Jake Ludington's Digital Lifestyle

"Is there a place to download a driver for my Sony camcorder for Vista? I upgraded to Windows Vista, and found that my Sony video camera no longer works. I need a new driver in order for my computer to recognize my video camera."

Some of the Sony camcorders support transferring video from tape over USB or iLINK. The USB connection requires a special driver for each version of Windows. The iLINK connection typically conforms with the standard FireWire transfer common to most digital video cameras. If you were previously using the USB connection to transfer video from your Sony camcorder to your computer, that feature probably no longer works with Vista because Sony doesn't have an updated driver for the USB support. Sony has a list of supported camcorders, with very few including Vista support for USB.

To use the iLINK connection on your Sony camcorder, you need to verify your PC has a FireWire connection. Review the various types of PC FireWire connections to make sure your PC has one and to verify which type of cable you need to connect your camcorder and PC.

Once you verify your PC has a FireWire connection and connect your camcorder with the right cable, any of the common video editing solutions, like Windows Movie Maker, Pinnacle Studio, Roxio Easy Media Creator, Nero, etc. will be able to import video from your camcorder.