You'll likely have few to no problems with your capture if:

1) Your PIII computer is running at least 500 Mhz

2) You're running, at minimum Windows 98SE

3) You have a second hard drive, dedicated to captured video

Points 1 & 2 are pretty minimal standards and 3 is optional -- but, in the long run, the few dollars a good second drive costs (You can find 120 Gig drives now for under $100) is well worth it in terms of how much struggle it could save you later, IMHO.

Thanks Dave t2 and grisetti for your responses. I think my pc is up to the task as it's a 1gig pentium 3. A seperate hard drive is something I will look into and thanks for that suggestion. However I was hoping someone could "specifically tell me which capture card they were using "model#" to save me the hassle of checking chipset compatability. Is it safe enough if it's advertised as OHCI compatable or is the only way to be sure is looking at the number on the chip ?? Thanks Dave

With a 1 gig computer, you should have no problem capturing with your OHCI-compliant firewire. I wouldn't worry much about having incompatible chipset.

Of greater concern is shutting down your background tasks. A program call EndItAll is very handy for shutting down all the unnecessary stuff with a single click. But, at the speed you're running, your main concern should be to turn off your virus software and make sure you've disabled any hardware that might interrupt your workflow, like cable modems and networking cards.

If you're still finding occasional logjams that interrupt your capture, then the problem is data flow bumping into data flow. This is where that second hard drive, dedicated to video capture, will do wonders since the data coming from (or going to) your camcorder won't bump into data being exchanged between your RAM and your virtual memory.

Hi ---

Here's the good news: you don't need a capture card at all!! (a firewire card is a general-purpose interface, not a video-specific capture device) I also have a DCR-TRV350, and it gives you a great, flexible way to not only transfer 8, HI-8 & digital 8mm camcorder tapes, but nearly any type of analog video device that you happen to have.

All you need is a firewire card, as one of the other replies indicated. I have one made by Belkin -- since you were looking for a brand. It's not necessarily the best or least expensive card, but it is -- the important part -- OHCI compliant. The card that I have has 3-firewire ports and is available at Circuit City. Best Buy, Staples & CompUSA probably also carry it, but mine came from CC. The cost is in the $30 to $40 range, depending upon whether there are sales going on.

You'll also need a firewire cable with 4 pins on one end and 6 pins on the other, if you purchase the Belkin card. (and probably any other PC add-on card -- most of them have 6-pin ports...) The small 4-pin end will connect to your camcorder.

Once you have purchased and installed the card, your camera should be recognized as a DV video device, and you''ll be able to capture in Screenblast. I suggest setting Screenblast defaults so that your captures are DV AVI, which is excellent for editing and virtually losseless over several generations. It will consume disc space at 13gigs/hour, with additional space required for edits and temporary storage, but your cleanest editing experience with the best results and fewest problems will be achieved with this format. You can also archive edited footage directly back to tape on your 350, with the advantage that it can be pulled back into the PC and re-tweaked, if desired.

To paraphrase "Chief" Brody from "Jaws" --- "You're gonna need a bigger hard drive...'

But it's worth it -- have fun!!! And c'mon back and ask more questions if anything's unclear.


Added: Forgot to amplify on this point....

Your camcorder has a very desirable feature called "pass through" which allows you to connect an analog device, such as a VCR, to the AV inputs, or to the S-Video input. In this mode, it acts as an analog-to-digital converter so that the data being piped through the firewire interface is already in DV format. This is the reason you don't need a capture card. As a bonus, the camcorder has a rudimentary time base corrector (aka, TBC) which helps in reducing some types of video distortion during analog captures originating from VHS tapes.

Also, check out this post on setting your computer up for hassle-free capture -- stuff I've picked up during 3 years of editing on a PC.

http://mediasoftware.sonypictures.com/forums/ShowMessage.asp?Forum=12&MessageID=250929

Thanks grisetti and cbrillow ! I guess the term capture card was confusing some folks. What I was looking for was a recommended 1394 card to add to my pc that would work with screenblast. I know it needs to be OHCI compliant but some things I have read about certain cards not working with screenblast had me holding off from making a purchase.Cbrillow gave me one example to use as a reference so now I can start shopping :) Nice also to hear from someone with the same camera having success !! Thanks also for the link to the drop free capture post. I'll see how it goes once I get my card and install it. Regards, Dave

"Nice also to hear from someone with the same camera having success !!"

