Bit of a noob question here but... I have a Sony mini-cam DCR-HC14E. My laptop has no firewire socket, but it does have usb2. Can i connect via usb2? And if so what wire do i need? If i cant connect via usb2, is it easy to install a firewire card to a laptop? I put one in my old desktop easy enough but there was loads of room inside it. Cheers for any help.
For the best quality capture, you are most definitely going to want to get your laptop rigged with a firewire card and get a good quality firewire cable, not a cheap one. I have never had any experience with a laptop, so hopefully someone will drop in and let you know if you can add a firewire card somehow.
Thanks, i didn't realise it would affect the picture quality by using usb, i guess i thought it would just slow down the data transfer process.
USB is only for transfer of pictures on an SD card, if you have a minidv tape camcorder.You definetly need a firewire card. There are plenty firewire cards that slide into the cardbus slot on the side of your laptop.