View Full Version : Digital Video to USB connection?
I'm trying to find a way to get my JVC digital camcorder and laptop talking to one another. I'm aware of video capture cards etc. but they seem to all be PCI or similar which are a non-starter with a laptop. Does anyone know of a DV-USB based system or even DV-PCMCIA? Also any recommendations as to video editing software?. .I heard that DV may not be compatible with USB due to the 5V on the USB, any comments?
Grainger
24th Jan 2002, 01:46
There are a few PCMCIA video capture cards. The main drawback of PCMCIA is frame rate so you may be stuck with low resolution capture.
But anyway, FWIW here's one that we use: <a href="http://www.imperx.com/products.html" target="_blank">http://www.imperx.com/products.html</a>
FL310
24th Jan 2002, 01:50
just a couple of days ago you would have been able to look at <a href="http://www.pprune.org/cgibin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=35&t=001589&p" target="_blank"> Ppruners answers </a>. .Don't even bother with these little cards as the frame rate is too low
Tinstaafl
24th Jan 2002, 07:45
iLink/Firewire PC-Cards are available for about 90 quid.
These are 32 bit Cardbus devices, not the older 16bit PCMCIA cards.
Is your laptop new enough to have Cardbus instead of PCMCIA? Mine uses Cardbus and is nearly 4 years old.
spannersatcx
24th Jan 2002, 20:22
Check to see if your laptop already has an IEEE1394 (firewire) connection as this is what connects most DV cameras to pc's. A lot of modern ones come with this as standard. <img src="cool.gif" border="0">
Thanks for the tips, chaps. Spanners, my laptop has an ethernet port which looks similar to firewire but I don't think is the same. PCMCIA is out as I'm not known for my patience. Looks like I might have to use my desktop instead.. .Tinstaafl, does cardbus use the same slots as PCMCIA as my laptop is brand new and uses 32-bit for the display etc. but only has PCMCIA-size slots? Is there an easy way to tell from the software (the manual's a bit crap)? The laptop's a Toshiba Satellite 1800-254 if that helps.
[ 25 January 2002: Message edited by: DB6 ]</p>
Tinstaafl
25th Jan 2002, 23:00
PC-Card is the 'Version 2' of PCMCIA. It was released about 4 years ago.
I don't know of any new laptops that use PCMCIA instead of PC-Card. The odds are that your laptop has a PC-Card slot & not PCMCIA.
A PCMCIA card will work in a PC-Card slot but a PC-Card won't work in a PCMCIA slot.
Generally a PC-Card looks the same as a PCMCIA device with the addition of a row of bumps at the connector end.
The main differences betwen the two specifications:
PCMCIA: . .16 bit, 8MHz ISA bus, 5V. .The slot can't accept the newer PC-Cards
PC-Card: . .32bit, 33MHz PCI bus, 3.3V. .The slot can is backwards compatible with older PCMCIA cards
[ 25 January 2002: Message edited by: Tinstaafl ]</p>
GoneWest
26th Jan 2002, 03:56
In the days before WindowsXP was installed on my machine I very happily used a "Dazzle" ( <a href="http://www.dazzle.com" target="_blank">www.dazzle.com</a> ) external video capture device to connect my Sony Digital Video camera to my PC (and laptop) via the USB port.
Works in NTSC, PAL, SECAM and many others....will even convert one to the other for you in the process.....comes with its own (simplified) video editing software.
Well I plumped for Pinnacle DV editor (with PCI firewire) which was on offer at £50 and all went well until it came to rendering the file into JPEG format whereupon the machine promptly reached capacity and took about a minute to render each 10 sec of video. Although it says on the box you need a min. of 233 Mhz Pentium 3 or so, what is a practical minimum spec, say to render at normal (1:1) speed or faster?. .The laptop awaits the outcome of this experiment.
[ 28 January 2002: Message edited by: DB6 ]</p>
Tinstaafl
29th Jan 2002, 03:58
Forgot to add that the 32bit PC-Card interface is also called 'Cardbus'.
Many (most?) laptops with this interface have an additional feature called 'Zoomed Video' built into one of the PC-Card/Cardbus slots.
ZV provides the ability to capture full screen video, TV tuner & video capture. It's a form of extra electronics that allow bus mastered video processing. This off-loads the CPU & speeds up things.
Chocks Wahay
29th Jan 2002, 22:36
Hello DB6 Old Bean!
You don't want to be capturing the video, your digital camcorder has already done that for you. All you need is some way of getting the video out of the camera and into the PC.
You need a Firewire interface, aka IEEE1394. Belkin do a PC-Card adaptor for 63.99 & vat (www.action.co.uk, part no 49-56-97). Don't panic about PC-Cards, it's as painless as anything else to do with PC's (hmmm)
The other thing you need is sheds of disk space - full motion video is 3.6MB/s or 216MB/minute.
Software-wise there's lots around - Windows Movie Maker isn't bad if you have Windows ME or XP, otherwise the card will probaly come bundled with something like Videowave which is fine for most applications.
Performance wise your laptop will be fine, but the PC (is this the same one that was in the office last year?) will be struggling. If disk space is a problem you can always get a cheap ethernet hub (if you haven't already) and offload data to the desktop.
If your camera has DV-in then you can send the finished production back to the camera tape, and then output to VHS. Your laptop has TV-out, so you may be able to use that instead, never tried that.
I've had a JVC DV Camcorder for a couple of years, done a few weddings with it and so on. Any problems give me a call, you know the number.
[ 29 January 2002: Message edited by: Chocks Wahay ]</p>
Chocks Old Fruit! How's it going Doon Sooth? Getting any aviation in?. .I'm learning quickly about this DV stuff. The desktop's not the one from the office (which I'm sure would have gone up in smoke by now), but it only has a 450Mhz Athlon processor which is struggling. The problem I have is in getting the finished product onto a useable medium - the camera doesn't have DV in and the DV editor didn't have an analogue output so I had to try and get it onto a CD (CDRW on desktop not laptop) which involved rendering to JPEG which is what takes the processing power. I will either have to a) upgrade my processor and motherboard or b) buy a DV editor with analogue output or c) a mixture of both. I forsee much wailing and gnashing of teeth, and for the moment will stick to plugging the camcorder into the VCR and doing without all the fancy bits.. .Is that your normal e-mail address by the way?
GoneWest
30th Jan 2002, 07:59
DB6 - forgive the repetition but the Dazzle creature will do what you are trying to do - it even comes with an editing package.
Not forgetting that you could also input the odd VHS tape (in any format) .... edit you camera shoots and the VHS stuff (all those training videos you wanted to make - or improve).... and then, if you wish, dump them out again onto standard VHS (any format).
Spoke to Dazzle about Windows XP - new CDRom with XP drivers is in the mail. It really does work quite well!!
Sorry GoneWest - got a bit sidetracked there. I was sold a Dazzle kit with the camcorder but it didn't do the necessary so I sent it back however I don't remember exactly which kit it was. Which one is it you are talking about (there are a number on their website)?
GoneWest
31st Jan 2002, 08:29
My own just calls itself Dazzle DVC USB - not the model 50, not the model 80 just straight forward DVC USB.