Firewire advice

[ken1956]

Be gentle with my stupidity, I'm new here.

I have puzzled for some time as to why the video I transfer from my Sony TRV22E camcorder is great on the camera and crap on the PC. Today I finally did some searching on the internet to resolve this and discovered that I need to connect my camcorder to the PC via firewire instead of the usb link.

Now I've heard of firewire but that is as far as it goes. Can someone tell me in very simple terms what I need to buy to go in my PC and what I need to buy to connect the camcorder to the PC. You cannot make this too simple for me. If I gave you the money could you buy it for me? (that's the tech level we're talking about here )

I have an i-link input on my computer - is this significant? I thought I read somewhere that i-link and firewire might be the same thing or am I deluded?

If you can point me towards where I can buy online as well as what to buy that would be the ultimate help.

Ken

[Brian110507]

i-link and firewire are exactly the same thing - it is also sometimes called IEEE1394 and in some cases the socket is simply labelled 'DV'

If your computer is a desktop PC (Not laptop) you will need a 6 pin to 4 pin cable like this :-
http://www.cableuniverse.co.uk/catal...roducts_id=224
to connect your camera to your PC you will also need some capture software - if you have Win XP you will already have windows moviemaker.

You should find a vast improvemwnt in the quality of your videos when you chage to firewire transfer

[ken1956]

Thanks for the fast response and the link. I have ordered the cable so should be sorted.
I don't know why I didn't get round to sorting it out earlier - mind you, I don't understand why Sony don't ship the camcorder with an i-link cable!

Thanks again

[MarkE19]

Originally Posted by ken1956

mind you, I don't understand why Sony don't ship the camcorder with an i-link cable!

Quite simply - cost!

A firewire cable may well cost under £10, but for the average punter looking to buy a camcorder they will be looking very closely at the cost of it. If another company sell a cam with similar specs but even £10 cheaper then that cam is more likely to sell in higher numbers.
If you include the firewire cable it is a bit of a waiste as many people simply don't want to edit on a PC so will never use it.
I'm also sure that we would all like a battery included that lasted a reasonable length of time, a few tapes, a case would be good etc etc. All these would add a fair few £'s to the cost of the camcorder and where do you draw the line? As I say, too many poeple are only really interested in the total cost of buying the cam. The accessories can always be bought next month when pay day comes around again and at least you then have the choice as to which accessories you get.

Mark.

[mr jones]

i managed to get a firewire card and cable for under £10 for both from scan computer components, cant fault it, although im glad i bought that new hard drive at the same time


just getting into it myself

[ken1956]

Thanks for the help here. Cable arrived and now capturing at a much higher quality.

Now I just need to run a search through the forum to find out about these lines that appear on moving shots - something to do with interlacing? Hell, I'm even picking up the jargon.