How to transfer video from your DVC Camera using a USB Key

Q: I'm in the midst of creating a photo slide show and would like to include video, but am not sure if/how I can properly transfer video to the PC from my video camera, which records on tape, for which I think I need to use a FireWire connection. The desktop all-in-one PC has no FireWire input, only USB ports. Is this still workable?

A: USB and FireWire (also called 1394 or I.Link) are incompatible data-transfer standards. Over the years, there have been some adapters and converters advertised, but I'm not aware of a widely used one and have never tested any.

I'd check the camera carefully to see if it has any other transfer mechanism built in, like a memory card or USB or Wi-Fi. If not, you can search the Web for adapters. But the best solution might be to see if you can borrow somebody's older Mac, most of which came with FireWire for years. You could then transfer the video to the Mac, copy it to a Windows-formatted USB flash drive or external hard disk (which the Mac can use) or to a cloud-storage account like Dropbox. Then, from one of these, transfer it to your PC.

—Email mossberg@wsj.com. You can find Mossberg's Mailbox, and my other columns at the All Things Digital website, walt.allthingsd.com.
A version of this article appeared August 13, 2013, on page D3 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: Columnist Walt Mossberg answers readers' questions about technology.