Sony HI Def camera to PC video xfer problem

[patrick_g]

I aspire to edit video on my computer. Toward this end I selected a pretty powerful machine with RAID SATA II drives of 200 Gig each, oodles of fast RAM, and a dual core Athlon with some muscle. Computer works FINE (I think.)

I bought the Microsoft Digital Image Suite Plus, 2 in 1 photo editor and video editor bundled together. I downloaded the free upgrade for the Pinnacle Studio V.10 so I have the latest.

I have a new HDR-HC3 High Def 1080i Sony Handycam that also takes stills. The stills download via USB and that works OK. Everything abhout the camera works except my ability to download video via the i.Link/Firewire connection.

I am running XP Pro SP2. I DID NOT upgrade a previous version. My distribution CD is the SP2 upgraded version.

In their infinite wisdom Microsoft "UPGRADED" the speed of the IEEE1394 (Firewire) port support in the SP2 upgrade. The Firewire port doesn't match the speed requirement of digital video input devices (digital video cameras) and so will not allow communications between camera and computer and so no video transfers.

Microsoft is aware of their minor "failure to communicate" and issued a fix known as KB885222 which for some reason I could not install and got well over 3 hoiurs of MS tech time working with me via the phone and remote access to try to fix. We got a clean install, finally and it make no change.

My understanding of the situation is that if you look into your device manager under the START-CONTROL PANEL-SYSTEM etc, you will see the IEEE1394 host controller listed there. If it is listed with an "!" then there is a problem. I had no "!" and by other means checked to see that the port was enabled, it was. You should also have in your device manager list some sort of digital video source hardware (camera) host controller. This should be seen when the camera is configured correctly and attached to the computer via the i.Link to Firewire cable. I have never seen the camera in the hardware list.

If the speeds are mismatched S100 vs S400 then of course the camera will not be recognized but the patch, KB885222 was supposed to fix that (I have no real way to check that speed except if the camera is recognized and it isn't.)

I have talked to Sony and got through the first couple levels of MORONS WITH SCRIPTS but no help.

I have talked to 2 foreign countries, 3 techs, and spent over 3 hours on the phone with techs just getting the MS patch installed. Pinnacle would love to help me but until the camera is seen by the computer their program (Studio) can't be expected to work.

Any suggestions? (Ah, that would be any suggestions on how to make the camera be recognized by the OS, not suggestions like buy a hot rod Mac or such.)

Anyone else out there have or have used a HDR-HC3 Sony Handycam and successfully transfered video to a PC?

Anyone giving me a suggestion that solves the puzzle will have his/her name enshrined in a monument to be errected to celebrate the joyous day of solving the problem.

Patrick