Yeah, and it even works with Pinnacle! If it works with that, you can probably get by with some frayed string, a couple of tin cans and an abacus...

Update: Just thought I would let everyone know how I made out ! Last night I installed the 1394 card in my pc and everything went smoothly. In regard to IRQ assignments, my pc bumped my lucent modem from 3 to 11(now sharing with my rage 128 pro) and assigned the 1394 controller to IRQ 3. I thought this might cause some problems with my video when I dial up my isp but it seems to be ok. After restarting I connected up my camera and screenblast recognized it. I captured some clips and played them back. Audio and video quality is great. I did notice when I "just" play my camera into screenblast (preview) I can hear some clicks in the audio, video is fine. This isn't really a problem as capture is ok just annoying. Does anyone have an idea what might cause this ? I haven't tried rendering anything yet or making a video cd or print to tape. Now I am a bit overwhelmed by all the things you can do in screenblast and learning how everything works. I'll probably just start going through all the tutorials. I have a question in regard to my camera (dcr-trv-350) and perhaps if cbrillow reads this he will respond as we have the same model. How is the volume of the audio controlled while shooting ? I recorded parts of a live music event (internal cam mic) and the audio sounds distorted (overloaded) in some places. I purchased an external mic (audio-technica AT822) but I haven't had an opportunity to try it yet in a similar situation. I believe the little volume buttons on the cam are just for audio playback ? Many thanks to everyone who responded to my original post. I appreciate your help and this is a great forum ! Regards, Dave

Hi Dave,

Good to hear that you're making progress.

Your camcorder has AGC/ALC -- or whatever it's called these days. Whichever, it means that audio gain is adjusted automatically, and not available for manual adjustment. I suspect this is also the case, even when using the external mic.

I also use my TRV350 to record musical performances along with a 2nd camera. We edit the footage together and print to Super-VHS for distribution on Comcast in about 20 southwest Detroit communities. I'm also rather new at this -- only about 3 months ahead of you.

A couple of thoughts come to mind with reference to your audio situation: 1) You may, indeed, be overdriving the microphone. If you're recording a loud rock band in a bar, this may be the case. I've recorded my own band with a similar Digital-8 model, and didn't have problems, but we don't play at bar band levels. The other shows I record are also amplified musical performances, but in a coffeehouse setting, so it's not that loud either. If you're really overdriving the mic inputs -- both external and internal -- I don't know how you'd solve it.

2) You may not be overdriving! Look at Screenblast's audio track display. Stretch it in and out a bit and try to determine if it's clipped. You'll be able to tell if the overall amplitude is very high and you can see flat tops on the peaks. If the recording is clipped, there's little you can do aftwards to effectively clean it up. But also check the audio slider level in Screenblast -- the one that adjusts playback volume for the preview. It has an accompanying "LED" VU indicator -- if it's consistently in the red area at the top, you'll hear distortion. Backing off on the slider may prove that your audio isn't overdriven, after all.

Thanks cbrillow ! I believe I probably just overloaded the camera when recording. The music was loud and I was close :) I'll keep that in mind next time. I will check for flat peaks on the audio track in screenblast. So we both have the music "thang" going on ! I play part time and also do some recording out my home studio. http://www.hilltopstudios.com Glad to hear your able to do some stuff for comcast. I bet the two camera material must be very cool and a lot of fun :)
Regards, Dave

Gee, been following this thread and it came to me, I have the same camera.

When I capture I also get the clicks in the sound coming from the computer. I just turn it down and turn up the sound on the camera. When I play back the captured video, the sound is fine. I also recorded one of my sons LOUD rock concerts and the sound from the camera was almost as good as a "professional" digital recording made of the concert.

Tom