I have video files on my memory stick in my camcorder that I want to transfer to my computer so I can burn a DVD. Whenever I plug in my firewire cable to the computer, the memory stick does not show up as removable files. However, when I plug in the camcorder with the USB Cable it will show up as removable. But I don't want to use the USB Cable becaues the video comes out distorted. The firewire cable works when I am capturing video from a cassette tape. But won't with the Memory Stick. Anybody have any clue why? And how can i go about getting my memory stick video files onto the computer with teh firewire cable? I have a Sony MiniDV camcorder and Nero and Pinnacle software. Thanks! Julie

I seriously doubt that switching from USB to firewire is goning to change how good your video looks. I suspect that you have some other problem causing the distortion. Do yourself a favor BACKUP!

That behavior is correct (at least for some models of video recorders). As the last poster stated the cable used will not affect the quality of the video. Remember the data is just 1's and 0's. Transferring of the data will not change that. The problem is most likely that the video saved to the memory stick is highly compressed by the video recorder. This is necessary since the memory available ont he memory stick is VERY limited in terms of video storage. The only thing you could do is look for an option to set the quality level of the video stored to the memory stick. But remember that if you increase the quality of the video you will drastically decrease the length of video that can be saved to that device. Michael J

I contacted Sony and they told me I can only transfer the Memory STick with USB Cable. i did try different software (Pinnacle) instead of Nero and it seems to make a difference. haven't burned anything yet, but when i play it back within the software it is very smooth & looks great!