canon optura 300 question

[boxofdelights]

While Nixie is visiting, I was hoping she could record me doing a storytelling. I don't have a video camera, but Neal borrowed one for me from a coworker, and today we recorded something. The camera is a Canon Optura 300 digital video camcorder. It has a cassette and a memory card, but Nixie says it couldn't record video on the memory card, only stills. So we recorded a six-minute story on the cassette. I don't know how to get it from the cassette to my computer. I found the manual online. It says "You can transfer recordings to a computer equipped with a DV (IEEE1394) terminal or IEEE1394 capture board (optional software required)." (I love that: optional software required.) So, if I had the correct port and the correct cable and the required optional software, I could do it? Am I reading that right?

I could ask Neal to ask his coworker how, exactly, he gets files from the camcorder to the computer, but at this point I just want to erase the whole thing and try again some other year.

Comments

[malka]

Ugh, that manual sounds unpleasant. If it helps, I'm pretty sure 1394 is Firewire. For a while most Macs had Firewire ports standard and they may still, for all I've been keeping track.

[jesse_the_k]

Yes, that's FireWire, and the manual sounds old enough that the optional software could be the drivers supplied by the operating system, as well as the utilities. VLC is an open source, free, video Swiss Army knife available on all platforms.

But if the goal is "transfer 6 minutes" and nothing else, you could try:

A/V resources at high school, maker space, community cable station

Craigslist

Camera store