Using Firewire to Capture Video to Your Computer

By Gary Hendricks
Posted Saturday, November 27, 2004

Learn how to use a Firewire card to capture video from a digital video camera to your computer. To get video into your computer using a direct-firewire connection, you need the following items:

1. Digital Video Camera The camera is the method of getting a staged reality saved to tape. You can get the a digital video tape's contents transferred to your computer by making sure is has a Firewire port (aka 1394, iLink, or DV port). If you have an analog camera, you need to follow a couple more steps that will not be discussed in this article (but if you are interested, check out Dazzle Hollywood DV-Bridge). More about Digital Video Camera's here.

2. Firewire Cable This is how the data actually gets sent from your camera to your computer. Some new models include a wireless capability for transferring data, but the bandwidth is slow to consider as a viable option right now. You need a cable. The longer the cable, the more you will pay for this cable (typically about 40 dollars). Most Firewire cards will include a cable!

3. Firewire Card in Your Computer Firewire cards are the mechanism by which you can connect your camcorder to your computer. A firewire cable runs from your camera's DV port to your computer's DV input. Firewire runs at a higher speed than a USB cable and has a smaller interface than SCSI, making it an ideal transport for moving digital video to your computer. That's a quick definition of Firewire. Here's more about selecting a Firewire card. Once you've got a camera, firewire card, and a cable, you are ready to get video into your computer. In order to capture video captures that will be used in the editing process, you can use:

1. Video Editing Software Most video editing software has a mechanism by which you can control your DV device and capture video through the firewire cable. The easiest way to find out if your video editing software will function as a capturing mechanism, be sure to use the Help pages included with the software - search for "capture." Some software will allow you to pull in proxy files, which are low-resolution depictions of the larger video files. Some software will for batch capture, which will allow you to mark the entire video tape with areas you want to capture and the software will control the camera (fast-forwarding, rewinding, and recording) for you. This is a nice feature which saves a lot of time. Learn more about video editing software in this article.

2. Software Included with Firewire Card Higher-end (non-OHCI) Firewire cards will sometimes include their own software for controlling the camera. In general, this software is easier to use and more feature-packed than using option 1 (editing software). If neither your firewire card nor your video editing software has no mechanism for controlling your camera to be able to record your video clips... then it might be TIME FOR AN UPGRADE!

About the Author
Gary Hendricks is the editor of Desktop-Video-Guide.com, a hobby site providing tips and tricks on how to shoot, capture and edit digital videos.