How do I capture stuff from my camcorder using VIVO

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

I have a miniDV camcorder and sorry I live in the old age. I think DVD and HDD camcorders are sh!t in quality. I don't believe in hooking up USB and Firewire to my computer for a camcorder.

That's probably because Ic ome from the age of Digital 8/Hi-8 camcorders where I would hook it up to the video in port of my ATI All In Wonder card and turn on the TV player and switch it to composite input and I would capture that way..

Now I have a eVGA 7800GT w/ VIVO and all I know is I should install NV's WDM drivers but then what? Software?

 

[RanDum72]

You can run video/audio out (whether RCA video out or s-video, s-video being better) into the video/audio in of your VIVO card. But the best is if you have a firewire card or connection in your PC. Firewire from miniDV directly to PC is the way to go.

I don't understand why you don't like hooking up firewire or USB from your miniDV to PC. Its the easiest way, just one cable and you usually don't have to mess around with drivers. Plus the video/audio quality will be miles better.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Originally posted by: RanDum72
You can run video/audio out (whether RCA video out or s-video, s-video being better) into the video/audio in of your VIVO card. But the best is if you have a firewire card or connection in your PC. Firewire from miniDV directly to PC is the way to go.

I don't understand why you don't like hooking up firewire or USB from your miniDV to PC. Its the easiest way, just one cable and you usually don't have to mess around with drivers. Plus the video/audio quality will be miles better.

Oh. I've never worked with miniDV before until now. I used to use hi-8 and digital-8. So you're saying quality will be better using Firewire/USB than hooking it up with RCA cables/s-video?

 

[pkme2]

Using a firewire to input my digital video from my Sony recorder/playback GVD-300 is a snap.
Downloading from camcorder is OK by firewire too. If doing it ocassionally, no problem and the results are the best way to go.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Originally posted by: pkme2
Using a firewire to input my digital video from my Sony recorder/playback GVD-300 is a snap.
Downloading from camcorder is OK by firewire too. If doing it ocassionally, no problem and the results are the best way to go.

No doubt its a snap. Just wondering about quality. I don't mind using s-video/composite cables, but if Firewire is better, I'd like to take the route with better video quality.

 

[gsellis]

Yes, it is about twice the resolution. VIVO tends towards VHS quality. DV-AVI captures losslessly (well almost, but it is a smidge). But be forewarned. DV-AVI is 13GB/hr. But you will appreciate the difference.

 

[ForumMaster]

if it's a miniDV camera, meaning it's digital, converting to analog and back will loose serious quality. connect it with a USB cable and get the file itself.

 

[gsellis]

Originally posted by: ForumMaster
if it's a miniDV camera, meaning it's digital, converting to analog and back will loose serious quality. connect it with a USB cable and get the file itself.

While USB works in some cases, Firewire is much more reliable. If tape, it is streaming which is where firewire excels.

PS - I do not like HDD cameras. Tape is a great archive and you have to figure out how to archive any HDD stuff. Quality tapes are available at $3.50-$5 each in lots of 10 or more from places like BHPhotoVideo. I use Panny MQ series, but be very careful past the 56min mark about issues (drop outs near the end). I used to use Fuji and would have a drop out (lose of audio on a single frame) about every 4th tape in the middle. I was recording live musical performances, so a dropout is bad.

 

[Paperdoc]

If you go Firewire connections, you get to simply copy (very accurately) the digital data on your miniDV (or digital tape) media directly to a digital file on your HD. That's much better than using RCA Composite Video to move the stuff. Doing the latter means your camera renders the digital data to a analogue video signal at reduced resolution so your video card can capture it and re-convert it back to digital data.
I saw another thread in which a guy ended up comparing this type of data transfer done by USB2 and Firewire. He found the firewire transfer was easier and yielded better quality files on his HD. Apparently Firewire is specifically set up for continuous live data streaming, whereas USB allows for interrruptions in data flow to manage the multi-user bus, resulting sometimes in interupted data streams and losses. Besides, many firewire systems allow you software control over the external device (camera in this case) involved in the data transfer.

 

[ViviTheMage]

Originally posted by: DLeRium

Originally posted by: RanDum72
You can run video/audio out (whether RCA video out or s-video, s-video being better) into the video/audio in of your VIVO card. But the best is if you have a firewire card or connection in your PC. Firewire from miniDV directly to PC is the way to go.

I don't understand why you don't like hooking up firewire or USB from your miniDV to PC. Its the easiest way, just one cable and you usually don't have to mess around with drivers. Plus the video/audio quality will be miles better.

Oh. I've never worked with miniDV before until now. I used to use hi-8 and digital-8. So you're saying quality will be better using Firewire/USB than hooking it up with RCA cables/s-video?

I can second that.