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Import Mini DV Tapes To A Modern Windows PC?

FN-GM

By FN-GM
in AV and Multimedia Related

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FN-GM

FN-GM

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Hello,

 

I have upgraded my uncles 10 year old PC to a new all in one. He has an old camcorder than uses Mini DV tapes (picture attached). He used to do this via the camcorder through a Firewire connection. This isn't an option anymore as his new PC doesn't have firewire.

 

Is there a way to capture these tapes via a modern connection such as USB please? I have looked online and found various suggestions but I thought I would ask people I trust before sending the cash. It doesn't necessarily have to be via the original cam corder.

 

Thanks

IMG_20190407_133429.jpg

Norphy

Norphy

Posted
Posted

Does the PC have a thunderbolt port or do you have one that does?

 

A Thunderbolt to FireWire connector might work. Or a PCIe FireWire card?

FN-GM

FN-GM

Posted
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Does the PC have a thunderbolt port or do you have one that does?

 

A Thunderbolt to FireWire connector might work. Or a PCIe FireWire card?

 

It has USB C not sure about thunderbolt - I will check. We can't use PCIe cards as its an all in one.

 

Thanks

FN-GM

FN-GM

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Loads of reviews on Amazon saying they don't work or only work with FireWire hard drives and not other devices. That's why I am asking here for clarification and possibly personal experience.
Arthur

Arthur

Posted
Posted (edited)
What about a firewire to usb adapter?

A waste of money unfortunately...

 

www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B077D4WCQB

www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01FUIB6CC

 

The reason those adapters won't work...

 

www.reddit.com/r/VideoEditing/comments/98n2bz/import_old_8mm_dv_camera_tapes_into_windows_10/

 

Firewire 400 (AKA IEEE-1394a) has either a 4-pin or a 6-pin connector. In either situation, the four pins are used for transmission of data, the remaining two pins are just for supplying electricity. All those "Firewire ⇒ USB" adapters do is just connect the four Firewire data pins to the four pins used for USB, so there's no actual "translation" or anything going on.

 

Firewire and USB are inherently different at a very low level, and because of that you can never adapt Firewire to work over USB. USB devices can only speak when spoken to (hence why you might hear about "polling rates" for mice and game controllers), whereas Firewire devices can function all on their own and can speak to whatever device in the chain it's connected to whenever the hell it damn well pleases. Firewire also uses Direct Memory Access, which allows it to pull and dump data directly into system RAM without any involvement from the CPU or the OS at all, which is something USB is fundamentally incapable of doing.

 

I have upgraded my uncles 10 year old PC to a new all in one.

Do you still have the old PC around? If so, could you use that to transfer the video.

 

Importing the Mini DV tapes via Firewire will give you the best quality since the capture process is essentially copying the video file straight off of the tape. A program like WinDV is all you need to do the job.

Edited by Arthur
Steve21

Steve21

Posted
Posted

If it’s an old style camcorder does it have a standard video out that could be Plugged straight into tv etc? If so could use an adapter on that obviously not as good as straight FireWire but might be an option if it’s got one

 

Steve

Arthur

Arthur

Posted
Posted (edited)
You don't say if the PC is a Desktop or Laptop PC - if it's a Desktop PC could you not buy a firewire card for it?

I have upgraded my uncles 10 year old PC to a new all in one.

Definitely a desktop, but it doesn't have a spare PCIe slot for a card. :)

Edited by Arthur

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