Transferring Camcorder to Computer?!?!?!

[Nino Valenti]

How would I go about transferring video form my Camcorder to my computer?

Camcorder:
Sony CCD-TRV58
S-Video Out
A/V video out (Mini plug > Video RCA/Mono Audio RCA)
RFU DC out. No clue what this is.

My computer has an S Video In and a RCA inputs for Video and L and R audio. It also has a firewire input.

I messed around a little and I got something recorded on my computer but the quality was pretty crappy.

Can anyone help me get a as close to DVD Quality from my computer? What Software (preferably free) should I use. I'm not looking to do any special effects or anything like that. I would like to transfer what I have onto my computer and burn a few DVD's of it as well.

Thanks in advance, Nino

[Minger]

What about Windows Movie Maker?

[mjolnir]

The S-Video out is your best bet, but usually a camcorder like that would have its own method to plug into the computer, like a USB port. If there is one on there, I'd definitely use that, it would give you the highest quality, and as for the programs, the guy above is right. If you have windows XP and don't want to buy a video editing program, Windows Movie Maker is the way to go.

[elros]

Your camera is an analog Hi8 camcorder, yes?
If so, then digital transfer is obviously out of the question. (nowadays people use DV camcorders and transfer digitally via FireWire.)

With analog signals, S-Video is definetly preferable to composite video. The quality is limited only by the A/D conversion and the source material then.
If you already did the S-Video and got crap quality... then I don't know. I really would have to see your source material and the digitized result to troubleshoot further...

[mjolnir]

It's an analog camcorder? I'm useless when it comes to model names... Nevermind the USB then...