Newb questions - re. HD&MiniDV Camcorders & Capture

[The Big Cheese]

Hi guys

I've got what are probably very basic questions but I'm having a hard time finding out proper answers to them so I bow down to your collective knowledge

1. HD footage that has been captured on MiniDV tape, can that be transferred onto a computer HDD just using a normal MiniDV camcorder or does it have to support HDV? (I might be getting things a bit confused there!)


2. Is standard firewire 400 fast enough to transfer 1080i footage from a camcorder or does it need to be firewire 800?


3. Is HD footage from all the major manufacturers the same or are they different from company to company (am I right in thinking that I am asking if they are encoded with the same 'codec'?)
For example, if I had a Canon HV30, would I be able to put in a HD MiniDV tape from the equivilant Sony HD MiniDV camcorder and play back the footage?


4. If the answer to question three is 'no' does that mean I would have to buy a camcorder from each of the manufacturers to be able to view footage from each make of HD camcorder that takes tapes?


5. I have Adobe Premiere Pro CS3 (including Encore CS3), will that be able to read, edit and save to Blu-Ray disc each of recordings from different manufacturers camcorders?


Thank you very much in advance! As you can see I'm a bit confused with it all so any advice and pointing in the right direction would be most appreciated!!!

*Edit* - renamed the thread title as I realised it doesn't help give anyone reading what the thread is about - duh (sorry).

[minidv2dvd]

1) you need a HDV cam

2) firewire 400 is fine, HDV is the same bitrate as MiniDV

3) HDV is a standard like MiniDV

4) supposedly not.

5) iirc yes. cs4 for sure.