Firewire Problem??

[sgrech]

I recently bought a JVC GR-D50EK dv camcorder with a view to transfer VHS tape of my daughter on DVD for future safekeeping.

I am not a techie and didn't want to spend a lot of money on new drives, caputre cards e.t.c

So I am simply (probably not a good choice of words) trying to capture film from my DV camcorder via Microsoft MovieMaker v2.0, but to no avail.

When I try to capture via firewire and then playback what I have catoured I see quite a number of large blocks of pixels missing. I have tried other pieces of software but unfortunately had the same experience.

Then the other day I thought I would try capturing via a USB cable (using Arcsoft's Videoimpression) and the pixel problem wasn't apparent, although obviously the general quality of the output wasn't as good as capturing via firewire.

Anyway to my question. Is it possible that my problems could be down to a dodgy firewire cable. I bought it for only £3 from Ebay! Is there anyway that I can simply test this cable?

Also the firewire card was purchased from ebay. I just plugged it in to an available slot and let Windows XP do the rest. According to Windows the device is working correctly - it is using a Microsoft driver dated 1/7/01.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Simon

[Tommyknocker]

I haven't been able to Movie Maker to work for me in years. Have you tried DVIO to capture your DV?

[sgrech]

Yes and I get the same results

[Tommyknocker]

You may want to go ahead and borrow a cable. I do not get any blockiness when I transfer DV.

[sitlet]

i dont think the cable would matter too much, but i guess if its made REALLY cheap, it might be getting interference or something. i would also try to use the camcorder on another computer if you have access to one. maybe its your firewire card.