General Question

aprilsimnel's avatar

How do I get my PC to recognize my camcorder?

Asked by aprilsimnel (30749points) January 15th, 2010

I have two camcorders, a Canon HF S11 and a Canon HF S10. The S11 is brand new and came in the box with all the Pixela and Canon CameraWindow software, which has been duly installed. The S10 is a used camera and came with no software. When I installed the software, it asked for the serial number for a camera, and I entered the one for the S11.

My PC (Windows XP Pro SP3) recognizes the S11 for what it is, yet “recognizes” the S10 only as a “Removable Disk”.

Is the fact that I didn’t enter the serial number for the S10 the reason why this is happening? There was only room for one number.

In any case, what do I need to do to have the computer recognize the older camcorder as a camcorder, or be able to get any footage from the S10 onto my PC?

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7 Answers

gemiwing's avatar

If it sees the used camera as a removable disk- then I would try to open it and copy the files from there.

Failing that- I would use a different program to try and open the files. Such as Paint, Adobe etc.

gemiwing (14718points)“Great Answer” (1points) Flag as…
njnyjobs's avatar

Some devices are recognized as data storage device by a PC if the associated software for the device is not installed and/or running. The S11 software may be completely different from that of the S10, sometimes called backwards incompatible. See if the software from the following link: http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/controller?act=ModelInfoAct&tabact=DownloadDetailTabAct&fcategoryid=369&modelid=17993

njnyjobs (7592points)“Great Answer” (1points) Flag as…
jaytkay's avatar

Amplifying what gemiwing and njnyjobs wrote, you probably do not need the Canon software.

Printers, scanners, cameras – they all come with unnecessary software. Recent operating systems usually include everything necessary.

I work on other peoples’ computers, and all the extra software is a leading cause of problems and confusion.

jaytkay (25810points)“Great Answer” (0points) Flag as…
aprilsimnel's avatar

So I can uninstall all the Pixela and CameraWindow and be copacetic?

aprilsimnel (30749points)“Great Answer” (0points) Flag as…
jaytkay's avatar

I think un-installing is worth a try. If you have the disks, you can always re-install if you change your mind.

jaytkay (25810points)“Great Answer” (0points) Flag as…
Foolaholic's avatar

I would say uninstall, then try and find the most recent drivers for the camera. You can usually find them for free by finding the exact model on the companies website.

Foolaholic (5804points)“Great Answer” (0points) Flag as…
aprilsimnel's avatar

There’s no driver for the S10 (I checked), but I’ll uninstall the superfluous software and see what happens.

aprilsimnel (30749points)“Great Answer” (0points) Flag as…

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