Capture video from MiniDV to Dell laptop via firewire

jack24

Hi,

Completely new to video editing 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 in, use windows movie maker 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). Could it be the absence of a firewire card thats causing the problem? I googled firewire cards 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

m83

I'm not sure about movie maker so just download a demo of adobe premier pro.. Run it and hit f5 to import. Easy as pie.

Seamu$

jack24 wrote: »

Hi,

Completely new to video editing 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 in, use windows movie maker 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). Could it be the absence of a firewire card thats causing the problem? I googled firewire cards 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

Not sure about Canon, but I know I had this issue with a JVC and it turned out that the camcorder was incompatible with most firewire ports. I think Texas Instruments firewire ports were the only ones that would recognise it. I think this was a particular issue with JVC however.
Try it with other PCs or laptops if possible if the suggestion in the first reply doesn't work out.
There are alternative solutions such as Dazzle Video Editors etc. but it shouldn't come to that.

jack24

Thanks for the suggestions lads,

Just wondering, I assume even if movie maker wasnt working the laptop should pick something up when I press play on the camcorder (like when I plug a stills camera into the usb port - the dell detects that somethings attached and starts autoplay - this doesnt happen when I plug in the camcorder).

I'll try Adobe tonight and let you know how I get on,

Cheers

Jack

jack24

Hi,

After extensive googling I seem to have discovered the problem. Apparently Windows Vista (the OS on my Dell) doesnt support tranfer of video over firewire from a DV Camcorder. Balls!! Anyone any ideas (aside from a new PC or throwing Vista out and installing XP (which does support it apparently) - see link below to microsoft announcement,

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/944149/en-us

Cheers,

Jack

artvandulet

Are you sure the firewire port is enabled in the bios?
By default they often aren't.
Mine appears in Network connections as a 1394 connection.
I'd double check that first before figuring out the whole Vista and IEEE1394 compatibility issues, as these aren't happening to everyone with Vista.

jonathan13

hi jack24,

that's weird, is it on vtr mode?

Bob Z

did you try capturing ti in windows movie maker? or try ulead moviefactory?

jack24

Thanks for the helpful tips lads,

I tried Windows movie maker and it didnt see any linked devices. I tried the switching on and off the camera, unplugging and replugging the device and the leads. One thing that makes me think its not a software (ie Movie maker) problem is that the laptop doesnt see anything when I connect. For example when I connected my digital stills camera (through USB) it started autoplay but nothing happens when I connect and switch on my camera. I'll try again and also check out the IE 1394 connection in device manager, I think I checked but its worth another look. As a matter of interest is there anyone else on here who's using Vista and a DV connected through firewire who hasnt a problem? I'll post and let you know how I get on,

Thanks again for the helpful pointers!

Jack

Bob Z

did you try this?

http://www.camcorderanswers.com/f13/vista-firewire-problems-5909/index2.html

If that doesnt work back to xp i think