View Profile
View Forum Posts
Private Message
Hi everyone,
I currently have a Mac and am trying to capture home videos from a Digital 8 camcorder. The problem I have is that it appears all Mac related softwares like FCP/QT, etc drop frames and give me a huge headache. Therefore, I am making the switch to a PC using Windows 7. I thought of going to best buy or walmart and just purchasing the cheapest desktop tower I can find for around 100-200 dollars. However, I was wondering if a lower end processor and/or RAM would hurt the video capture process. The kind of machine I have in mind is like:
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Dell-Refurbished-Optiplex-360-Mini-Tower-Desktop-PC-with-Int...or-No/29701029
So my question is, are even the lousy low performance computers today up to the task of a job of capturing video from a camcorder via firewire? Is the graphics card in the computer something I need to worry about too? Thanks!
+ Reply to Thread
Results 1 to 8 of 8
-
Last edited by videoconverter11; 16th Jan 2015 at 09:25.
-
Capturing from a DV camcorder via Firewire is not really "capturing", it's just copying the exact same bits stored on the tape to your hard disk drive, so the CPU is hardly doing anything at all during the process (and neither the GPU). You won't find a computer that is too slow to copy the data it is given through Firewire.
-
Something like a 1 GHz Pentium 3.What it the minimum processor speed needed to capture DV from a camcorder?
-
Are you capturing through the Firewire port? Start by getting a new cable (maybe shorter). What are the specs of your Mac?
-
Doesn't this thread belong in the Mac forum? Many Mac users might not see this one.
- My sister Ann's brother -
Originally Posted by videoconverter11
Keep in mind that the PC in your link does not appear to have a firewire port listed as an existing hardware, which means that an additional PCI firewire card would need to be added. I know that is not what you had asked about but many low-end units on the PC side do not include the firewire port as standard. Just an FYI.
It would appear that the rest of the specs would be adequate to capture. It seems a shame that would be the avenue you have to take, however. Surely there are some Mac users here that can help with the solving of the problem without having to resort to buying a PC just to capture DV from the camcorder. -
As long as the PC is lean (aka not overburdened by the OS, running apps/services/other processes, virus/malware), your drivers are not in conflict, and the HDD subsystem is fast enough for at least ~36Mbps continuous writes minimum, even the most crude of current or recent PCs with the most boring of video cards should be able to capture via Firewire.
The problem with most Macs is:
1. Apple had the arrogant shortsightedness to discontinue all Firewire options on all newer Macs
2. Apple had the arrogant shortsigntedness to deprecate supporting DV capture in their A/V Foundation and in their multimedia apps
3. Apple had the arrogant shortsightedness to disallow most expansion capability
4. The few Firewire options remaining take at least 2 adapters chained together, which greatly increases the likelihood of glitches & dropouts
Scott
(this from someone who likes & uses Macs) -
Thanks for all the responses, I do feel it is a shame I either cannot adequately use my Mac or haven't found a good way yet. My Mac has 16 GB RAM, 3 Ghz i7-dual core, which cost me quite a lot as my profession is in a computation heavy field. I have tried to connect from a firewire cable to the firewire-thunderbolt adapter (bought it separately). This allows the video feed but everytime my video has tracking issues, FCP and QT interpret this as that the video has ended. Therefore, I would like to use the WinDV application in windows, which I have heard wonderful things about.
Quote
