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Question about video capture (1394 Firewire)
Although the majority of my footage nowadays are uploaded via SD Card, I still have an old D8 camera as well as a MiniDV that I use every now and then.
With my old laptop, I’d capture the footage using a 1394 Firewire cable (4-pin)
Unfortunately, my laptop took a dump a few days ago, so I ordered a new one.
Apparently, Firewire is old news because it doesn’t seem to be an available option on anything anymore (although, the ports will all be USB-3)
Now, I’ve seen 4-pin to USB cables, but my question is will it be as fast as my original 4-pin to 4-pin cable?
Also, would it have the same capture control features? (I was able to control the functions on my camera through Vegas)
Rick
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8 Replies
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USB and Firewire are two completely different protocols and as far as I know, there is no USB to Firewire converter. You need a firewire card to capture via firewire.
~jr
http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com -
That’s interesting….
I’ve seen plenty of 4-pin Firewire to USB adapters on EBay.
If this cannot be used, how would I go about capturing footage from my D8 and MiniDV cams without Firewire?
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[Rick Antonio] “I’ve seen plenty of 4-pin Firewire to USB adapters on EBay.”
Yea, these are for devices that use a firewire connection port for USB access. These cables do not convert USB to firewire (read the fine print).
[Rick Antonio] “If this cannot be used, how would I go about capturing footage from my D8 and MiniDV cams without Firewire?”
You can’t. You need firewire. That means you need to find someone who has a computer with a firewire port or buy a computer that has a firewire port. This should have been a consideration when choosing a laptop. Lenovo still makes laptops with firewire ports.
~jr
http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com -
Ouch
Looks like I’ll have to get the old one fixed then.
It’s at the repair shop right now and they say it needs a new motherboard (great).
Price is about what I can get a used one off of EBay for, but they’re giving me a 90 warranty, so I might as well.
At least after I have the footage captured, I can just transfer the files to the new laptop for editing.
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I don’t know how much money you are looking at to fix it but you can also buy a refurbished desktop from TigerDirect for about $139 and add a $29 firewire card to that. Just an idea.
~jr
http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com -
If your getting a new laptop, does it have and express card slot? if so you can get an express card firewire card to give you firewire ability.
Something like this,
https://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-ExpressCard-Firewire-Adapter-EC13942/dp/B000RKUKMG -
Unfortunately, my new laptop doesn’t have an express port.
That being said, would I be able to use one of these express card to USB adapters?
https://www.synchrotech.com/product-usb/usb20_to_usb20_expresscards_host_adapter.html
https://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2410958
If so, would it work exactly like the Firewire setup in my old laptop? (controlling camera functions through Vegas)
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[Rick Antonio] “That being said, would I be able to use one of these express card to USB adapters?”
Did you read the description of that adapter? Let me repeat it for you here:
The DEVICE WILL NOT WORK WITH any ExpressCard using the PCI Express (PCIe) portion of the ExpressCard standard. This is the majority of ExpressCards that do any other than the devices discussed above. Any real host adapter for SATA, FireWire, Ethernet, USB 2.0, etc. WILL NOT WORK WITH the MicroU2E USB 2.0 to USB 2.0 Mode ExpressCard 34|54 Host Adapter.
I think they made is painfully clear that the device WILL NOT WORK with a Firewire express card.
Please save yourself a lot of searching. There is no solution that involves USB.
~jr
http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com
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