1394 vs. ATI All-In-Wonder 9700 Pro

[pbohart]

I am a newbie (and very time strapped) videophile looking for opinions on which video capture solution would provide higher quality and potentially fewer dropped frames:

1. 1394 PCI card direct to DV camera
2. ATI All-In-Wonder Pro 9700 direct to camera

Here are my computer specs:
P4 2.53 Ghz CPU
640 MB RDRAM
ATA 100 HDD

Thanks!

[Craig Tucker]

Well the 1394 firewire card you would use to transfer DV stream from your DV camcorder to your hard drive, and the ATI AIW you would use to capture from an analogue source such as a TV broadcast or an analogue tape.

From what you have written it would appear that you want to transfer video from your DV camcorder, if this is the case then get a firewire card. It is far cheaper (only around £15-£20 for a card), and is the best way to accomplish what you want to do.

[pbohart]

Thanks Craig,

You are correct - I have a DV camera and I want to get the video off of the camera and onto my HDD for editing, compression, burining to DVD.

I have a 1394 card and a ATI AIWP 9700. I have been using the 1394 card, but I have been getting dropped frames. I was wondering if the ATI card might provide an advantage??

I will stick to the 1394 card.

PS - is there a Software package that is better than the pack at video capture from a DV camera? What is your recommendation on how to get DV from a DV camera to the HDD with the fewest dropped frames?

Thanks,

pbohart!

[lechtin]

Try DVIO (in the tools section) or scenalyzer (a freeware version is still available from their site - www.scenalyzer.com)

[Craig Tucker]

I agree if you are not after any video editing, transitions, effects etc and just want simple DV transfer try DVIO. With your system you should be able to transfer DV without dropping any frames, make sure you have Direct Memory Access (DMA) turned on for your hard drive.

[pbohart]

How about if you want to edit?

I have been using Windows Movie Maker 2 (dont laugh) to do the editing.

Problem is - the frames were dropped when I went from the camera to my HDD using Arcsoft Showbiz as the capture SW over 1394.

I have heard a lot of people on this board talk about using VirtualDUb iwth HuffyUV.

Is this what you would recommend? Does the Capture SW really matter?

[Craig Tucker]

Virtualdub is for analogue capture not DV transfer. If you want to do editing and some effects try ulead video studio.

[lechtin]

Actually, I used Movie Maker to capture with automatic scene detection and edit with Premiere 6.0 (it DID NOT have automatic scene detection). Once your files are capture, you can do whatever you want , including using them in another editing software.

[JimJohnD]

I have been using WinDV from the tools section (FREEWare) with great results. It even splits the transfer into segments based on timecode from the tape.

https://www.videohelp.com/tools?tool=285#comments

http://windv.mourek.cz/

I use the 1394 port on my ATI 8500DV video card. I can just video, transfer and off to editing without having to split up my source material first, what a timesaver!

Great program for free, heck great program if you had to pay for it.

[dike]

try ulead video studio7 for transfering dv to avi into your hdd (no dropped frames). then try pinnacle studio dv for editing (easy to use).

[Sparkplus]

I compared my 8500dv and dedicated firewire card and the last has never given me any problem capturing or exporting using camera passthru feature. 8500 gets me grayed frames at times.

I think that ATI board with that many features can not compete with a dedicated firewire card unless it is junk.

You might have to add a 2nd HDD to avoid dropped frames it has done wonders for me.

If someone knows how to solve this ATI 8500DV firewire issue I will aprecciate your comments.