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Considering that the HV30 and the just announced HV40 are identical to this camera execpt for color and aspects of 24P shooting, this is a great deal on a hi-def camera (I've owned the HV20 and own the HV30). I've bought a number of refurb cameras and have never had a problem.

ben 430 +11 = 441
I own Hv30 And pleased by quality of picture(HDMI OUTPUT to Sony Bravia-stunning!). I want to share some expirience with others and may be u(pro guys) will do the same to me.
I add "Rode" shotgun Microphone from guitar center(130 after match price), cause installed one wasn't great(BTW don't buy cheap 40-30$ mics).My Hp dv4 laptop didn't have firewire port( so I purchased ExPress card/54 to have it +40$) plus actual firewire cable 20$ because camera comes without it. Usb cable only for picture transfer. The real headach came after tries to download 24frames and 30p footage to computer(everything recordered on HD miniDV tapes in HDV 24p or HDV 30 settings). The sony vegas 9.0 pro trial(+100$ extra) but it didn't help(as well premera or ulead) and of course camera have more sence when it's record and transfer HD signal for editing or at least recording to DVD's. "Old good" windows movie maker accept signal and recognize camcorder only on Dv locked position(menu) what is not HDV(high Def resolution). i saw hundreds of guys have same issues, some saying u can do it though HD TV but even if i pleased with quality of product still need help to transfer HD taped material to HD recognized Software! the disc with cam dosen't see cam either. laptop have 4GB ram, 320 GB HD & good Procc.

1080p or 1080i?

There are dozens of video editing programs out there that will work fine with HDV. First, you need to figure out why your laptop can't see the camera. You don't need VegasPro, and in fact I would suggest its little brother Vegas Studio as being more suitable for you at this point.

Once transferred over to the laptop, HDV files carry the ".m2t" suffix. You can easily edit those files.

1080i

Something is weird with your setup. Pretty much all consumer editing programs will edit HDV footage now. Vegas Studio, Premiere Elements, etc. You don't need special drivers either.

Download the Sony Vegas Studio pro trial and start it. Connect the camera and turn it to playback setting. If it connects you should get a "ping", like connecting a usb device. Choose capture in the editing software and your camera should show up as an HDV source.

If it doesn't try checking the camera settings in the camera's menu and verify that it's set to output HDV over the firewire cable. It can be set to output DV only over the firewire cable--maybe that's the problem (the camera will down convert for you, if you want it to).

I'm not familiar with your laptop--but be advised HDV is a lot more demanding than DV on computers.

If you've chosen to import HDV some software won't recognize a DV source and vice versa. Both have to match.

thanks for your tries to help, but as I mentioned, "old good" windows movie maker see the cam on my laptop and I have "ping" or "ding" an every time I conect cam to laptop. And thats the problem #6, I need transfer HDV taped material and at HDV/DV position(not DV locked) camcorder not recognized by any "HD" software(exept Movie maker or "power director" by Ciber link),
anyway still having headache with itI think may be firewire port burned or HD signal won't go throu express card don't know.
as i sas no newbe help please incl. sugstions how many software on a market or other cheap things

Not quite as good as it could be.

I use Adobe Premiere with no problems. You can get a free 30 day trial and see if that works for you. They also have a less complex verion called Elements that can edit HDV as well.

Well, the DV lock would have been the easy solution.

It doesn't sound like a firewire or express card problem to me, if it's recognized by Windows Movie in DV lock then everything is working. The data rate is the same for HDV and DV (25mbs).

You mentioned Sony Vegas, if you hook the camera up and go through the capture process does it recognize your camera? You can right click on the capture window when it's open. That will give you a short menu, one of the items will be Device. Open it and see what is selected. If it's "none", that's your problem.