter. Connect the A/D converter's USB port to the computer's USB port with a USB cable. Power up the camcorder and put it into Play/Edit/VCR mode. Rewind the tape. LOCK the tape if it is not already locked. Usually, the A/D converter comes with some sort of importing software, Launch that. Import. When done, quit, then launch the computer's video editor.

With the step through analog (from the camcorder to the A/D converter), there will likely be a reduction in video quality. Since this is all standard definition video, it will not be that noticeable. Legato, Black Magic Designs make good A/D converters. Lots of others, too - some as good, many not as good.

- Collapse -
Thanks for this.
Mar 10, 2015 1:00AM PDT

My takeaways here are:

1. USB won't work.
2. Get VLC Player.

I wish those folk with USB Firewire cables would be fined for each cable they sell. So many fell for that it's no longer funny.
Bob

- Collapse -
Read your post again...
Mar 10, 2015 4:39AM PDT

Saw your symptom is "picture only - no sound". My post remains even with this difference. Assuming you actually used "usb to dv cables", I am surprised that you got this far - and you are the only person I know of that has gotten this far with those stupid USB-firewire cable/converter/adapter things in getting video from digital tape into a computer.

You now have a third option, but it will be time consuming. If you connect the audio portion of the camcorder's AV-out to the laptop's mic jack, you can record the audio into the laptop as a standalone audio file.

Get the video into a video editor, now bring the audio into the video editor and synch...now export/render that to a low compression media file... now you should have the audio one video in a single file. And now you have a choice...

1) Burn this file to a blank DVD. Single layer DVDs hold up to 4.7 of data. Double layer DVDs hold up to 8.5 gig of data. When you burn data discs like this (we assume the video file is a WMV or AVI or MOV or MP4), a computer can play back the file - but a regular DVD cannot.

2) Import the renewed file to a video editor, edit (cut bad parts, add titles, etc), render/export to another file. Use this edited file with a DVD authoring application (like WinDVD, MyDVD, etc) too make the disc. The DVD authoring application will transcode the file into a VOB file set that a regular DVD player can playback. a single layer blank DVD can hold up to 120 minutes of VOB compressed (standard definition) video. I usually cap the video content at about 110 minutes so there is room on the disc for a scene selection menu, background stills or video and music on the menu...