Audio Capture Without FireWire

[Jeremy of Many]

What is an alternative way to capture the audio from a camcorder without the use of FireWire? My FW port on my DVC is broken, but has S-Video. The Geforce7800GTX512MB has S-Video Input so I will use that for the video.

[redwudz]

If it has audio out (stereo) on the camera you can use that along with the S-video. Just hook the audio to your sound card with a RCA stereo to 1/8' stereo miniplug converter. You will lose the locked sync advantage of DV, though. So be prepared if you have sync problems.

The adapter looks something like this:



You probably should get the camera replaced or repaired. S-video and stereo sound will not be as convenient to work with as DV.

[Jeremy of Many]

I heard that repairing the FireWire port in the DVC costs just as much as getting a new camera altogether. Do you know of any cases where someone had their FireWire port replaced and the price?

Cheers,
Jeremy

[ZAPPER]

Just a shot in the dark. Check to make sure that the cam settings haven't been altered to disable the firewire output/input (Wouldn't be so lucky myself)


See if you can get an actual estimate from a real repair shop. (Good luck finding one and even better luck actually talking to the guy that will do the work, but hey, it could happen)

Figure in your head what it would be worth to you to have it repaired. 25-50% of the cost of the cam depending on what they do to it, like cleaning and actually fixing the cam and their warrenty and turn around time.

If you do actually get to talk to the tech or the owner of a mom and pop shop, propose or consider a barter option. (An old bike, junk car, cheap shotgun or offer services like paint job or whatever skills that you have that they may want)

If you are considering writing the cam off as trashed anyways, consider opening it up for a peek see on your own or let someone that you think has a chance of fixing it give it a try.

I hate hearing about broken equipment, it makes me feel sad, and it seems that firewire ports are a common problem. I would suspect that it is a simple matter of finding a replacement part and doing the repair. (Simple being a relative term here)

Without the DV/firewire capibilities a DV cam just about becomes junk in my humble opinion.

Maybe consider another cam (new or used) for doing the transfer and keep using the old "beater" for shooting. Atleast the newness of the beater has worn off and the worries of drops, abuse and theft aren't as high.

I am curious as to what you come up with