video grabber

I have a new computer and wish to capture my films from my camcorder either
with a firewire card (have one) or with a usb video grabber.
I have pinnacle software.
Does anyone know if the firewire will enable pinnacle to input film from the
camcorder; it has dvi out connection to firewire or would I need the usb
grabber.
Thank you

 

My camcorder is a Samsung Digital Cam with a DV interface and also an AV
socket.
My tapes are mainly Sony premium mini DV
Thank you

"J G Miller" wrote in message

Is it 8 mm or 35 mm film?

 

Thank you; I have not installed firewire yet as I was concerned lest I lose
the manufacturer's warranty but "Comet" tells me an upgrade like this will
be OK as long as it does not "fry" anything when I install it.



"J G Miller" wrote in message

So your mention of film was a red herring.

What I suggest is that you plug in your camera to the firewire socket,
check to see that a new device appears as "camera", and then start
the Pinnacle software and check if that shows your camera as an
input source.

As you failed to mention which Pinnacle software you have,

<http://www.pinnaclesys.COM/PublicSite/us/Products/Consumer+Products/ProductsAZ.htm>

it is difficult to know for certain if what you have does support Firewire
input.

And remember, video killed the radio star.

 

Thank you; I cut the seal for the new computer (warranty threats) and found
that the socket for the firewire card is different from that of my old
computer so rather than risk damage I am not going that route unless I buy a
new compatible firewire card.
Meantime I intend to buy a USB Video Grabber and try that; here again most
of those on sale include software cables etc but as I have these I am trying
just to get the cadaptor. I am sure my Pinnacle software will recognise it.



"J G Miller" wrote in message

Oh I see, you had not installed the card in the machine.

Just exercise the usual care when doing this -- earth yourself
before touching the card. Also ensure that the power to the
PC is switched OFF at the mains socket before opening up
the computer case. Provided that there is an on/off switch
at the wall and that is in the off position, you can leave
the plug in and this will keep the computer itself earthed.

Just be careful when you insert the card in the PCI slot
and touch the screwdriver to the bare metal of the case
to earth it before use.

No doubt all of the above you know already about how
to prevent any static which is what kills electronic
components.

And Firewire should, as far as I recall, provide better
efficiency at data transfer compared to USB 1.0 or even
USB 2.0.

 

My new computer is an Asus with a P8H61-MPRO/CM6630/DP_MB motherboard. This
has a PCI-e slot and room for additional cards. There does not appear to be
any firewire connection on the computer.
I have now ordered a USB Video Grabber so will try that out before doing
anything else, the computer had plenty USB2 and USB3 connections.
Thanks again for all your help.



"J G Miller" wrote in message

Obviously you must not try to insert a card with one type of
interface connection into a socket for a different interface type.

I would have thought that your firewire card is a PCI card --
please check the installation instructions (you should have
included the make and model in your previous postings).

I would be very surprised if your new computer does not have
a motherboard with at least one free PCI socket.

The four types of socket connector which one might find on a
PC motherboard are

1) ISA -- these disappeared from new motherboards after about 1998

2) AGP -- these are for graphics cards and disappeared from new
motherboards after about 2008. They came in three different
versions v1, v2 and v3. v3 was not backwards compatible with
v1 and v2 because the voltage was different.

3) PCI -- these are the standard sockets still used by the majority
of add on cards

4) PCI-e (express) -- these are the latest socket types which started
appearting around 2007 and replaced the AGP socket for graphics cards.
More and more add on cards are now changing from PCI to PCI-e because
the interface has a higher speed rating.

PCI-e slots can have different speed ratings and the current (?)
fastest 16x is the one to be used for graphics cards.

The general trend with the upgrade of USB to a usable speed of 480 Mbps
with USB 2.0 has been for PCI cards to tend to be replaced with USB
devices for user convenience, viz no need to open up machine, and can be
moved from one machine to another.

I am a little suprised that your new computer does not actually
have firewire as an onboard feature of the motherboard, as most
decent (not barebone economny) general consumer motherboards have
tended to include thissince about 2007 or so.

 

Thanks again. I shall try the usb video grabber I have ordered and if that
is not fast enough or adequate then I shall buy the firewire PCIe card.
When I looked in the computer I did find that it is a wee bit cramped for
space but room for one or maybe two cards however there are no "screw"
points to secure the cards, they just have to depend on the tightness of the
fit.
The usb video grabber should be here at the end of the week so I shall see
how I get on.
I do not do much filming now but want to transfer all the film I have to the
computer.

"J G Miller" wrote in message

That is a good quality motherboard, BUT it is a micro board (mATX)
and not a full size motherboard, and hence only has PCI express slots
and no on board Firewire.

If possible you should be looking for a USB v3.0 video grabber, but
(and I hope I am in error) video grabbers with USB v3.0 have yet to
appear on the market. As far as I am aware only external hard disks
and memory sticks are currently in abundance with v3.0 interfaces.

Perhaps you should consider purchasing a Firewire PCIe card
since these are available from a number of manufacturers at
the present time, if you want the best data transfer performace
from your camera to PC?

 

I am sorry; part of my problem is that I am almost 80 and am not nearly so
sharp as I once was and in fact I regularly get names confused or mixed up
even in my daily conversations.



"J G Miller" wrote in message

Puhleeeeeeeeaze -- a video camera does not contain film and one
does not in fact "film" with a video camera.

I thought that point had been made clear at the beginning of this thread.

 

Another morning and I realised I am not quite senile yet.
I do mean to copy my films and input them to my computer.
I have 8mm and double 8mm film from around 1955 and it is my intention to
project them onto a white screen, possible the backing screen for my scanner
and then film them with the digital camcorder; from it I shall then transfer
the video image to the computer.
I may have misled with my wording but it is film that I have., sorry.



"J G Miller" wrote in message

Puhleeeeeeeeaze -- a video camera does not contain film and one
does not in fact "film" with a video camera.

I thought that point had been made clear at the beginning of this thread.

 

Thanks again, lets end it there. I now have the usb video grabber so will
see how that gets on. As I said if it is not much use then I shall buy a
firewire card and just risk losing the warranty if anything goes wrong.



"J G Miller" wrote in message

No, what your problem is, you do not explain from the beginning
what it is that you want to do and the specifications of your hardware,
which is why this thread keeps getting longer and longer that what it
should be.

Well I did ask back in my first reply if it was 8 mm or 35 mm
and you replied that it was a video camera.

That is an ingenious method but will not produce the best
quality result.

^^^^

Video record, not film!!!

My understanding of USB capture devices are that they capture
analog video so if you have a digital video recorder, you should
not be playing back as analog through a USB capture device to
then re-encode as digital on your PC.

In each stage of the process you have suggested you will use,
you are going to lose some image quality. As encoding analog
video is rather CPU intensive, you really should be using a
firewire card to keep the video in digital format when
transferring from the DV camera to the PC as previously
suggested.

Here is an article which you really should read --

<http://www.pcmag.COM/article2/0,2817,1618829,00.asp>


Another possible alternative is to pay a company lots of
money to do the transfer from film to digital, even into
DVD format.