Faulty firewire port - Can't transfer tapes

highdef

Hi, I have a Canon XH-A1 that has a failed firewire port. I had it sent to Canon in the UK and they have quoted me almost a grand to get it repaired......new firewire port and PCB. I'm sure labour is a a big cost here. Anyway, I don't have that sort of money to get the camera repaired. Does anyone know where I could get an old HDV camera that has a a good tape mechanism and working firewire output? It could have smashed lens or something....all I need is to be able to digitally transfer the video.
I have been looking about buying a component capture card to capture 1080i from the component output on the A1 but would rather not as:
A: It's still going to cost a few hundred euro
B: AFAIK, the resulting uncompressed video will be absolutely massive....please correct me if I am wrong here.

So could anyone please point me in the right direction???

Thank you

mp22

a) im sure you can get capture cards for less than that
b)I use unlead video software to capture from a vcr and it is set to compress to mpeg format its running 1.3 gb per hour.very acceptable results.

highdef

I use Ulead too but to capture with standard analogue video card will be terrible, It would only be standard definition and it would be a PAL/composite feed.....the worst quality possible. I have a standard capture card. it's grand for transferring old VHS tapes onto the PC but not good for much else.

If I do get an analogue capture card, it must be capable of accepting RGB (that would be three video cables...one for red, one for green and one for blue) and it must also be able to accept 1080i resolution. The cheapest (external) device costs around $300.

Thanks for your input though, all the same.

roguey

try and look out for a used Canon HV10, they're a good few years old and wouldnt cost more that 250 i'd say

highdef

oh, good thinking, thank you. I'll keep an eye out for one of those. Stupid me never thought of that......must be as it's late in the day. It'll be a while before I'll be able to get anything but I'll look out for a HV10.

Alternatively, I could get this: http://www.blackmagic-design.com/products/intensity/ I can't remember if my PC has USB 3.0 (recently upgraded so it may do) but there is a PCI version too and a snip at $199. It would mean very large video files but if I can get more hard drive space, it will mean much less load on the PC as there would be no compression to deal with.

Decisions decisions!!!

Bob Z

You could also look out for a faulty canon that you still use as a player