Questions about DV transfer and connectivity of Firewire/1394

[Movie-Maker]

Hi,
just curious to know if using Firewire to transfer video from a sony minidv camcorder to the PC does it manipulate the data in any way ? Any kind of filtering or compression or anything ?

Also I wanted to know if I want to play the video off the camcorder using the firewire connection (and not the S-Video) on a TV monitor, what are my options ?
Are there TV sets out there that can take a video input over firewire or 1394 ?

Thanks!

[jagabo]

just curious to know if using Firewire to transfer video from a sony minidv camcorder to the PC does it manipulate the data in any way ?

Yes, it puts it into an AVI file and adds some AVI structural information. If you're using type 2 DV AVI it also makes a second copy of the audio and adds that to the file.

Any kind of filtering or compression or anything ?

No.

Also I wanted to know if I want to play the video off the camcorder using the firewire connection (and not the S-Video) on a TV monitor, what are my options ?
Are there TV sets out there that can take a video input over firewire or 1394 ?

Yes.

[Movie-Maker]

ok it's good to know it doesn't change the original video data in any way and just 'arranges' it into a different structure.

would you mind giving me some pointers in the direction of such TVs ? Just look for a 'Firewire' or '1394' input ? Is HDMI same thing or atleast backward compatible to firewire/1394 ?

[jagabo]

HDMI is completely different. I don't know what models have firewire ports although I've read about it here and there. Some of the Sony models have it, I think. They call it iLink.

[edDV]

Some early HDTV sets had IEEE-1394 inputs intended primarily for connection of DVHS machines using MPeg2_TS but some also allowed DV format connections with camcorders. Since ~2004 the TV industry has moved away from IEEE-1394 (compressed) to HDMI connections (uncompressed protected with HDCP).

Meanwhile HDV and AVCHD camcorders have added analog component and/or HDMI connections for output to an HDTV. That left older SD DV/DVCAM camcorders with only S-Video as a usable TV connection unless you use a computer or external DV to HDMI or analog component conversion path.

Normal work flow for camcorder DV is IEEE-1394 transfer to a computer DV-AVI file, then DV format editing, MPeg2 encoding and authoring to DVD. That is an all component digital path to the DVD player output. A DV format archive can be saved back to DV tape or to a hard drive.