I have been trying to find a cable for my Canon MV700 camcorder since I got a new Dell laptop, it is a Latitude D810 and did not come with a fiewire port

So I bought a PCMCIA firewire card bus, the laptop picks this up as being inserted but when I plug in the camcorder it does not see it?

Is there a Mini DV (4 pin) to USB cable available anywhere as I am unable to find one?

Hope someone can help as I need to transfer my digi tapes to my laptop?

[DigiStuff]

Hi,

There is no FIrewire to USB cable at all.You need to look further into why your Laptop does not locate your camcorder. Please tell us exactly what you do do connect your camcorder to this PCMCIA card. Is the camcorder turned on and switched to play back mode for instance. Is this laptop running Windows XP with service pack 2 ??

Hopefully we can sort this out for you soon

Cheers

DigiStuff

[senu]

Dell..
Why they have chosen to omit a firewire socket in such a top notch laptop beats me

On others.....no PCMCIA slot

Having said that there must be a reason your firewire PCMCIA card is not working as is suggested above

Though not common, there are firewire to USB2 devices. The ( expensive) Liqiud Pro breakout box takes a firewire input but connects to PC by USB 2

Pinnacles moviebox USB ( less costly ) does as well it is now called Studio Plus 700 USB

So does this I found on my internet travels!

I am running XP Pro with Service pack 2 and all windows updates, I put the PCMCIA card into the slot, it makes the ding dong sound and is viewable in my removable devices as a 1394 adapter, the cable that is used came with the card and the connection card end is like a USB size but thicker, the other end is a 4 pin connector, I then plug the 4 pin end into my Cannon MV700 DV port and switch it to playback mode and nothing happens, I try and capture via movie maker and it says no devices are connected?
I have even tried it in playback mode with the lcd screen open and shut and same outcome.


I agree, I have always had Dell and my Latitude D810 is a well speced beast, 17" widescreen, ATI 128 meg card, 60 Gig HD, 1 Gig RAM, DVD writer etc, but to my horror no Firewire port! I t does have 4 USB ports though LOL!

My last Dell was an Inspiron 8200 and that had a FW port and worked fine with the camcorder and a straight firewire cable.
This laptop is now my father in laws and I am gonna test the camera this weekend on that to make sure the camera is working, if so then it is either the PCMCIA card (probable) or my setup.

I am a Microsoft Appliactions Support Engineer so throw any idea's at me and I am comfortable doing them.

[senu]

If the IEEE1394 hardware shows in devices manager ( as OHCI compliant ) then it is not a case of windows not seeing the card and identifying it at the PCMCIA interface
Other causes:
1)could be as simple as a dodgy firewire cable , or 2) poor conectivity at the camcorder or 3) firewire card interfaces :
if firewire card or cable : return
if camcorder: trouble :
the only way to know for sure is to try it on another pc / laptop ( as you propose to), if it works then its niether the cable nor camcorder
Then check the card
4) it could also be something as simple as dv-out not being enabled in the camcorders menu

Hi Mate,

Windows is def seeing the card and I had allready checked device manager to make sure it was there and ohci complient.

I don't have (cannot see on menu at all) an option to turn dv-out on or off, unless there is a menu I cannot see?

The firewire cable that came with the camcorder that I used on the old laptop was a stadard cable (4pin to 4pin I think), but the firewire pcmcia card does not have a standard firewire plug so can't use this cable, I have to use the one that came with the card, whic is 4 pin to god know what, like I said it is kinda USB but looks like this card http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B...lance&n=560798

Will try the camcorder tomorrow on the old laptop if I can get access to it as my father in law is away in London and it is in his office, if not my sister has an Inspiron and I think that has FW port.

If it does work then I might try this card as it has ports that can be used with a standar firewire cable and that is what I reon is the issue the cable and port type on the PCMCIA card.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B...583655?ie=UTF8

Thanks for your help folks, will let you know the outcome of the tests and go from there.

OK tried the Camera on my sister Inspiron with the straight 4 pin to 4pin cable and it saw it no problems, so not the camera or the standard cable, so either the card or cable in my opinion, the card though is detectable and seen as a device so must be either the cable or the format of the cable (the thick USB like end that I have never seen before).

Gonna buy this http://www.eclipsecomputers.com/prod...MUSBFIRE&af=50

Will let you know if it works or not.