why isnt my video transfrering smoothly?

i need to get some video footage onto my laptop to edit and burn to disc. i attatch my sony camcorder via a firewire cable to my laptop but when im capturing the footage its not coming through smoothly and the footage is jumpy on the laptop even though it looks fine on the camcorder lcd.. i really need to fix this asap, i am working with roxio easy media creator please help!

Try closing as many programs as you can when you do the transfer. Also, is the video actually jumpy, or is it just the preview? Play the captured video, and if it's okay, dont worry about it. Sometimes the preview will appear jumpy, but the actual capture will be okay. However, if the actual video is jumpy, the only thing I can think of is closing as many unneeded programs as possible. Also, try restarting the computer and turning off the camera and trying again. Or use a different program to capture. I'm guessing you have xp, so use movie maker to capture. For me, usually closing programs is enough, or restarting the computer, but it's different for everyone, so give it a try and see if it works. Hope this helps! Best way to improve it would be to upgrade your HDD to one that spins at 7200rpm or faster. Video copying is very resource hungry.

Most common reason for this is that the computer is doing something else at the same time. As well as taking up processor time it may also be trying to use your HDD.

In fact, most decent machines used for video work have two HDDs: one for the operating system and video program, the other for the video itself.

Check that absolutely everything is not running except windows and roxio. This means disconnecting from internet and stopping your Internet Protection program too.

Don't have the monitor set to full screen.

You will not be able to monitor the sound as well as video when it's downloading by firewire. Howdy,

You will probably find that the footage, once captured is not jumpy. Do have the minimum number of programs running, but check the footage once it is uploaded, and it should be fine. My computer does the same thing, in fact, every computer that I have used for editing/capturing has done the same thing, even the crazy super $30, 000 macs at university.