I do have a firewire port, but the plugin for it in the camera is broken, so until it's fixed, I need a good USB capturing device with at least 25-30 frames per second. Does anyone know of anything????? I've tried a few programs, but none of them are any good.
yes, they are both USB supported. I wouldn't be asking for a USB capturing program if it wasn't!!!!!!! This is just temporary until the firewire plugin is fixed. The programs I've tried so far kind of suck, and I need something to get my vids onto my hard drive for editing and uploading purposes. Any ideas?
Ok I was just checking as without it just simply wont work. The trouble you are going to face is that even though USB2 is in theory fast enough to support the data rate, you will find that it does not. Therefore, what you will get is a video transfer but at a reduced frame rate which is not what you want. The USB bus is being clocked and controlled by the CPU of the machine. The CPU, unless you have a very very fast and new machine, simply can not keep up with the demand as it is also doing a multitude of other tasks and functions. Every single process or thread running in the background as well as the time occupied by the shell process means that CPU can not sustain the needed transfer rate. This is not an issue with Firewire as it does not rely on the CPU. Having said that, you may try to shutdown as many processes as possible before you try to capture using USB. There used to be a little utility around that may be helpful. I believe the name was "Kill All" which closed all non essential threads going through the CPU. Needless to say, disconnect from the Net, shutdown as much as possible in the system tray especially any Anti virus or monitoring programs that may be running in the background. good luck
ummm, ok, but that wasn't my question hon. I know how to do it, I just need a good PROGRAM to do it with!!!!! That's the only problem I'm having. Do you know of any programs I could use to capture USB, not as a webcam but as a DV going from tape to HD? I tried Windows Movie Maker, but it's only letting me capture from a webcam. Any ideas?
what I am trying to say nutpea, is that no program will give you a video capture @ 25-30 fps. All capture programs will regard what you are doing as a type of web streaming and therefore drop the frame rate to suit. I understand if this is not what you wanted to hear, but I can not change the facts.
what about a good capturing program in general then? Just so long as the picture isn't completely choppy, I don't mind. I kind of figured I was pushing my luck with 25-30 fps.
If you capture thorugh USB (which is not a very good idea), the quality will not be determined by the program that you use, but the driver that controls the transfer. You will need the driver of the camcorder for ot to work at all. If you have it, you can use any program as long as it recognizes the camcorder. Unfortunatly, many standard capturing utilities won't, so you may have to use the one that was delivered with the camcorder. Another issue that will chnage the quality is what type of codec you are going to use to store the video. If you use Firewire, you just store it as DV. It's a direct transfer, so there is no compression applied during the transfer. With USB, the video comes in streaming an in orde to store it in a file you will have to select a codec, if the program allows you to do it. Hope this helps. BTW: get your camcorder repaired asap ;-)
I do thank you for the info, but I was already aware of it. I'm just looking for a temporary USB capturing program, and no one is answering me on it. I know firewire is better, I understand the stream rate and I know USB sux. But it's all I have right now, so I have to make do. I know it will work through USB, I've already done it. I just need a program!!!!!! Does anyone know of a CAPTURING PROGRAM that is done through USB??????
Again,: first you will need to install the driver for your specific model camcorder. If you don't you have very little chance that any program will recognize the camcorder. Once you have it you just have to try several capture utilities. USB capturing is just not a standardized process and unless you state the model of your camcorder, nobody can tell you if it works with program y or z. Period.
And again, this is all information that I ALREADY KNOW!!!!!! All I'm asking for is the capturing "utilities" as you put it. Why is this such a hard question to answer?????????????? What I'm looking for, is a CAPTURE PROGRAM, example: Windows Movie Maker or Logitech QuickCapture, but not those, obviously. I just need a program, can someone PLEASE HELP ME?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
just in case this DOES help, I have a handheld SONY DVC model# GS19, and my computer automatically recognizes it. I just need a program that's a little bit better than Windows Movie Maker for capturing the stuff I have on the digital cassette onto my hard drive through USB. As I said, this is just temporary until my firewire is fixed, so it doesn't have to be absolutely amazing!
nutpea - I think you answered your own questions, and people have been answering you but you probably missed the important points. 1. It doesn't matter WHAT program you use, because the USB driver will capture the SAME way in every program. Thats why others here explained to you about the driver. 2. You seem to mix up comments about USB capturing device, and capturing software. Im assuming you mean software, and if this is the case refer to point 1, it wont make any difference what program you use because its the driver doing the work. The only real difference will be the codec an application might be using for capture. 3. The reason the camera gets detected by the PC as a webcamera is the DRIVER, not the application software. Id suggest looking for a better USB driver for your camera (visit Sony's website to get the latest for your camera). 4. If you have the latest drivers, for the USB side, then it simply wont matter what application you use, you are stuck with the driver capabilities (which may or may not be related to the onboard USB camera device support). My suggestion is to look for alternate drivers - you can still use Windows Movie Maker or such. And if you have the latest, then the only other options are to play with the codec's and driver properties. Usually to capture at the best rates, you need to have a codec capturing in RAW format - this way you do your data conversion after the data has been transferred. See www.doom9.org or similar for info about codec control and capturing. And just a tip - don't get all aggro when people are actually giving you valid information, make sure you understand what it is they are saying.
