USB 2.0 vs firewire video capture

[tatester]

I'm interested in capturing video from an analogue camcorder, I had a USB capture cable which used to drop loads of frames and I was wondering if USB 2 would be more effective or if it's worth getting a digital camcorder and using firewire. Any advice, thoughts or recommendations will be appreciated.

[SingSing]

Try a DVD recorder, never heard any of them drop frame. They are cheaper and easier to use too.

[ofbarea]

Agree with the DVD recorder post.

But you should obtain better results with an USB2 analog capture cable.

Also a digital8 or DV cam with pass-through will allow capture video through firewire. But after you capture you will still need an additional step to edit and render the final MPEG2 or AVI file.

[guns1inger]

With the exception of some of the newer cameras, USB is useful only for capturing low res, low bitrate video from cameras. You will probably find that your camera only has a USB 1 port, so you will still only get USB 1 speeds. Some of the newer cameras can transfer full framerate, full res video over USB 2, however most still use firewire. If you have a digital8 or DV camera with firewire, use that to transfer.

[SingSing]

A digital8 or DV cam with pass-through will allow capture video through firewire. But after you capture you will still need an additional step to edit and render the final MPEG2 or AVI file.

The digital camcorder pass thru produced a much larger miniDV file, that need to encode to DVD files. DVD recorder produces a DVD directly.

[FulciLives]

If you want a USB 2.0 capture device then I would look at the Hauppauge WinTV PVR USB 2 or the ADS Instant DVD 2.0

Both work very well although I would give a slight edge in quality to the ADS Instant DVD 2.0 but this unit does not have the ability to record from TV as easily as does the Hauppauge ... also the ADS unit tends to overheat easily when using it for long periods of time. I was able to avoid the overheating issue myself by proping it up on make-shirt "legs" and putting a small 4" fan on it.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[JohnnyMalaria]

If you want to create MPEG2/DVD from your analog material, then a standalone DVD recorder is a good idea (per the previous replies).

BUT - if you want to edit your material, capturing to MPEG2/DVD is NOT a good idea. The material may look good to you when you watch it but, for anything but the most trivial editing, you will run into a lot of quality issues.

To capture your analog material onto a PC for editing - and addressing your USB 2.0 question - Firewire is the better option. The reason is that all data transfer via USB has to be controlled by the computer's CPU (i.e., the whole transfer is software controlled). Firewire doesn't need the CPU to intervene and the data can be transfered while the CPU pays attention to something else. Furthermore, there's a lot more software out there and the technology has matured a lot more as far as video transfer goes.

If you have a DV camcorder with "pass through", capturing via Firewire will be your least troublesome option. If you have a DV camcorder without "pass through", you can record onto tape then playback the tape while transfering to the computer (not exactly ideal but workable).


Oops - nearly forgot...you are in Blighty so you have to also deal with the issue of crippled camcorders! Nearly all camcorders sold in the EU cannot record from external sources - blame the tariffs imposed by Brussels....so do you have a digital camcorder and, if so, what make?

[tatester]

do you have a digital camcorder and, if so, what make?

Sadly I don't have a digital camcorder, I may consider buying one if firewire transfer is the better capturing option, which seems to be the consensus. They are far better quality and these days cheaper than my old analogue one.

Cheers to all for the posts they have been a help

[FulciLives]

do you have a digital camcorder and, if so, what make?

Sadly I don't have a digital camcorder, I may consider buying one if firewire transfer is the better capturing option, which seems to be the consensus. They are far better quality and these days cheaper than my old analogue one.

Cheers to all for the posts they have been a help

I have noticed that a lot of the new "budget priced" digital camcorders do not feature analog-to-digital passthrough conversion.

In short that means that the camcorder has A/V inputs and can convert whatever analog video you connect to it into a digital file on your computer.

So make sure you buy a digital camcorder (be it miniDV or Digital8) that has the "analog to digital passthrough" feature.

Oops - nearly forgot...you are in Blighty so you have to also deal with the issue of crippled camcorders! Nearly all camcorders sold in the EU cannot record from external sources - blame the tariffs imposed by Brussels....so do you have a digital camcorder and, if so, what make?

I have heard other people complain about this ... that when the "analog to digital passthrough" is a feature the camcorder is capable of ... that it is somehow "deactivated" on many camcorders sold in various parts of Europe (or is it just the UK?) ... that's a real shame!

- John "FulciLives" Coleman