I've been trying to import my HDV footage from my Sony HC7 camera into my Vista laptop, but strangely, the software that came with the HC7 does not work. I've tried the "Import from Handycam (Tape)" software, but it doesn't detect the camcorder.

I've also tried using Adobe Premiere, but ever since installing the Sony software, I get an error in Premiere during start-up and it doesn't even work. Neither does the DVgate Plus software detect the camcorder.

Oddly enough, the only software that does detect the HC7 is Windows Movie Maker. This tells me there is nothing wrong with the cable and all the correct drivers should be installed. However, the quality of the captures from Window Movie Maker is very low, and it's not even full resolution, so worthless for my purposes.

Has anyone encountered these issues? Any help would be appreciated.

I was able to capture from my HC7 after I uninstalled the Sony software and using a Roxio capture utility so the problem has been solved. Was a nice surprise to see my PS3 was able to stream the raw captured HDV footage directly from my laptop, though the playback was not smooth, probably because my wireless router cannot handle the high bitrate. Burned the footage on a normal DVD-R and it played perfectly on the PS3, the quality exactly as if I was playing the HDV tape through the camcorder.