Many DV users face the trouble of get video footage off their camera onto computer. Once the video clip is stored in computer hard drive. Then you can copy it to a DVD or other media player devices and play it on standalone players or share it with friends and family members.

The problem is, camera users like videographers are troubled by the computer industry’s failure to decide on a single transfer method for digital videos and photos. Most people presumably bought a camera in the knowledge that it would work with your existing computer. However, when they upgraded even the most basic part, some or all functions will no longer be available.

Although pressure is already being placed on computer manufacturers to increase their standards of interoperability, this need time, and I don’t think you want to wait until that day to come. So it is necessary to find workarounds from problems like this. In the first instance, it is possible to transfer footage using USB rather than Fire-wire. However, it should be noted that USB provides slower transfer speeds than Fire-wire; as such, it will take longer to move video footage from camera onto computer hard drive.

However, at the risk of sounding patronizing, you should also ensure that the camera has a USB port. It is common for cameras to include either a USB or Fire-wire port; few offer both. If your camera has a USB port then any standard small-to-large USB cable will suffice, although you should use USB 2.0 wherever possible as it is quicker.

If your camera only has a Fire-wire port, you have two options. Firstly, it is possible to buy Fire-wire to USB adapter cables; you can attach a Fire-wire cable between the camera and adapter, and a USB cable between the adapter and your laptop. Bear in mind, however, that the transfer speeds will only be as fast as USB.

Alternatively, if your laptop has a PCMCIA slot (also known as a PC slot) you may be able to buy a Fire-wire PC card. These slot into your laptop and provide you with a Fire-wire port. Sadly, however, these can be unreliable; if you choose to install a Fire-wire PC card you should ensure that you install the latest drivers in order to minimize problems.

Luckily, there is still another way out, that is software, now there are many software tools we can use to capture video footage from camera, among them, I think VideoFlick is the most powerful one, it not only capture videos, it also can edit, convert and share videos. All I need to do is just connect the DV to PC, it just so easy!