Live viewing of Canon HV20 on computer

[KevinJones]

I acquired a Canon HV20 camcorder which I would like to use for monitoring activity outside my house. I would like to be able to set it up outside, and view in real time the activity seen by the camera on my computer screen. Is the camera capable of doing this? I have checked through the instruction manual, as well as perused a plethora of information on the web that broaches the subject regarding the use of CameraWindow DC, but haven't been able to discern clearly if the software can actually do live viewing, or is only for offloading recorded content from the camera after the fact.

Any information on this would be appreciated.

Thanks kindly, Kevin

[aedipuss]

it's not designed for that type of thing but it might work. you'd have to run a firewire cable from the cam to a firewire port in your computer and probably keep the cam plugged into the ac adapter as the batteries don't last very long. iirc that model you had to remove the tape and leave the tape door open for it to operate continuously.

[KevinJones]

AFAICT, there is no firewire. No mention of it in the manual, no firewire ports or cables.

[Cornucopia]

Specs say it has an HDMI output jack. plug HDMI cable into that, then use either an HDMI capture card on PC, or use HDMI/USB converter and capture as "webcam" (aka UVC). Might run into issues of cable length, then you would either need to use an active HDMI cable (be careful, they are 1-way!) or use HDMI extenders.
Not sure if the HDMI out is clean or not (aka no overlays).


Scott

[aedipuss]

LOL the HV20 is an HDV cam that uses miniDV tape. the only way to transfer tape data to a computer is over firewire(sometimes called ieee1394). the port on the cam may be labeled as "DV".

[usually_quiet]

The DV port is shown page 13 of the 2010 PDF manual for the HV20. The illustration depicts a 4-pin port, next to the HDMI port.

[KevinJones]

See page 75. Apparently you can also connect via USB (and the cable is supplied.) On page 12 the port is referenced as #7.

[KevinJones]

So regarding the software, is this something I can do using CameraWindow? Or OBS? I am very new to using a camera for anything.

[Cornucopia]

@aedipuss, you don't need to transfer the tape for a live feed (what the OP was asking for). And if its HDMI output is good, that is a better way, as it probably bypasses any DV compression.

Scott

[usually_quiet]

See page 75. Apparently you can also connect via USB (and the cable is supplied.) On page 12 the port is referenced as #7.

The manual indicates that the supplied USB cable and the Digital Video Software can be used to transfer still images (from a mini SD card) to a computer. I don't see anything about using the camera's USB port to supply video to a computer.

So regarding the software, is this something I can do using CameraWindow? Or OBS? I am very new to using a camera for anything.

I don't know anything about CameraWindow. To use OBS you probably need to connect the camera to a supported HDMI capture device connected to a USB 2 or USB 3 port on the computer.

[aedipuss]

@ scott - that's why i told him about leaving the tape door open, if there's no tape and the door is open the camera will feed video over firewire constantly for an unlimited time in record mode.

the hdmi output is after hdv digitization. compression has already been applied in all the hv series cams hv10-40.

[KevinJones]

CameraWindow is software supplied by Canon on their support page for this model.

Thanks all for the helpful input.

[usually_quiet]

CameraWindow is software supplied by Canon on their support page for this model.

Thanks all for the helpful input.

CameraWindow is probably the name of the software used to transfer images from the camera's mini SD Card to a computer connected to the camera's USB Port

[dellsam34]

You will be better off with an IP camera, connect the camera via WiFi, log into the camera page in your computer, done. it can't get any simpler than that, for the money you used to buy the camcorder and an HDMI-USB adapter you could have bought 2 IP cameras or more.

[Cornucopia]

Or better yet, use old cell phones' cameras.

Scott

[Alwyn]

Just tried this as a concept for capturing cine film (I hear the groans from here! ). With no tape in, plugging the HDMI into a USB 3 4k upscaler works a treat with AmarecTV. Image isn't bad and I get audio.

That's a pile of wires on my desk.

[Alwyn]

A question for you HV 20/30/40 gurus out there. I'm trying to record the video feed but the HDMI digitiser is seeing only the viewfinder, with all the messages and symbols. The Display button removes all the other symbols and message but not the tape symbol.

How can I remove the flashing tape symbol? If I have a tape in, it blinks the red "record" or green "Pause" icon, and if I leave the tape out, I get a red "no tape" icon.