DV Premium?

[sjaguar13]

I have to do a 30 minute video for a school project. I borrowed a digital video camera from my brother's friend's dad. None of us have any idea how to use it. We can record and take pictures, but we can't get them on the computer. His dad uses XP and it's not supported, so they don't know. The only thing I see is a serial cable that connects to the digital still port on the camera. In order to use DV, do I need some sort of DV card for my computer, or am I missing something?

[glc]

If it's a DV camera, it should have a Firewire port on it, all you need is a Firewire card with video editing software, plan on spending about $30.

From Newegg:

Koutech FIREWIRE IEEE 1394 CONTROLLER CARD - RETAIL BOX 3+1(2 independent external ports + 1 internal/external shared port) with cable & Video Editing Software. For PCI Slot. Model#: KW-582V2 Special Free FedEx Saver Shipping
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$30.00

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The software that card comes with is ULead Video Studio SE - very basic but it works.

[Nuclear Krusader]

Take a look at your computer before you buy though. Could be it has already a FW port if the mobo is very new. If you have an Audigy sound card it comes with a FW port.

[sjaguar13]

The camera sits in this little base type thing. The base has a mic jack, rca jacks, and an S out jack on on side and it has JLIP, PC (digital still), and edit on the other side. The PC jack is like a headphone jack, the other two are slightly bigger. On the camera itself, there is a DV in/out and it looks like a real small 4 pin connector type thing. There is also AV out which looks like another headphone jack.

[RJ]

Yep, the small 4 pin connector is firewire. Using a 4pin to 6pin firewire cable you connect the camcorder to the PC and using a video editing software you can capture the video.

RJ

[sjaguar13]

I have an older version of Premiere, will that work? The guy's dad didn't know how to get the video off the camera after it was connected to the computer, but he also didn't know how to connect it.

[glc]

The card I referenced will take care of everything you need.

[sjaguar13]

Well the good news is my friend who I am working with has a firewire port on his laptop. I have an ASUS A7V333 mother board and I'm not finding a firewire port. I'm getting the cable Monday, but we're still unsure on how to get the video from the camera to the computer. Should I pick up ULead Video Studio while I'm out or will Premiere work?

[RJ]

According to the product specs the A7V333 has optional firewire, so you probably don't need an add-on card. Consult your manual and check again that your board really doesn't have firewire and also check that you don't have a Sound Blaster Audigy.

ULead Video Studio or Premiere, it doesn't matter which one you choose, both will work. Capturing a DV video isn't a big task as the video is already digital, so all the program needs to do is to copy it via firewire and write it into an AVI file.
I've done DV cam capturing with Pinnacle Studio 7 and Adobe Premiere so far, and I found it easy with both. I tried Ulead too but not for DV capturing but it should be easy as well.

RJ