Is firewire needed for a DV camcorder

[scott_w]

I am getting ready to buy the Panasonic DMR-E75VS DVD-R/VCR combo unit and I noticed it does not have a firewire input. I have a new Sony DV Handycam and want to use that to hook up to the Panasonic but can't I just use the Svideo in instead of the firewire. What will I be loosing by doing this??

Thanks,
Scott

[bugster]

can't I just use the Svideo in instead of the firewire. What will I be loosing by doing this??

Thanks,
Scott

Yes you can. What you will lose is a small amount of quality as the cam has to do a Digital to analog conversion and the recorder then has to do an Analog to Digital conversion. This will introduce some quality loss whereas with a firewire connection, the video data stays in the digital domain at all times and is simply re-encoded to mepg from DV. Just how much quality is lost is difficult to say but the chances are you will still be happy with the results.

[Treebeard]

Edit:

read the question wrong. ignore me

[tag]

I agree. Since you have a miniDV camcorder with firewire, go for a standalone DVDR with firewire.

There are arguments on both sides of this issue, though. You've already read one of them (posted by bugster). The other one goes something like, 'since firewire receives no pre-processing from the recorder, analog produces a better result'. The latter has been argued, ad nauseum I might add, on the likes of the AVS forum (you'll have to draw your own conclusions from that one).

My argument has always been that getting a machine with firewire is a no-lose proposition. You have a choice; you can use firewire OR analog. If it turns out firewire transfers look better to you, then go with that, if not, you're always free to use analog.

So, to answer your specific question, "what you lose" with a machine without firewire (like that Panny) is the CHOICE whether or not to use firewire. Obviously, you simply won't have one; you're stuck with analog, for better or worse.