DV Capture Via USB / 4 pin not working???

[Jamesdon]

So I have an old Panasonic PV-GS29 that I'm trying to capture some video through. The video is Mini DV and I'm using Premiere Pro CS4 to capture.
I'm hooked up via USB and when I capture the quality isn't very good.
In CS4 the preview is this odd pastel color and when I use Vegas Pro 9.0 the quality just looks low.
When viewing the captured AVI quality also sucks, even when exporting un-compressed the quality is trash!!!
I'm in Uganda right now and attempted to pick up a 1394-4 pin cable for transfer but I think the place was shotty because the cable didn't work. Might also be due to lack of drivers!
Please advise on both the "pastel" problem with Premiere and also let me know if the USB is the problem(ie, not digital)!
Thanks!

[Abas-Avara]

You are using USB?
I thought DV camcorders can only used with firewire.
I think a Firewire card is the solution.

Maybe I'm wrong

[jagabo]

Most DV camcorders with USB ports do output DV via the USB port. Only low res video and still pictures.

[edDV]

Bottom line, Jamesdon needs to use the IEEE-1394 (aka Firewire, iLink) cable for full resolution capture.

[ogk]

USB 2.0
1. 1.5 Mbps, 12Mbps, 480 Mbps supported.
2. USB controller is required to control the bus and data transfer.
3. Cable up to 5m.
4. Up to 127 devices supported.
5. Power supply to external devices is 500 mA/5V (max).
6. Full compatibility with USB 1.1 devices.
FireWire (IEEE 1394)
1. 100 Mbps, 200Mbps, 400 Mbps supported.
2. Works without control, devices communicate peer-to-peer.
3. Cable up to 4.5m.
4. Up to 63 devices supported.
5. Power supply to external devices is 1.25A/12V (max).
6. The only computer bus used in digital video cameras.
Each bus has its advantages and disadvantages. The maximum speeds are almost equal.
And each bus has already occupied a certain market niche.
Speed:
USB offers speeds ranging from 1 Mbps to 480 Mbps. In contrast, the current IEEE
specification 1394 offers speeds starting at 100 Mbps and going up to 400 Mbps. P 1394b
will start at 800 Mbps and is defining speeds of up to 3200 Mbps.
Application:
IEEE 1394 and USB are complimentary technologies.
USB is a small and medium
bandwidth connection for telephony products, digital still cameras, monitors, keyboards,
mice, and other similar I/O devices.
In contrast, IEEE 1394 is a high-speed bus designed
for digital video cameras, DVD players, mass storage devices, and other peripherals that
require greater bandwidth.

DV tape transfer is Real time transfer by nature (in contrast with file transfer from HDD and flash based camcorders)
and does not tolerate "slowdowns" of USB
As mentioned above USB speed varies from 1 to 480 Mbs - compare to
Firewire 100 to 400 Mbs

DV uses DCT intraframe compression at a fixed bitrate of 25 megabits per second (25.146 Mbit/s), which, when added to the sound data (1.536 Mbit/s), the subcode data, error detection, and error correction (approx 8.7 Mbit/s) amounts in all to roughly 36 megabits per second (approx 35.382 Mbit/s)

USB cannot guarantee that bitrate.

[edDV]

Yes but his camcorder does not support DV transfer over USB2. USB2 supports photo and webcam modes.

IEEE-1394 supports full quality video transfer.

The manual is very confusing about this.
See pages 56-68 in the manual
http://www2.panasonic.com/consumer-e.../model.PV-GS29

[ogk]

Page 7 of the manual
stating that PV-GS29
does not have USB at all

[edDV]

Maybe the Uganda model is closer to the PV-GS39. Doesn't matter, still need to use IEEE-1394.

[JohnnyMalaria]

Most likely MPEG1 is being sent by USB. Anyway, what ed said.

[Jamesdon]

Thanks for all the replies!!!

I actually just had someone bring a legit firewire cable from the states and now my captures look fine.

I'm still having the problem with the "pastel" look in the preview for Premiere CS4.

Any ideas on this??? Things look fine in Vegas but I'd rather use CS4 since I've got a few things to insert from Photoshop and After Effect.

Thanks!

[jagabo]

It's probably just the difference between rec601 and pc601 RGB conversion for display. Something like the difference in this sample (middle rec601, edges pc601)?:



If that's the case, it should make no difference to your final output.

[edDV]

Best way to preview DV format on either CS4 or Vegas is back out the IEEE-1394 port to the camcorder and from there to a calibrated TV. That way you are looking at the real video, not a scaled representation through the display card. See your Help - monitoring topics.