I have a JVC GR-D200. I have just completed making my first home movie! Even though many of us here said that firewire is what I should use, I used USB to tranfer the video from the mini DV cassete to the computer since I didn't have a firewire card or a dv cable. Then I burned into a VCD. I wasn't satisfied with the quality of the video. Do you think it is because I used USB? Would I get a better result if I use firewire? Also, can I reuse the mini DV cassette to record another video? If yes, howmany times we can reuse it? The cassette is full now, so can I record another video over it? Thank you so much.
Well I'm not sure about the quality, as i only tranfer through firewire. But might want to double check on the quality setting and resolution that you are filming on. As for the full cassettes, yes you can just rewind them to the beginning and record right over the old footage. They're just like our old vhs and cassette tapes.
Thank you dragulaAC. Please tell me how do I double check the quality setting and resolution? Anyway I am installing a firewire card this week. I hope that will do a better job. Thanks for the information about the dv cassette also. Appreciate it.
I have a JVC also. When I first got it I used the USB to do it too. And yes the quality of your video sucks because of the USB cable. I guarantee better results with the firewire. Just make sure you have a lot of free space on your hard drive. You'll be shocked by the difference in quality. Firewire will be one of the best investments you make.
It is not so much the USB cable that makes the difference. The whole principle is different. When using USB, the camcorder outputs streaming video, just like a webcam. In order to stream the video over USB the camera takes the video from the tape and compresses it to a framerate and resolution so that it "fits" the limited capacity of USB. Over Firewire it is actually a bit-by-bit transfer. You will get your video on your harddrive in the exact same quality as it is on tape. I actually don't understand why manufacturers supply the USB option at all. Older models use USB only to transfer data from memory cards used to store pictures maed with the camera. USB is simply not suitable to transfer high quality DV. Period.
Thank you. Thats what I wanted to know. I bought the firewire card & cable and will be installing it as soon as I get time. Will get back if I encounter any problems.
Yea firewire is such a big differece, if you r gonna get a firewire pci card try getting the new one its even faster than the olded one i hear. just woundering what editing program do u use if you are making a home movie matt
NO, DON'T BUY IEEE1394b!!! There is no reason to buy a faster card. The video comes in real time at full resolution. The 1394a is fast enough, buying a 1394 will not make it any faster. There's a big chance that you will encounter compatibility problems even after applying the Microsoft patch. Look here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/885222 Usefull info here as well: http://www.digitalvideoclub.com/forum/viewtopic.25.html
mwezlo, I use Roxio Easy CD & DVD creator, and sometimes Nero. My camcorder came with a software called ImageMixer, so I play with that as well. In my past attempt, for transfering the video to the PC using the USB connection, I used ImageMixer, then I made the VCD using Roxio. TPFKAS, I am confused now. The firewire card I already purchased says IEEE 1394 VIA 3+1 ports controller card. Is it the right one, or do I have to exchange? It doesn't say 1394b. I am worried about the quality of the video, not the transfer speed. I don't make a lot of videos, so I guess low speed would not be a problem for me. I didn't install the firewire card yet.
Yes, your card is fine. And remember, DV transfer over Firewire either works or doesn't, nothing in between. So if it works you will also end up with maximum achievable quality. The only issue that can happen is dropped frames, but that is not related to the Firewire card itself but to the rest of your system if it can not keep up with the transer speed. Dahlgren, I touched the 1394b because of mwezlo's stated in this thread: He must mean 1394b...
My camcorder came with a USB cable which is meant only for still picture transfers and lower quality/resolution video captured to the memory card. The firewire connection (had to buy a 4-pin to 4-pin cable seperately) is for DV capture.
Using the USB cable will reduce quality (although I must confess I do not know why when USB 2 is actually significantly faster than firewire and othe devices such as USB connecting analogue video capture devices such as the Dazzle 90 can capture DVD quality video via USB. The other issue is VCDs. The quality of VCD is low. I tried these before I got my DVD burner and was disapointed (and yes I captured the video via Firewire).
Although USB 2.0 has a higher maximum transfer rate than Firewire (480Mbps vs. 400Mbps for IEEE1394a) it is less reliable. Due to the architecture of Firewire it is easier to keep the tranfer rate up, while other factors in the total system can cause USB tranfer rate to decrease. This is why all DV camcorder manufaturers use Firewire for direct DV transfer. Most camcorder manufacturers use USB for transfer of data (stills or short clips) from a memory card, which is not a real time transfer. Lately, also Dv camera's appear on the market that use USB to tranfer video from tape in "preview" quality. The reason why USB works OK with product like the Dazzle breakout boxes, is that the box compresses the video to MPEG-2, before sending it to the PC over USB.
