Connect a camera

[Cazz]

Hi
At my old work I did use alot a DV tape recorder connect with firewire, I love that machine, it was so easy to just put a DV tape inside and then just capture on the computer
Unfortunately they are NOT cheap so I can't buy one and I have to use a camera to transfer to the computer


Now to my question.
What is the best and safe way to connect my firewire. Do I have to have both the computer and the camrecorder off before I connect then or just the camrecorder?

I have hear some people have destroy the firewire on the camera and I do NOT want that to happend.

[minidv2dvd]

the 4 pin cables used by cameras don't have the power lines like inside a 6 pin to 6 pin. you can't "fry" a firewire port in a cam. the most common problem is breaking the connector off inside the cam by wiggling the cable or dropping the cam with the cable in.

[Cazz]

ohh ok well that is good to know.

I dont know why they tell that that the firewire port is "fry" on the camera when they did a mistake

[edDV]

ohh ok well that is good to know.

I dont know why they tell that that the firewire port is "fry" on the camera when they did a mistake

Other "fry" senarios are static electricity discharge in dry climates or mismatched power grounds causing ac to flow through shields. Best to turn the camera off when connecting and ground yourself if you are throwing sparks.

[minidv2dvd]

eddv - a bad ground would kill the computer long before it could even boot. camera power supplies don't even have a ground wire so there can't be any mismatch?

static won't cause a "fry", there isn't any way to hold a metal part of a 4 pin firewire cable while inserting it.

"fried" cams are a misnomer. broken connectors happen.

[edDV]

I was thinking the mismatched ground would come to the camcorder on the shield of a video connection. The other ground would be the IEEE-1394 shield.

[minidv2dvd]

if the computer ground was somehow connected to the hot ac lead the computer would go up in smoke and the circuit breaker would trip. it couldn't turn on without a complete meltdown.

[edDV]

Cazz shouldn't be too concerned.