Canon MVX 200 - Novice Questions

[Robert5988]

“A one-eyed man is king in the land of the blind”

Well having just bought a camcorder I am firmly in the ‘blind’ camp. May I seek the advice of any one or two eyed experts.

I bought(cheap) a new boxed Canon MVX 200 with several items missing from the box. It wasn’t off the ‘back of a lorry!’ I got it from Comet for £100.

I have read the manual and got most of the controls on the camcorder operating OK but I have some specific questions:

1. I have not loaded the Canon software onto my desktop and the still photos seem fine when downloading from the SD card thro my card reader and using Nero or even XP. The Canon 8mb SD card was missing so I bought a cheap 256Mb SD card from 7 Day shop. This seems fine with taking single shots or even ‘videos’(on the SD card). However there is a facility on the camera for taking multiple photos – including under/normal/over exposed photos when shutter is pressed once.

The SD card cannot cope with this – it comes up with a ‘Card faulty’ indication and the only solution is to format the SD card and lose all photos. I think I read that cheap SD cards cannot be written to quickly so could this be the problem? If so what specification/type SD card do I require?

2. Do I need to download the Canon software to be able to transfer DV videos to my(modern) desktop to edit them and burn DVDs. It has a firewire connection and Nero? I am loath to download unnecessary software as it often causes conflicts.

3. The Camcorder and my desktop(and TV) have S-Video connectors, but I don’t have a S-Video cable. Is this facility essential/desirable/optional/not-required? Also where can I get a cable?

4. I have a newish but basic laptop(Dell Inspirion 1300) which doesn’t have a Firewire or S-Video input. It has a slot for an ‘Express Card’. Is it possible to get a Firewire adapter(expess card) for this laptop? If so what spec and any cheap outlets(Dell seem to charge the earth for any of their approved accessories - £139 for a car charger!)

5. Will the Dell standard Software enable me to transfer DV videos edit them and burn DVDs? Or do I need the Canon software?

Thanks in anticipation.

[redsox_mark]

1. The SD card cannot cope with this – it comes up with a ‘Card faulty’ indication and the only solution is to format the SD card and lose all photos. I think I read that cheap SD cards cannot be written to quickly so could this be the problem? If so what specification/type SD card do I require?

My guess is you are right, it is a speed issue. Some are faster than others. I’m not an expert here; I’ll leave others to advise on a fast one.


2. Do I need to download the Canon software to be able to transfer DV videos to my(modern) desktop to edit them and burn DVDs. It has a firewire connection and Nero? I am loath to download unnecessary software as it often causes conflicts.

No.. and yes. DV uses standard IEEE1394, which is included in Windows (or Mac) OS. But it’s not like USB where it shows up as a drive and you can just copy; you need to use a video editing application to “capture” the video. It doesn’t have to be what Canon provided (in fact often the provided software is only for getting photos and clips off the memory card, not for DV tape capture).

3. The Camcorder and my desktop(and TV) have S-Video connectors, but I don’t have a S-Video cable. Is this facility essential/desirable/optional/not-required? Also where can I get a cable?

It’s optional. If you want to connect the camcorder to the TV to watch the video, S-Video will be higher quality than the ordinary composite video connection. As for the cable, it depends on the camcorder. Some have a standard S-video connection, if so you need something like this
http://www.tvcables.co.uk/cgi-bin/tv...ml?id=e9FKs9AV
Others (like my Sony) use a special (proprietary) connection on the camcorder end, and you need to buy a special cable. I’m not sure with your camcorder.


4. I have a newish but basic laptop(Dell Inspirion 1300) which doesn’t have a Firewire or S-Video input. It has a slot for an ‘Express Card’. Is it possible to get a Firewire adapter(expess card) for this laptop? If so what spec and any cheap outlets(Dell seem to charge the earth for any of their approved accessories - £139 for a car charger!)

With a laptop that has an “ordinary” CardBus /PCMCIA slot, you can buy a firewire card. I’m not sure about this “Express Card”.


5. Will the Dell standard Software enable me to transfer DV videos edit them and burn DVDs? Or do I need the Canon software?

See question 2…You need to use an application which can capture. If you are using XP, Windows Movie Maker can capture (but not create DVDs). Or you can purchase a video editing application (there have been some recent threads on the various choices).