Dunce here again with yet another question.

I need a firewire card, and have found one at dabs for £10

http://www.pc-motherboards.co.uk/luc...0-010-0030.htm

Will this offer the same standard as other more expensive cards?

It also cays cable provided, but not what cable. Would this be the DV cable i need to connect the FW card to the digi cam?

Cheers.

[owenw]

I'm not an expert but the card you're looking at should fit the bill. My Sony DV cam transfers video at 200Mbps (half the speed of the card you mentioned) Max speed for FW is 800Mbps but I don't know of any consumer products using this amount of speed yet.

Camcorders need a 4pin - 6 pin cable (my Sony does anyway).
There are also 6pin - 6-pin cables for computer connections.

You might as well order a 4 - 6pin cable along with the card.
I picked up a sony branded 1metre iLink cable for €40 (about £25)

Anyway you can't go to far wrong at a tenner!

If you have more than one PC it might interest you to know you can use FireWire for networking; you just need an FW card for each PC and an FW cable. Possible speeds of up to 800Mbps!

HTH
Owen

Can i not use USB2 to transfer from cam to pc?

I know USB1.1 is no good, but USB2 supports up to 480MBPS as i understand it.

I have no idea how fast my cam transfers, as i dont get it untill monday, and there is no reference to it in the manual online.

[TommyVecetti]

You should be able to use USB 2. But that would be no faster than using firewire, since you have to upload your footage in real time, playing your tape.

[MarkE19]

USB 2.0 can only transfer video at analogue quality. Most cams still only have USB 1.1 and this is only really used for transfering still or to use the cam as a web cam.

The cable that comes with the firewire card will be a 4pin to 6pin which is what is required for your camcorder to firewire card. No need to buy another one.
All firewire cards are (in theory at least) the same quality/standard (ieee1394) and therefore there is no real need to spend any more money. The better cards might be able to transfer faster, but this is not needed for video.

Mark.

[owenw]

Apparently you don't get high quality DV if you use USB 2.0 for
transfer. See the second last post in this thread by MarkE19:

Sony advice for a new user

Also video editing software (like Adobe Premiere) will allow you to use the transport controls (play, pause, stop, rewind, fast forward etc.) on the camera over FW. Not sure but I think Windows Movie Maker 2.0 will do this too, if not all DV editing software??

Owen

[MarkE19]

Most, if not all editing programmes compatable with firewire will control the camcorder during capture.

Mark.

Thanks lads!