Downloading video from your camera to computer

In this video tutorial we’re going to look at how to download video clips from your camera to your computer for editing. For this specific example we’re using the JVC or Victor Everio with related video editing software, Power Cinema and Power Director.

Once you have the software installed on your computer the download process is quite simple.

First connect a firewire cable from your camera, with the JVC Everio the connection is at the front of the camera.

Connect the other end of the firewire cable to a USB port in your computer.

Then open the side screen panel on the camera. This automatically turns the camera on. The camera will then ask you if you want to view the video clips on your PC. Touch the ok button. This will trigger the Power Cinema software to open.

Here we have a few choices, and since we want to download clips we scroll down and click on copy/edit. Then click on Everio underscore HDD. This will then display all the video clips currently in our camera.

Then it’s just a matter of clicking on those video clips we want to download.

But before we do that it may be necessary, if you haven’t already done so, to make a new folder to save the clips we are about to download. We can do this by opening up “my computer”, then navigate to the drive where we want to save our new clips.

Right click, then click “new” and then “folder”. This is going to create a new folder which in this example we’ll name “intros”.

Back to Power Cinema, once we have selected all the clips we want to download we click on the copy/Advanced functions button. This will then pull up all the clips we wish to download. In this case we have ten clips for download.

Next we must copy the clips into the appropriate folder or in this case the new  folder we just created. To make this path we click on “settings” then ”destination copy folder” and navigate to the drive and folder, we want the clips to be saved. So we navigate to the folder called “intros” and click on it.

Next we hit “select” and the appropriate drive and folder will be displayed.
If this is correct click on “apply”.

Then, back in the main menu click on “copy files”. One more check and if all’s well click on “ok”.

The selected clips will then be downloaded to the specified folder “intros”.

If you want to download other clips to a different folder then just repeat the process.

Once we have downloaded the clips it’s time to pull them into Power Director where we can begin to edit them into our final video.

Back to my desktop, click on the Power Director icon which will open up Power Director.

Here we are in a new page in power director.

We have two ways to pull our newly saved clips into the media room. We can either click on the director’s chair, then “file” then across and down to “import”.

Then we have a choice, either select individual clips within the folder by clicking “import media files” or select all the clips in the folder, by clicking on “import a media folder.”

Similarly we can click on the yellow folder in the top left hand of the screen called “import media” where we have the same options.

In this example I want to import all the clips in the folder so I click on “import a media folder.” Then navigate to the folder I wish to import, in this case “intros”.

Once found, click on the folder or hit ok and all the clips in the folder will be imported to the media room.

We can preview each clip by clicking it and it will appear in the right hand screen.