OT: Camcorder to PC

[Kev_XR]

Hi,

How do you download video from your camcorder to your PC?

My camcorder has a "DV" port and S-Video. No firewire.

Do you know if there is an inexpensive soltion. Like a DV to USB cable or adapther?

Thanks,

[ddialogue]

The easiest way is to purchase an inexpensive firewire card for your computer. They sell for less than $100. I have been using a Siig PCI firewire card for three years now (SIIG) with my Sony camcorder with excellent results. I opted to go with Studio 8 software for my video capture needs and have been very happy with it. Good luck!

[pricerc]

My JVC camera uses the DV In/Out port for the Firewire cable. It is a model GR-DVL815. I bought Pinnacle Systems Studio DV software combo with Firewire card. The cable that came with it plugs right into the DV port on the camera. Check out www.pinnaclesys.com.

['00_in_Calgary]

yep, it's either a firewire card or a higher-end video card with audio in and video in capability. ...chances are, the video-in will be S-video on the high-end video card. So if your camcorder doesn't output S-video, yer hooped.

I've gone the firewire route as there's the least degradation of signal with that format. As well firewire will allow for your computer to control the tape deck trasport (ie.. play, record, ffwd, etc) IF and it's a big IF... the package you buy talks to your camera. Check with the manufacturer specs and see if they list your camera. Different card manufacturers work with different cameras...do some research on the web before diving out there...

Neil

[Kev_XR]

Thanks.

Is ther a DV (firewire) to USB connector? Will USB2 be much faster? I get the feeling that a firewire PCMCIA card is going to be expensive.

Laptops...

I picked up a Compaq laptop last week, this week all of the prices dropped again. I might trade it in for the next model up. For about $250 I go from:

AMD XP mobile to P4, but it's not the mobile one. Is this a concern?

20gb to 30gb disk drive,

USB to USB2

16mb to 32mb (shared memory)

Specs...

http://www.bestbuy.com/compare.asp?tp=7&title=&m=488&cat=494&scat=495&b=0&ta=&txtcount=31&T0=11188910&T1=11184655&T2=11188911&3=On&T3=11188967&4=On&T4=11181443&T5=11181444&6=On&T6=11172038&Remove.x=64&Remove.y=7

Thanks again!

[tk421]

I’ve been using the Matrix Mystique 220 with Rainbow Runner card and TV out card. It works so good for video capture that I installed the PC on the YAMAHA DSP A1000 home theater for DVD capture and TV output.

I bought it back in ’98 for $300 plus. Now I believe you can purchase the same thing on E-bay for under $30.

If you want, I can e-mail you an mpeg sample from my Sony 8mm camcorder.

The Rainbow Runner has S-video IN and OUT too by the way.