what is a good PCI Firewire card brand/type for a new JVC digital mini-camcorder?

I recently purchased a JVC GR-D295US Mini-DV Digital Video Camcorder on-line(and should get delivery in about 10 days, or less...and am still waiting to here what people here think of it)

BUT...I understand that I need a Firewire card and cable to download the digital video from my camcorder to my PC in order to edit/author for DVD burning.

Does Anyone know what is a good PCI Firewire card for doing this?
[I know nothing about digital video, but used to be relatively experienced with VHS camcorder video capturing to my PC].

Can anyone help me in this hardware IEEE 1394 card/cable purchase and transfer (PC video capture?) process, Please??

 

The brand doesn't matter at all. Don't be fooled by differences in price. The difference is mainly caused by either branding or by the higher value of video editing software that comes with it. If you already have editing software, you should be able to buy a card plus cable for $20-$30.
Only thing to pay attention to is not to buy a card according to the IEEE1394b (note the 'b') standard. Most cards will simply be IEEE1394.
Transfer is very simple. Check this http://wwww.digitalvideoclub.com/basics/transfer.php

 

thanks TPFKAS,
I had hoped that was the case about IEEE1394 firewire cards.

A JVC user on another site told me they JVC Mini-DV camcorders have a particularly bad problem using firewire cards that don't contain Texas Instrument chips. I hope you are right about mu JVC!

Please give me that link again....it appears "dead" this morning, and I'd like to read it.

dS

 

This should not be the case. I have been following several discussions about people having problems with Firewire cards, but have not found any systematic problems like that certain cards will not work with certain camcorders. based on the number of times these topics come up in the forums like this and many others, I also estimate that problems occur in less than 1% of cases (and probably even less).
Anyway, not much of an issue to worry about when buying a $15-$25 card.

PS: The link works OK for me.

 

I bought a card that was $9. It was advertised as a belkin and ended up being a generic card. I would have argued with the website that sold it to me, but when I installed it, the drivers were picked up by XP instantly. I've had no problems with the card. My point is, look out there at some of the deals on pricewatch.com and see if you can find a nice cheap card... There's no need to invest a lot of money where you don't need to.

 

thanks scarpozzi,
the preponderance of advice here seems to be that almost all Firewire cards operate the same....and any potential downloading/capturing problems that may occur have more to do with the software that initiates that process than the firewire hardware itself.

thank you, everyone!
(I'll skip buying any of the $79 one....Ha!)

 

I just bought a JVC GR-270us, and I am interested in this thread. I was planning on capturing video from it with a composite cord or the USB cable. My video TV capture card doesn't have an input for the "DV" cord. I was wondering if the "DV" cord that doesn't come with the JVC is what you referring to as a "firewire". I transfer digital video with the composite A/V cord of the USB I am assuming it won't be the same quality as the "DV" cord...would this be right?

 

Hey Bene,
The card that doesn't come with the camcorder is a memory card that inserts into your camcorder for still photos taking and storage only. You use the included USB cable to transfere photos to PC with pretty good clarity(as I've read here). The A/V(RCA)cables are to transfer(play or record video onto a VCR. A Firewire card is a special PCI card that goes into a slot in your PC and has incredably fast transfer speed capability. You use a Firewire cable to download/capture the video to your PC. What how many pins are in the camcorder at the Firewire cable connector...mine(as most similar JVC MiniDV cams have 4 pins....but most Firewire cards are 6 pin. My Firewire card, and 4 pin to 6 pim cable came sold together for about $22 US. Some are Lots more expensive, but I'll I think I got a pretty good deal. My old capture card does not capture digital video with any PC software either. So I needed to get the Firewire setup and now nearly all capture and store the video to PC files.

I hope that helps.


USB transferes slower and is only good for stills.

I bought

 

Thanks man,

Can you post that card and cord combo's name and where you got it at?

My capture card is composite and Svideo only so I need a new one. Is the "firewire" cable the cord that says "DV" cord in the manual?

Also, what kind of software should I use to convert the stuff from ATI to MPEG? I want true DVD quality when I burn to DVD. Also, what is all this business about needing a "video editing card"? I thought software did all of the editing. This stuff is a little more complicated that I thought when I first bought the camera.

Thanks in advance,
Bene

 

Firewire cards can be found at low prices all over the internet. Just Google on "cheap Firewire card"...
Check for example: http://www.newegg.com and search for Firewire. They have a $13 three port card and a $5 cable. Alos consider to buy a front bay connector, to bring the Firewire connection to the front of your PC, which is much more comfortable.

If you want to learn a bit more about digital video editing, what you need, how to do it and what software etc. check http://www.digitalvideoclub.com

 

I just don't know which cable to get

 

I'd say a standard Firewire cable...
Firewire has two types of connectors: a 4 pin and a 6 pin. Normally, a PC firewire card has a 6-pin female connection and your camcorder a 4-pin female connection (check it on your cam), so you would need a cable with 4-pin male on one seide and 6-pin male on the othere side (which covers 99.9% of all cable sold).
To see how 4 and 6 p[in looks like:
http://www.cablestogo.com/resources/usb.asp (bottom two pictures)

 

Thanks to all,

And just to clarify this will give me a much better connection and transfer than the regulare USB? and definately better than the composite cord?

you guys are awesome,
Bene

 

Yes, but, to let you know: the analog connection will give better result than USB, at least when you use a good analog capture card.
Some articles to read:
http://www.digitalvideoclub.com/basics/tapetodvd.php
http://www.digitalvideoclub.com/basics/transfer.php
Since more and more camcorders offer USB video transfer these days (which is more meant to use your camcorder as a webcam) the second article will be updated in one of the next days to pay some attention to USB...

 

But if I do the firewire thing there is no reason to worry with that right?

I already have an ATI analog capture card, but I want DVD quality.

 

just bumping my original question and asking if a "video editing card" is actually needed.

 

Bene,
Analog PCI cards won't help you with digital video capture/transfer, I don't think.

If you have a firewire card and cable....you use video editing software programs to capture/edit....and also usually author to burn onto DVD, if you want to.

If anyone here knows any different, please let me know too(I know I don't know near as much about video as others here.....and maybe an ATI "All-In-One" video card might work with both...I don't know)

 

Don't confuse a couple of things here: a video editing card is not a video capture card.
A video editing card is hardware for rendering transitions, composites, special effects etc. It basically takes over processes that "normally" would be done on the PC's own processor, so it takes over this burden and increases the overall perfomance of the system. Modern PC's however have sufficient power fo consumer or prosumer level video editing, so that a video edting card is not very necessary to have.

 

Thanks,

Can anyone help with encoding. I have put together movies on a bunch of different programs, but am having trouble converting to .VOB or whatever the DVD file extension. Also, many programs are different. Like MS movie maker you use a timeline and all that. I made a DVD with Roxio DVD creator 7 and it was like a menu that looked like a "scene selection" menu on a store bought DVD. Except I'm not sure that the videos I was putting on there were VOB quality. I guess they were because it said encoding.

Also, I have just put some analog captured video straight onto a DVD disk as a "Data disk" and it still plays in some DVD player's. Can anyone help me here as I am going 100 different directions at once it seems.

 

Read this article to understand the whole process and what steps are involved: http://www.digitalvideoclub.com/basics/tapetodvd.php
In the other basi c articles over there, you will find references to all kind of programs that can be used.