Downloading video from DV Cam to PC - Firewire or USB2.0?

[MichaelD]

I borrowed a friend's Panasonic DV cam and recorded some stuff. My PC doesn't have FW, so I hooked up the camera with a USB 2.0 cable.

For some reason, NeroVisionExpress can't do the "video test" on it, but Windows Movie Maker sees the camera fine and can capture the video/audio from it.

The problem is the quality; it is lousy! When you play back the captured video, the window is small. When you go full-screen, it's pixelated.

This is from a Panasonic DV cam...digital is digital, right?

Is the problem that I'm using USB? It shouldn't be as the info is digital. Would I be better off using the analog inputs on my videocard? (7900GTO, btw).

What am I doing wrong? Thanks for the help.

 

[cryptonomicon]

WMM sucks, basically

 

[MichaelD]

OK, what would you recommend? I don't have access to many B&Ms here and I need to make a DVD ASAP.

Hmm. Maybe my 7900GTO came with a DVD maker app?

I have Nero6, but it doesn't see the camera properly.

 

[CU]

Why does WMM suck? I use it to rip stuff off my DV cam and it works fine. If you are using WMM that comes with XP you need to go to windows update and get the updated one. It will allow you to rip it off at a higher resolution. I think the orignal only has a really low resolution as the highest setting.

 

[MichaelD]

Thanks, CU.

Is there another way to download it besides Windows Update? I'm not putting that Genuine Validation spyware junk on my PC.

 

[CU]

Not sure. Genuine Validation doesn't seem to effect my computer in any negative way.

 

[gsellis]

Firewire. USB not recognized by WMM and many other apps. USB usually only works with an app from the mfgr. AND USB is much more likely to drop frames than Firewire.

 

[MichaelD]

Why would USB drop any frames as compared to FW? Digital bits is digital bits...I've never heard of one connection form being any better than another in that regard. But, I am going to buy a FW card...might as well have it.

 

[MScrip]

Firewire is the standard way to get MiniDV into the computer. All video editing apps support it. Basically, it plays the tape and records it into the computer... as a perfect copy of the tape.

Get a Firewire card. You won't regret it.

 

[Idontcare]

Ditto on MScrip's message...I used USB with my DV cam and figured my DV cam must have just sucked really really badly, then one day on a whim I hooked it up thru my firewire connection and its been nothing but butter since.

After my transfers stopped looking like garbage (by ditching USB and using my Firewire) I then realized how much mpeg2 encoder quality actually matters and I gave up on using windows movie maker and have since migrated to TSUNAMI TMPG encoder for my DV-cam to DVD conversions.

 

[soydios]

Be sure you're using "Best Quality for Playback on My Computer" as your recording setting in Windows Movie Maker. If that doesn't fix your quality problem, then you'll just have to live with it, because you're at the limit of your camera's resolution (unless it's a high-definition camera).

I've found Windows Movie Maker as a simple video capture and movie creation program. It serves my (basic) needs quite well.

Firewire400 has a speed of 400Mbps, while USB2.0 has a speed of 480Mbps. Theoretically, USB should have a higher throughput than Firewire, but it all comes down to software support. For video capture, Firewire is where it's at.

 

[MScrip]

Originally posted by: soydios
Firewire400 has a speed of 400Mbps, while USB2.0 has a speed of 480Mbps.

And don't forget that Firewire has a sustained transfer rate, which is perfect for video. USB has too much overhead, and was ever intended for video transfer.

USB looks faster on paper... but Firewire is technically faster because if its architecture.

 

[shabby]

Unless the camera only supports usb1 i dont see how it can drop frames with usb2, usb2 can do 20-30megs/sec no problem.

 

[MScrip]

Originally posted by: shabby
Unless the camera only supports usb1 i dont see how it can drop frames with usb2, usb2 can do 20-30megs/sec no problem.

MiniDV camcorders have had Firewire ports since they first came out. USB ports were added to camcorders to mainly get still pictures off the memory card.

It's not that USB 2.0 can't handle the video stream... it's that Firewire has always been the preferred way to get video into the computer. Like I said earlier, Firewire has a constant data rate, which is VERY important in video capture. As the tape plays, the data sent over Firewire is exactly what's on the tape. With USB, the data rate can fluctuate, and any hiccup can screw up the capture process.

Using Firewire you can capture a tape into a high quality AVI file into your editing program. Any video editing software accepts Firewire/DV capture. Can you get the same results with USB?

 

[gsellis]

Better late than never.

Firewire is designed for streaming data. USB is interrupt driven and will drop frames while serving other devices. DV is realtime streaming data from tape while capturing.

 

[MichaelD]

FW also lets you control the device thru the application you're using, i.e. the video capture program.

That's all fine and good...if it actually WORKS. Please see my other thread HERE.