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  1. Member
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    My goal is to get my mini dv onto my computer somehow, however, I have a new laptop computer and it has no firewire port nor does it have a PCMCIA slot to get a separate firewire card. I've studied everything and I realize now that with this computer I'm pretty much screwed. And after all of the work I did researching before I bought this thing and now this.

    So, unless you have another suggestion, I'm wondering if there is some separate device that I can buy to load my mini dv onto some type of hard drive seperately. Is there a device I could hook up the camera to? I really want to find a solution for this other than bringing my tapes into a shop to have them load them onto dvd.

    Thank you for your input.
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  2. Member netmask56's Avatar
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    Try a Firewire to USB adapter - if your lap top doesn't have a USB port then you are well and truly screwed

    http://www.tech-faq.com/firewire-to-usb-adapter.html
    SONY 75" Full array 200Hz LED TV, Yamaha A1070 amp, Zidoo UHD3000, BeyonWiz PVR V2 (Enigma2 clone), Chromecast, Windows 11 Professional, QNAP NAS TS851
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  3. Member edDV's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by netmask56 View Post
    Try a Firewire to USB adapter - if your lap top doesn't have a USB port then you are well and truly screwed

    http://www.tech-faq.com/firewire-to-usb-adapter.html
    Let us know if any of these actually work for camcorder capture at full resolution. Past models didn't work.
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  4. Member ranchhand's Avatar
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    Are you saying that your new laptop does not have USB2 ports on it? If so, what brand?? I have found my USB2 ports work fine with my Canon camcorder for transferring AVCHD. Maybe I don't properly understand your question...
    Last edited by ranchhand; 28th Mar 2011 at 13:12.
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  5. aBigMeanie aedipuss's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by ranchhand View Post
    Are you saying that your new laptop does not have USB2 ports on it? If so, what brand?? I have found my USB2 ports work fine with my Canon camcorder for transferring AVCHD. Maybe I don't properly understand your question...

    miniDV is tape based and needs to be captured over firewire. you must be a youngster
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  6. Member yoda313's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by aedipuss
    miniDV is tape based and needs to be captured over firewire. you must be a youngster
    Well for the original quality level yes.

    Of course you can always use a capture device to do an analog realtime capture rather than acquiring the original file via firewire. This would be doable with a usb capture device with the laptop. Any type would do - obviously higher quality models would be better but in a pinch no-name models would work.

    But firewire is of course the best way to go.

    If none of this works for you try to find a friend or neighbor with a computer with a firewire port and ask if you can use it to capture and use an external harddrive to take it with you.
    Donatello - The Shredder? Michelangelo - Maybe all that hardware is for making coleslaw?
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  7. Banned
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    Originally Posted by dickieb View Post
    My goal is to get my mini dv onto my computer somehow, however, I have a new laptop computer and it has no firewire port nor does it have a PCMCIA slot to get a separate firewire card. I
    Yeah, that's pretty much how laptops are these days. I really do not understand why so many people are just hell bent on using laptops for everything. I'm stating the obvious here, but if you had a tower PC with an open PCI or PCI-E slot you could easily add a cheap firewire card to it and your problem would be solved.
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  8. Laptops run hotter and slower then Desktops. How many do I see here at work that have had water, coffee, soda or wine spilled into them. Cracked screens, dropped and damaged, etc.
    If I'd known I was going to live this long, I'd have taken better care of myself.
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  9. Member
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    Poster never said he didn't have a USB port. Just no firewire or PCMCIA port. That's that big "card" slot that was all the rage back in the late 80s and stands for Personal Computer Memory Card International Association that let you slap in a 1/2 height or full height over-sized credit-card expansion thingee.

    However, I do agree. New models often just have a bunch of USB ports which really limits what you can do.

    A recent "big" Dell laptop had a 7-in-1 memory card reader, 3 x USB 2.0 ports, 1 x eSATA, 1 x microphone jack, 1 x headphone jack, 1 x line-in jack, 1 x RJ-45 Ethernet port, 1 x VGA , and 1 x HDMI port. No firewire or PCMCIA.
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  10. Member edDV's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by byteguy View Post
    Poster never said he didn't have a USB port. Just no firewire or PCMCIA port. That's that big "card" slot that was all the rage back in the late 80s and stands for Personal Computer Memory Card International Association that let you slap in a 1/2 height or full height over-sized credit-card expansion thingee.

    However, I do agree. New models often just have a bunch of USB ports which really limits what you can do.

    A recent "big" Dell laptop had a 7-in-1 memory card reader, 3 x USB 2.0 ports, 1 x eSATA, 1 x microphone jack, 1 x headphone jack, 1 x line-in jack, 1 x RJ-45 Ethernet port, 1 x VGA , and 1 x HDMI port. No firewire or PCMCIA.
    None of this applies to IEEE-1394 (aka FireWire or iLink) capture.

    All low quality alternatives.

    Evil, yes but saving $1 on qty 500K laptops means someone saved $500K.

    They save a half Mil but you are screwed.
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  11. Member
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    I don't know of any device that can simply copy DV to an external HDD. There are some devices that can convert DV to DVD video without using a computer. Other than perhaps a used Sony RDR-GX257 DVD recorder or another used DVD recorder with firewire input, the Sony VRDMC6 DVDirect is probably the least expensive solution for doing this: http://www.amazon.com/Sony-VRDMC6-DVDirect-Compact-Recording/dp/B002EVP85K Some new DVD recorders can do this too. The Magnavox MDR515H/F7 and Panasonic DMR-EZ28K have firewire inputs.
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  12. Member
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    Try ebay http://cgi.ebay.com/4-ft-USB-2-0-4-Pin-FireWire-IEEE-1394-Cable-/160548332562?pt=LH_De...item25616d2412
    Most all newer laptops do not have firewire because most newer camcorders use USB flash memory or Hard drive, not mini-dv. You can however, pretty easily buy a dvd recorder that should have firewire, but check before buying. This way you can transfer directly from camcorder to dvd.
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  13. .... and after ALL that research you did!

    Ask a friend with a proper PC that either has a firewire port or is willing to let you pay to have a firewire card added (really not expensive) if you can transfer your tapes using their PC. You'll almost certainly need a big external drive to store your video and transfer it to your laptop, or remove your shiny new laptop's hard drive and connect it to your friend's PC either directly to the onboard SATA controller or through a USB or E-Sata adapter. And when you come to encoding your video on your laptop, for gawd's sake make sure that all the vents are clean and that none of them are blocked by duvets, cushions, thighs, etc. as it will get hot enough without having it's airvents blocked!
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  14. Member zoobie's Avatar
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    the research -

    Salesman: Buy this one
    You: OK

    OP never came back...I wonder why?
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  15. Video Restorer lordsmurf's Avatar
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    Both of my laptops have Firewire.
    And these are not exactly slow and hot, either. Heat is minimal.

    The cable is not the issue.
    Firewire devices require a sustained connection that simply is not possible via USB2.
    So the idea to try a converter cable won't work.
    Want my help? Ask here! (not via PM!)
    FAQs: Best Blank DiscsBest TBCsBest VCRs for captureRestore VHS
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  16. Originally Posted by lordsmurf View Post
    Both of my laptops have Firewire.
    And these are not exactly slow and hot, either. Heat is minimal.
    And both were probably slightly more expensive than whichever laptop was on special offer at PC World that weekend!
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