One of my Cristmas gifts was a new Canon Mini DV Camcorder. It has a IEEE 1394 connection (firewire). So, my question - what do I need to get video from the camcorder, through the firewire, onto the PC? I assume I can get a firewire card for the back of my PC? Then I would need some sort of video editing software? Any recommendations?

I already have the IOPort camera mount - so this is sort of race related.


[Modified by Crack Monkey, 12:56 PM 12/27/2002]

 

Yeah, only a few of the newer PC motherboards have firewire support built in. You can get a PCI board to add the ports, Adaptec and SIIG are a couple of brands that make them. Some of them combine USB2.0 and 1394, so you can add both formats and only take up one slot. There is a SIIG kit that bundles Ulead VideoStudio for non-linear editing.

Must've got an Elura? 40/100/200? I plan on doing the same, instead of borrowing my friends... but alas I forgot to ask Santa...

 

It's a ZR45MC. I think the Elura 40 has slightly higher resolution and a smaller size, but costs a bit more. I just asked my parents to get me a relatively inexpensive one since it'll spend most of it's life in the car (and get to beat to **** and vibrated apart and all that fun stuff).

 

Heh, yeah. The last time I borrowed one, it was my friends Hi8 that captured an off I had at Sears Point when I had to avoid a spinning ITD car. Needless to say, that was the last time I got to borrow it. You can always tell the exact point you leave the track surface (at least with an analog format) the color drops out, then a frame drops out...

Here's the SIIG one: http://www.siig.com/products/usb/fea...1394DVKit.html
Looks to be about $85 for the bells and whistles, cheaper if you get a stripped down one. I have this at work, but I haven't used it for DV purposes (yet).



[Modified by XrcR6, 2:02 PM 12/27/2002]

 

I got a JVC 120U for xmas as well, and I picked up the adaptec "FireConnect" 1394 card for under $50. Comes with a cable and video software too. Cant beat adaptec reliability and stability.
There are also cheaper cards on newegg.com for around $25 shipped.

 

Al,
If you're running XP, you already have "Windows Movie Maker". All you'd need is a card on the PC to plug the camera into. I've been using Movie Maker and it works well.

I got a Sony Digital8 for xmas and since it also takes Hi8 tapes, I've been clipping a bunch of old analog stuff I forgot I had.

 

i found this item on buy.com its a kit that has everything you need. card, cable, software. although the software kinda sucks, its still usable but you can find many other better software, perhaps free. but its still a good price for the hardware.

oops, forgot the link
http://www.buy.com/retail/product.as...268710&loc=101
FireWire i.Link IEEE 1394 PCI Card/DV Editing Kit
Sku# 10268710

a good note is that you cannot use IEEE1394 firewire with Win 98. you MUST upgrade to at LEAST Win ME. it just doesnt have any support for firewire and youll run around in circles trying to get it to work and blame it on the card or camcorder.....


[Modified by Tyson, 12:25 PM 12/28/2002]

 

win 98 does in fact support firewire.

 

actually... no. firewire support was one of the main reasons for Win ME. all the support webpages acknowledge this. any claim that it does work on Win98 is false. I think it doesnt work on NT as well, but i could be wrong on that.

 

no, one of the main reasons for win98SE was to add full firewire support. Win98 definately supports firewire, there is no question. 98SE has full support, regular 98 supports it but is limited to dv cams. So the limited support is not an issue here anyway.

http://www.cwol.com/tech-faqs.htm

Evan
-who just loaded miniDV footage through a firewire port on his Dad's win98 machine.

 

i have a presario 7970 (bought in 2001)... it has win98.

it also has:
2 USB ports and 1 firewire port

I downloaded Premier 6.0 from Kazaa.

I recommend spending the $20+ for a firewire cable (unless your camera came with it). the video is far cleaner than USB. My next video i create will be uploaded via firewire and you can see the difference.

Premier takes some getting use to...but it's a leap ahead from the software my Sony digital 8 camera came with.