Check this out. FireWire (1394 ) to USB Adapter as Part Pinnacle Movie Studio In A Box under $100 dollars.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/681368-REG/Pinnacle_82301006771_Studio_Movie_Box_HD.html



Jerry K

Part Pinnacle Movie Studio In A Box

Very interesting. Will definitely check it out.many thanks

RZ

I'd also be curious to know what kind of system this is; I've never seen a motherboard with only a single expansion slot for a video card and then nothing else... particularly something made for gaming, as the OP says, wouldn't at least 2 video card compatible slots be more the norm? Most dedicated gaming systems I come across have a Crossfire or SLI setup.

I have been building my own for a while, and have had no trouble findinf motherboards with firewire..

Up until Ivy Bridge I found the same, but when I was building an Ivy Bridge system it seemed that very few motherboards had retained any Firewire functionality; but most models had quite a few more USB 3.0 than previous chipsets. The few boards that do have Firewire only seem to have it in the form of an internal header, if your case has a front plug to make use of.

Many of the lower cost HP's have only one card slot, usually taken by a video card. The back of the case may look like there are expansion slots there, but there are no connectors on the MB

Update:

Tried Pinnacle movie in a box. Tried capture/ transfer via Vegas 10 & Vegas 8, no luck, tried windows movie maker, same thing. Returning pinnacle box.

Also brought an off the shelf HP from Costco and a FireWire PCI card. Despite the slot , the card does not fit. Plan to return both in a day or so.

Now the question I have is we see all these new generation desktops and laptops without FireWire ports. So what is the future of tape based capture? Any alternatives out there.

RZ

Pinnacle movie in a box should capture video with out a problem but you need to use the Pinnacle software for the capture.

Jerry K

Thanks,

Tonight I will install Pinnacle software and try to capture.

RZ

After reading the reviews at B&H website you should be able to capture video with almost any software. Did the computer recognize the device? Did you update the drives? The Pinnacle disc should  have the drivers but Pinnacle  website is always better.

Jerry K

I too used the Pinnacle Firewire based capture while I had a JVC mini DV tape camcorder. I am not using that PC or the camera and will check my main editing PC to see if it has Firewire but I think it does.

My main problem is getting about 20 VHS tapes either on the Sony timeline or on a DVD. Just lately PhotoBin has a deal for $39.00 they will transfer 6 VHS's to DVD's which I will try.

Also MyGiga has a VHS deck to USB 2.0 capture system I saw at Micro Electronics for like $30.00 so I may experiment with that also.
Here are some details:

"Capture videos to your handheld devices or submit to YouToube with clicks! With MyGica's EZgrabber2, you can capture all the video clips from your video source devices such as VHS/VCR/DVD/DV camcorder before they disappear by using bundled software. An only-we-have "push to start push to stop" button will help you to record the selected clips easily which you are watch the movies playing on your video device, when you find clips which you want to capture, just push the button of the EZgrabber2, it will be automatically recorded to hard disk, when the clips go to unwanted record part, just push the button once more, the file will automatically stop and automatically give a name by software. You just repeat pushing the button; you will get all the clips you want. Also you can convert any video files and customize your favorite video files. Then you can edit the captured video files, adding titles, music, and a lot of transitions. As easy as drink a cup of coffee, you can burn all the edited contents into DVD/VCD/SVCD, or send them to your handheld devices, like iPod, PSP and other mobile phones, or just submit them to Youtube, share with others.

