Firewire Card

[common]

Can anyone recommend a good value firewire card for my PC. I am looking to spend less than £100.

Thanks

[Fartpants]

Check out what drivers and codecs get shipped with it and what software. Does the manufacturer state they support your cam (carefull some only support ntsc stuff).

Do you have DV in enabled on your cam?

Check websites for the manufacturer, do they have support and down loads.

When you done all that tell us what is best (I got mine years ago and it cost an arm and a leg)

[Desmo]

I ordered StudioDV from SmartDV (http://www.smartdv.co.uk) along with a little gadget that enabled DV In on my DV Out only camcorder :)

It works well and the supplied software is easy to use, yet it is also quite comprehensive in the features department.

StudioDV on it's own is £95

[graham_ew]

Hi Desmo I have the cannon mv200 with is firewire out but not in (which has put me off getting the pc editing software) but you are saying that this gismo thing will enable me to export the finish edit back out to the camcorder?? (they do have the mv200 listed on there site)

Graham

[Desmo]

That's rights Strumpers. I didn't quite beleive it myself when I first saw it.
All DV camcorders are DV In & Out capable but because the import duty is higher on camcorders with DV In enabled the manufacturers just turn it off.

The kit supplied has a cable that runs from PC into the camcorder, along with a floppy disk with a program on it.
You basically plug it in, run the software, and hey presto. DV In enabled.

If you've got any other questions don't hesitate to ask, but I'm away for the weekend so won't be back till Monday night.

[Wayne Moule]

Originally posted by common:
<STRONG>Can anyone recommend a good value firewire card for my PC. I am looking to spend less than £100.

Thanks</STRONG>
http://www.lynxdv.com/dvstore/

Look under Firewire Store on the left and select the Pyro 1394 PCI Card,which is £47.99p including next day delivery before 5.30pm.

[ 27-07-2001: Message edited by: Wayne Moule ]

[common]

Thanks Wayne - that's just what I was looking for

Just brought the card you mentioned with the digital editing software package for £70

[ 27-07-2001: Message edited by: common ]

[Mr.D]

Hello

I'm also im the market for a firewire card. I have Premiere 6 for editing purposes but I'm not familiar with it yet. ( I've used Avid and Lightworks in the past so it is just a case of sitting down with it) I assume it handles DV material OK?

I'm also running W2K sp2 and wonder if it has any issues I need to be aware of.

I have seen firewire cards for 30quid and assumed I just need the hardware as I have the software covered. I'm surprised there is a PAL/NTSC issue though.

I also quite like the idea of working at 24fps instead of interlaced and then outputting either PAL or NTSC as required : mainly to allow me to strike different versions of my showreel as required.

[Fartpants]

Mr. D., I hope you have a full copy of premier with the manual (I'm not saying you haven't but some people may not), I would be surprised if you could set up premier properly without it (unless you've done it before or got help).

The codecs that came with my card are different for ntsc and pal, they have to be, also at the time they listed supported cams and non supported cams.

So what I've said is do the research before you buy, yeh you can buy a cheap firewire card shove it all in your machine and???? Maybe it works, maybe it don't.

Premier is the most difficult application I have had to set up (including the one I work full time on where I have to edit SQL scripts). I have a degree in computer science and thought I would have to just shove the CD in. You may do it unaided, good luck you will need it. There was a specific order the 1394 drivers, the codecs, the capture software and premier had to be loaded. Some cards warn you not to load the microsoft 1394 drivers.

Even after you set it up you will not find it to be intuitive.

And the DV in thing, yep I got a widget to enable my panasonic cam, before I enabled it I had no link to the PC (I think it was because all traffic int the cam was disabled, not just the video bit).

Although I feel it should be as easy as installing a sound card and joystick it where you probably wouldn't look at the manual it was a real hard job.

[Darren_L]

Make sure the card is OHCI compliant. Some of the older ones aren't and this is one of the areas where comatability problems arose.

[Mr.D]

Originally posted by Fartpants:
[QB]Mr. D., I hope you have a full copy of premier with the manual (I'm not saying you haven't but some people may not), I would be surprised if you could set up premier properly without it (unless you've done it before or got help).

QB]


Thanks for the advice I do have all the manuals. I've got a fair bit of experience with non-linear editing systems but I know who to contact when I get stuck.

Cheers

[M.Joshi]

Does anyone know where I can download the software to enable DV in on a SONY DV out camera, for free?

[webster]

You may have to buy a 'Widget'.

Name of company escapes me, but try the search engines.

Simon

[GarryF]

I can only back up what Fartpants says, I had similar problems with order of install, version number etc to get everything to work. I would expect a lot of pain trying to install my current card and drivers with premier on any OS except 98.

I got a widget for my Panasonic and it worked great, remember that doing this will give the manufacturer an excuse to invalidate the warranty so if for any reason you need to take the camera back you should disable the DV in, if at all possible.

[ 23-08-2001: Message edited by: GarryF ]</p>

[CarlB]

I also use Premiere 6, but on my G3 Mac, and have found it to be a complete breeze from start to finish.

I am now a little worried because I am considering switching to the PC version as my PC is more powerful, but all these comments about it being a nightmare to set up are making me think twice. Is it really that bad?

PS. I also have a degree in Computer Science so am not afraid of wading in and getting my hands dirty!