Firewire pin count - how do you tell?

[yoda313]

I'm looking to buy a firewire card to transfer recordings from my motorola comcast hd-dvr. I don't know what pin count the hd-dvr has. I don't even know what type of firewire card to get for the pc.

I will be using it on a VISTA pc. How do I find out about firewire pin counts? I see they have 6-6 cables, 6-4 cables and 4-4 cables. Which is which?

Thanks in advance.

[ofbarea]

Check this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FireWire

[Jim44]

Also check the Wiki for the Motorola box:
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/How_to_use_a_Motorola_DVR

Having just done this this past weekend, my Mot DVR was a 6-pin connector, as was the port on my PC, hence a 6-6 cable. Also, be aware that the Firewire spec limits cable length to 15 ft - any longer and you'll need to get a "repeater" cable. I got mine at Cable Wholesale, FWIW.

[Edit: also, if you weren't aware, fairly concise instructions/info here:
http://replayguide.sourceforge.net/dct6412/index.html - that's what I used to set up and capture to XP. Worked fine.]

[yoda313]

thanks ofbarea and jim44.

So jim44 - if I get a standard noname firewire card then all I should need is a 6pin to 6pin cable to go from the dvr to the pc? Sounds good.

Is this easily doable with vista?

[Jim44]

thanks ofbarea and jim44.

So jim44 - if I get a standard noname firewire card then all I should need is a 6pin to 6pin cable to go from the dvr to the pc? Sounds good.

I believe that's all. Just make sure the firware card is OHCI(?) compliant. That seemed to be the one key thing to look for when I bought a firewire card several years ago.

Heck, I may still have it in a drawer, not currently being used. Email or PM me, and if I do have it, I can sent it to you.

Is this easily doable with vista?

Is anything easily doable in Vista? Sorry, saw the shot....

Check the link in my [Edit] above, it should provide some help, either at that page or the links therein. I seem to recall it's doable, but I tended not to pay too much attention as I'm on XP.

Jim

[Edit (again): You may have to slog through the AVS Forum thread that's the first link at the Replayguide site, since it on references XP. Sorry about that.]

[yoda313]

Thanks jim44. I'll try to remember the ohci compliance bit.

I do have an xp machine but I'd prefer to use my vista pc as its got more power. Plus the xp machine is tehtered to my dsl router and wifi g router so I'd prefer not to have to move THAT around too often. Plus the vista pc has windows media center to boot

[edDV]

Hardware is easy, drivers are needed. This is an old step by step link. There are probably better links that others have found.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?postid=3818890

[yoda313]

thanks eddv.

[edDV]

Warning for Vista. That driver referenced works in Vista but crashes to blue screen if a DV application is opened while the IEEE-1394 cable is connected to the Comcast box. I use my XP machine to avoid that happening.

[yoda313]

Thanks eddv.

I bought the firewire card and cable today. Seems to be working just fine.

I found a link for the 3416 model and seems to be going good. I was able to recognize it and get it going.

As far as the dv notice thanks but I don't have a dv camera yet. Also if I were to do that I do have a liteon dvd recorder with a firewire input that I could use instead of vista. I would be able to do straight caps to the disc and edit later on the pc.


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Are there any file size guides on high def captures for this hddvr? What is a typical 2 hour high def movie going to take to store it?

What size harddrive would I need for multiple movies? i think I might want to look into a 500gb internal harddrive. Would that be sufficient for capping off of firewire?

Also what about the possibility of spliting the file onto multpile dvdrs for storage? What I would like is to use either multiple single layer or dual layer discs and preserve the high def without downconverting.

Or since I think I may seriously leave my pc with my hdtv possibly converting to divx. Would h264 be better for storage purposes? Would it be conceivable to preserve 720p in a container format in a small enough file size to fit a dual layer disc? Would such compression be a waste of time and discs?

Any guides for this storage question would be appreciated. Thanks everyone.