Best free software for dv camcorder to pc????

[philv]

Hi

Can anyone reccomend any free software for copying from a digit camcorder to a pc?
It is a firewire connection (prob makes no difference?).

Not sure what to use to get it onto the pc as i am a bit of a novice with this.

Any help much appreciated.

Thanks.

[Raify]

I've used Windows Movie Maker. Pretty easy to use.

[viper_larry]

^^^ What he said - free download for Windows XP

www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/updates/moviemaker2.mspx

[zumbruk]

Even l'il old Microsoft hater me uses Windows Movie Maker. It can't possibly have been written by MS - it's really rather good. There's a very good Usenet support group for it, too.

[philv]

Is it just a case of ...
opening the software up
connecting the firewire cable up from camcorder to pc
pressing play on camcorder

IS it as simple as that?

Thanks fro all the info.

[Raify]

Pretty much.

1. Open software
2. Plug in camcorder and switch to play mode
Now your pc will detect the camcorder. I'm working from memory, but it's something like:
3. Import clips > From camcorder > Import whole tape? or select parts manually?
If you select manually, you can control the camcorder from the pc, and hit record and stop to pick out the bits you want.

Once you've imported, the clips appear in the top of the screen, with a blank 'filmstrip' along the bottom. You drag and drop clips to your filmstrip and start editing from there.