NV-GS17 - can't find USB Drivers

[MrMeikel]

hi,

I recently bought a NV-GS17 from a shop in France, I come home and proceed to unpackage the camera but find no CD has been included in the Box.

I've been looking around on the internet, but I can't seem to find any drivers for my camera, can anyone here help me at all? The camera uses the mini-tapes if that makes a difference.

Many Thanks
Mr Meikel

[MarkE19]

What do you want to do with the cam connected to your PC via USB?
If you want to capture & edit the video then forget USB as it is not up to the transfer rates required for full quality video. Instead get yourself a firewire card (if not already installed on the PC) and cable. This is the only connection that can be used to get the best possible PQ from captured video!
USB will give you PQ little better than that from a webcam or the ability to transfer still images off the cam - so basically IMO is a waiste of time.

Mark.

[MrMeikel]

hi, thanks for your swift reply

I have captured videos using the camera, and now wish to transfer them to my computer using the USB cable, is this possible? There is also a DV-port on the camera, will I have to use this to transfer to the computer?

so this is not live-feed data

many thanks

[MarkE19]

As I said in my first post, USB is just not good enough to transfer video at full quality. You will get lower quality pictures with probable dropped frames which will make fast movement jerky
Firewire aka iLink, ieee1394, DV-port (all the same just different names to make our life easier ) is the only way to go. A firewire card that includes the required cable to connect to the cam should cost you under £20, so not too expensive and very easy to add to the PC. The difference in quality with this connection compared to USB will IMO be massive.

Mark.

[MrMeikel]

oh i see

luckily i already have a firewire port in my computer. what is the name of the cable needed for the firewire port? my camera has a "DV" port, so does it connect to this?

also, will i need any additional drivers? or will "capture" from a video editing program work?

thanks again

[MarkE19]

To connect your camcorders DV port to the firewire port on the PC you will need a 6 pin (PC end) to 4 pin (cam end) firewire cable. If your PC was a laptop the the chances are you would need a 4 pin to 4 pin firewire cable. The difference as far as you are concerned here is just the different size of the sockets.

All versions of Windows since Windows 98se have included all the required drivers for useing firewire devices. Just plug the cam in and Windows will detect it and use its own drivers. Any editing software will then pick up the connected camcorder and allow you to capture the video from it.

Mark.

[MrMeikel]

nice

many thanks for your swift replies, i will order one of those cables right now!

Thanks again,
Mr Meikel

edit:

would you suggest buying the best 6/4 firewire cable that i can? i see ones here for only 0.99p ebuyer cable

[MarkE19]

I would suggest you steer clear of the very cheap & nasty cables, but don't spend a fortune on a branded cable either as you will get no benefit - you should get a perfectly good cable for under £10. Keep the cable to a maximum length of 1.8m as over this you can get problems with it.

Mark.