Comments

rextilleon wrote on 10/15/2003, 7:43 AM
You dont need anything special--just a standard firewire card which you probably have---
dubover wrote on 10/15/2003, 7:50 AM
I don't have firewire capabilities, just USB 2.0, XP, 1.3 gig intel, hi-end audio card, etc. I've had a music recording studio for years but now I want to try video too. I'm shooting video with a Sony Digital camera that uses hi-8 tape. Is firewire a must? Thanks,

Dub
jester700 wrote on 10/15/2003, 7:53 AM
Yes, it is. But a generic card (probably a VIA chip) is $15 or so, and one with a TI chip (generally considered better) is only about twice that. So go for it.
dubover wrote on 10/15/2003, 8:01 AM
My camcorder doesn't mention firewire as I believe the book was written just before firewire came out. The camera has a serial out, audio/video out, LANC/digital i/o and DV in/out. Are any of those jacks compatible with firewire?
donp wrote on 10/15/2003, 8:41 AM
Your DV in/out should be an IEEE-1394 port (firewire) or as coined i-Link by Sony. What do you mean serial out? Doesn't the camera have S-video out for analog video out? I have a Sony TRV-350 with all the above and lan-c too (I havn't used that yet).
dubover wrote on 10/15/2003, 9:30 AM
Yes, you're right, it is s-video and it is IEEE-1394. So, do I have to use a pci card or is there an interface for IEEE-1394 to USB 2.0? I only have one pci slot available and my irq's are already being shared and would rather not complicate the irq configuration any further, unless I can re-assign the irq's manually, which I don't know how to do. I wasn't aware that i-link and firewirire are the same thing until this morning. Thanks

Dub
jester700 wrote on 10/15/2003, 12:57 PM
IRQ sharing should take care of the issue. Not that problems never occur, but my mobo is totally filled without issues, and it's been this way since Win98SE (which you need for firewire anyway, incidentally).

I've never seen a FW - USB2.0 convertor, and I wouldn't trust it if I did. Not until I read lots of positive reviews, anyway.

C'mon, go for it. You KNOW you want to... ;-)
donp wrote on 10/15/2003, 1:45 PM
Do you have a IEEE-1394 card (firewire) capture card (ADS Pyro or Canopus ADVC-1394 or Canopus ACEDvio). Firewire is best for capture, has the best sustained transfer rates even over USB 2. There is no Firewire to USB converter, that would be a downgrade. The first two cards I mentioned have DV IN/OUT and Analog IN, the ACEDvio card has Analog IN/ OUT and DV IN/OUT. I wouldn't worry to much about the IRQ thing now days it seems "IRQ Sharing" has improved greatly.
dubover wrote on 10/15/2003, 2:30 PM
So, the TI chip is the best way to go? Which models have that chip and what kind of resolution can I expect? Will it be as good as the original? Thanks you guys, you're really helping me out here and I do appreciate it.

Dub
Chienworks wrote on 10/15/2003, 3:01 PM
Generally any card that is OHCI compliant will be ok. I have a couple of Lucent Technologies cards and they are flawless. I think i paid $24 for one a couple of years ago and $15 for the other last year.

If the card comes with a driver disk, break it in half and toss it in the trash (the disc that is, not the card). Only use the Microsoft drivers that Windows will install automatically.

There is no video signal quality issue. When capturing through firewire you're not really capturing the video. You're actually doing a bit-for-bit file transfer from the digital tape to the computer. You will have an exact copy of the video.
jester700 wrote on 10/15/2003, 4:08 PM
I have a Pinnacle card with the TI chip as well as generic cheapos with VIA. I've personally had no problem with either. I have read that some people have had issues with non-TI chips (in controlling their cams IIRC), but that could be a rare thing, or maybe an old driver issue on win98. I dunno, since I never had to look into it. I wouldn't worry about it, but then the price difference isn't great, either.
dubover wrote on 10/15/2003, 4:42 PM
I've been searching around and get different specs on some of these cards. They give resolution in pixels which leads me to think I should stay away from those. I'm assuming TI stands for Texas Instruments, so, I'll dig a little more for one of those. Circuit City has an Adaptec model for $50. There's not much info in the description but since they are close by and I have a CC card :-), maybe that one would do ok. My next question is about the "cord" I would need that will work. Some cords have different numbers of pins and it looks like the camera has 4. Is there a wrong cord to buy or are they standard for this purpose?
J_Mac wrote on 10/15/2003, 5:59 PM
Some Creative Audio cards have firewire included. I also have an Adaptec card and have had no problems. Take your camera to CC and closely inspect the cord ends to make sure you get the correct one. Good Luck John.
jester700 wrote on 10/15/2003, 10:01 PM
There should be no resolution spec. It's just a data transfer; they'll accept whatever is coming in, although if the card is bundled as a video card it may mention 720x480, which is standard DV resolution. But it needn't be labelled this way - any OHCI compliant firewire card will do.

The cable should be included, and should be a 6 pin connector on 1 end and a small 4 pin on the other. The extra 2 pins are for power, which you don't need for this application. A card not necessarily bundled for DV may include a 6 pin-6 pin connector for devices such as an external CD/DVD burner. You'd then need to get the right cable, but they're only $5-10.

Yes, TI is Texas Instuments. At CC, the ADS Pyro for the same price has a better bundle IMO, but personally I'd try one of these from Newegg. It's a model KW-582V2 from Koutech. TI chipset, VideoStudio editing software, and cable included for $30 shipped in the US. And nobody has better return ploicies than Newegg.

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproduct.asp?DEPA=1&submit=Go&description=N82E16815103103