what equipment for my PC?

[The Foot]

I know that lots of the different threads probably answer my questions but I thought if one of you knowledgeable people could give me all the answers all in one go?

I have a Sony TRV25e dv camcorder.

My PC is W XP but only with USB ports but has 3 PCI slots. It also only has a CD writer.

I would like to transfer my tapes to DVD via Firewire.


Can you please give me some recommendations as to what exactly I will need and at what cost.

Thanks in advance!!

[MarkE19]

Firewire card £8.99
DVD burner £52.61
DVD authoring software £25.49

And you already have very good editing software as part of the Windows XP install called Movie Maker.

That is just about all you need to get going. Good luck.

Mark.

[Te Bheag]

Look on Ebay for a firewire PCI card with 3 ports, and it will come with a suitable cable for connecting your DVi (cost me under £15 inc postage) and an external DVD writer can be connected to your free port or USB. Or you can get internal 4x DVD writers at about £40 - £50. You can also create CD's of your material though. You will need some software to work with the raw material and probably a large external or internal HDD...

Just my opinion

Alastair

[MarkE19]

Yes, a dedicated HDD to only contain captured/edited video is a good idea due to the large size of the captured footage. Also being on a separate drive makes the work load easier on the PC. something like Seagate 160Gb IDE HDD £55.98, but this can always be added at a later date if funds are tight.

Mark.

[Te Bheag]

Amazon are doing a Maxtor External 200Gb USB drive for about £110 at the moment, just in case you've used all your IDE or EIDE allocation... Digital video is very hungry for storage I'm afraid.

Alastair

[The Foot]

thanks for the various replies guys. But not being that well up on PC jargon I have a few more questions.

1) I realise that I need a firewire card that I fit into a PCI slot but then where will the connections be that I would plug the lead in from my camera.

2) I don't really want to have to install an internal DVD writer so I would prefer an external one that is all ready to plug in. But I have read some reviews and some only have a USB2 connection and not Firewire. Is this a problem?

3)This is one of the reviews I read http://www.comp-buyer.co.uk/buyer/la.../products.html

This is now on sale in PC world for £99 and has had a really good write up and says that Roxio7 is really good software but the downside is only USB connection hence my question 2.

4) with regards to the comments about HDD space. All I want to do is save my family films to the PC then burn them to DVD then erase them from the hard disk. So do I really need lots of extra disc space.(i currently have 92.9gb free space)

Sorry for so many questions but I want to make sure before I leap!!

[The Foot]

Sorry the DVD writer I mean in the link is the freecom classic!!

[MarkE19]

Things like your soundcard, modem etc unless onboard the motherboard will be PCI cards. If you plug a firewire PCI card in it will just sit in one of the spare/blank slots in the same area with the ports on the back of the case just like the others for the sound/graphics/modem etc.

If you already have a DVD-ROM or CD-RW drive in your PC all you need to do is unplug it and remove from case. Slot in the new drive and plug in the exact same cables to the DVD writer. The old CD/DVD drive will have a jumper bar on the back set to master or slave. Just copy this setting on the new DVD writer. Thats all there is to installing a new DVD writer other than the software. This will save a fair bit on buying an external drive. If you do want external then USB2.0 is ok, but firewire is better and recommended for video editing.

90Gb is enough in theory to store about 6 hours of video. In practice you should never get even close to filling a HDD and you will also need about 30Gb per 1 hour tape captured to allow for editing and file conversion space.

Mark.

[The Foot]

Mark,Thanks for the help. With regards to the PCI card, I noticed on EBay that you can buy ones with USB and Firewire ports. As I am running low on USB ports (I now have our webcam plugged into a port at the front of the case which I don't really like) would it be a good idea to get one of these?

Also did you have a chance to read the review re freecom. I went back into PC world today and they had another freecom for £79 all that was different was I think the DVD Ram was excluded. Is this vital?

[MarkE19]

If you need more USB ports then a combined firewire/USB card should be fine.

My company use Freecom external CD/DVD burners on their laptops and I never get any real problems reported with them (part of my job is helpdesk so I would know if we did). Just that at £120 for the ones we use I think they are overpriced. If you can get one for around £80 then I think that should be good and at a reasonable price. Just check that it connects via firewire and not just USB2.0 as this could cause problems, especially if copying from cam directly to DVD.
DVD-RAM is just another format that very few DVD players will be able to read. The format can work in a similar way to a removeable HDD so can be handy for temporary storage on your PC, but is no good for replay via a TV etc.

Mark.

[martin day]

Thanks Mark, Unfortunately I think it only connects to USB2 so maybe I'll have to look for another brand.

You say that it may cause probs if copying from cam to dvd.

So does that mean I can copy direct without having to save it on the HDD first?. Presumably though I wouldn't then be able to use the sware to edit it?

[MarkE19]

Some software such as Ulead DVD Movie Factory 3 that I use to author my DVDs will convert the captured files and write to a DVD in one operation. This does not allow editng at the time, but you can edit at a later date but this is not recommended due to problems with editing compressed video. The files will not be converted in real time and therefore will still be sved to the HDD, but only during the process. Once the disk has been burnt the video files are deleted from the PC. You do need a fairly powerful PC to be able to do this though.

Mark.

[John F]

the foot go here
http://www.blankdiscshop.co.uk/acata...Section__.html
scroll down & it is the second item down, this is an external firewire/usb2 dvd re-writer. I have used this company many many times & the are one of the best.

[The Foot]

thanks John, looks pretty good. Presume you mean the Pioneer 108!! The only thing is that it doesn't look like it comes with any software or do I not need this as I have MM2?

Just a couple more queries,It says that the HDD can fill up quite quickly but am I right in thinking that as soon as I have 'burned' my video footage to DVD I can then erase off of the HDD?

The other thing that confuses me is the PCI card where it syas it willgive you two external firewire ports and one internal. Obvioulsy the external ones is where you plug your cam into? but what does the internal one do?

[John F]

Originally Posted by The Foot

thanks John, looks pretty good. Presume you mean the Pioneer 108!! The only thing is that it doesn't look like it comes with any software or do I not need this as I have MM2?

Just one other question which I sort of asked earlier but want to clarify. It says that the HDD can fill up quite quickly but am I right in thinking that as soon as I have 'burned' my video footage to DVD I can then erase off of the HDD?

I did mean the 108, you can use MM2, yep as soon as you have burned your dvd you can delete the footage.
John