Features:

Eesy to use recording button, push to start push to stop capture button;
Send home video files to YouTube Account directly with supplied software
Extremely high quality digitizing chipset inside, more clear, rich color and sharp video
Convert recorded files to iPod video, PSP and other mobile phones (not all)
Burn edited files onto DVD, VCD, and SVCD...
Capture video source from VHS, V8, and Hi8...
USB device, easy to install
Specifications:

USB 2.0 PnP Interface, USB video/audio transfer (Proviesion)
Automatic NTSC/PAL detection
Push to start push to stop button
Capture the Video directly into MPEG 4 / 2 / 1 Format
Capture Video Source from VHS, V8, Hi8, etc.
Support Still Image Capture in JPEG or BMP format
Video resolution:
NTSC: 720 x 480 @ 30 FPS
PAL: 720 x 576 @ 25 FPS
External video input: Composite and S-Video
Burn video files on to DVD/VCD/SVCD
Additional multimedia software
Edit
Capture
Burn DVD
Convert
Submit to YouTube"

Take care,
Bill

I have (had because it is now obsolete for lack of up-to-date drivers) an old Pinnacle card. It has a firewire port for capturing digital video such as AVI DV and HDV. You can capture that with any software, such as WinDV or HDVSplit.

The analogue I/O however only works with Pinnacle Studio up to version 9.

I would not be surprised if the later offering from Pinnacle/Avid/Corel works the same way. In other words, to capture your analogue VHS tapes you would have to use the Pinnacle software. But once captured, you could use anything to edit it.

RZ, let's see some system spec's, maybe a model number and manufacture if it's off the shelf.

Normally rigs sold as "gaming" have upgrade ports/slots/etc. up the wazoo. That's one of the selling points.

My system specs: Alienware X 51, Intel i7 2600 @3.4 Ghz, 8 GB RAM

This system was purchased for graphic design work a couple of months ago from the new Microsoft store that sell hardware and software. At that time video editing was not a priority.

Anyway, I am giving the Pinnacle Movie Box a trial. I did install the pinnacle drivers. The device is better recognized but havent captured any tapes yet.

RZ

UPDATE:

I installed the Pinnacle movie box today. Successful in capturing mini DV tape so far.

1) First attempt in Pinnacle studio software successful.

2) Second attempt in Vegas Por 10 e. successful capture of 10 min HDV.

I am pleased so far. Thanks to all for wonderful input. I am truly grateful. Will keep updated in case of any new observations.

RZ

Do you need to use the Pinnacle software to capture analogue video?

I am not planning any analogue capture at the moment.

RZ

Do you need to use the Pinnacle software to capture analogue video

After reading the reviews on B&H's website it seems that any software can capture Firewire footage but analog can only be captured with Pinnacle software. That's the way I read it.

Jerry K

What our OP RZ seems to be doing is using the device he bought to intercept a firewire port on a camera and then have the device transport to a USB2.0 speed for copying in the computer.

RZ has not been very detailed in his explains - I am guessing.

I wonder if the USB2.0 speed is transcoded to something other than DV .avi file type ? I wonder if he is checking every frame of movie that is on his harddrive to see if he is not getting occassional glitches as the USB2.0 transfer is not upto this kind of process or does the box not only transcode but buffer the diff between firewire and USB2.0? Just wondering? Quality of VHS?

A straight digital bit-for-bit transfer through USB2.0 would be far easier and far, far less taxing than having the device transcode. Bandwidth is not the slightest problem:

firewire - 400Mbps
USB2.0 - 480Mbps
DV - 30mbps

Either transfer protocol is WAY faster than the DV stream.

Ideally the device should present itself to the camcorder as a standard firewire port while the Pinnacle drivers make the software on the PC think it's talking to a firewire port. Just a guess, but that's the simplest way for it to work.

RZ, any update on the Pinnacle Firewire to USB convertor? Are you pleased with it? Does it work ok?

Thanks Laurence,

So far I am satisfied with transfer/capture using Pinnacle system. I have done about 10 transfers so far. Yesterday I had a major drop in frames captured. I took the tape out and blew some compressed air into the mini DV camcorder and the frame rate improved.

I get consistent results with the software, pinnacle studio v. 14 HD although there is a newer one out there. The capture process via Vegas 10e is not reliable.

So I would report: so far so good. Best regards to all you esteemed members.

RZ

Have you tried HDVsplit with it? I usually have much better luck with that than with the Vegas capture.

No I haven't tried HDV split but I am willing to try, maybe tomorrow. Thanks for the suggestion.

RZ