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Stupid question re firewire card/Video capture

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  • 06-11-2008 10:54am
    #1
    jack24
    Closed Accounts Posts: 94 ✭✭


    Hi,

    Complete novice at the whole PC game but please bear with me. I recently purchased a Dell Inspiron 1525 which came with a firewire port. As I had a Canon MV500 camcorder which has a firewire output I thought happy days, just plug and off we go (had never used the functionality of the camcorder to link to a PC before). Well, nothing happened, the laptop didnt see anything (despite doing the turn on and off the camcorder routine). On reading the Video editing forum it looks like it could be the absence of a firewire card thats causing the problem. I googled them and they seem to come with ports which I dont need because there is already a firewire port on the laptop. Can someine tell me where to start with this??????

    Thanks a mil,

    Jack


Comments

  • Options
    #2
    RichyX
    Registered Users Posts: 2,221 ✭✭✭RichyX


    You need a video editing program to 'capture' the footage from the camcorder.
    Try Adobe Premier.
    There are lots of guides online to help you through the process.

    Be advised that the footage will take up quite a bit of space.


  • Options
    #3
    jack24
    Closed Accounts Posts: 94 ✭✭jack24


    Hi,

    Thanks for the reply, I was using (or trying to use) windows movie maker but it didn't find the camera which makes me think it might be a firewire issue. Basically can you just plug a camera into a dell inspiron 1525 with a firewire port and lash away - in my case it appears not,

    Cheers

    jack


  • Options
    #4
    Amalgam
    Registered Users Posts: 6,026 ✭✭✭Amalgam


    jack24, you have a Firewire port, that's all that matters, you don't need an extra card to capture data from the DV camcorder.

    Make sure your camcorder is in transfer mode, most models need to be switched to a mode that allows the transfer of data one way or both, to\from a PC. Just plugging it in often isn't enough.

    You can use WinDV (free) to capture the DV footage from your camera.

    WinDV : http://windv.mourek.cz/

    You can then process that footage into an .mpg .wmv .avi etc or whatever format you want using Windows Movie Maker, included in your operating system if using XP/Vista.

    Capture is 'lossless' from the DV camcorder, it just grabs the raw video without re-encoding it.

    Typically, capture is 'real time', you'll need to be patient and have a lot of Hard Drive space, go to the site above and have a read.


  • Options
    #5
    jack24
    Closed Accounts Posts: 94 ✭✭jack24


    Hi,

    Thanks for the advice but it still doesnt work. I have a WD external HD that also has firewire and USB connections. It works fine with USB connection but I tried the firewire connection to the laptop to make my Dell could see the device but it couldnt. This makes me think its my laptop that has a problem. I tried restarting the laptop and reconnection, turning the HD off and on but laptop didnt see a thing. USB connectivity was fine when I used it instead of the firewire cable. I check the device manager and it says that the firewire 'RICOH OHCI COmpliant IEEE 1394 Firewire host controller' was working properly. I had it search for up to date drivers and it said that the driver was the latest available. I'm at a bit of a loss, WTF is the problem......?????

    Jack


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