video capture, USB or Firewire? other nOOb questions

[KayGee]

hi, first of all, i'm a total noob, i've just started playing around with my camcorder. it's a jvc 1.33 megapixel GR-D93US and i have a few questions.

1. which is better quality-wise to transfer from DV tape to the PC, USB or firewire? is there any difference in quality at all when transferring with USB or firewire?

2. this is what the jvc website says "1/4-inch 1.33 Megapixel CCD for Superb Image Quality", so does this tell you what the resolution of the video is gonna be? cause when i transferred my video using USB, the mpg file on my PC was only 320*240 or something, so that's nowhere near 1.33 MP. so what is the difference between a 680K CCD and a 1.33 M CCD?

3. i did some sample test videos and viewed them on a TV set using RCA connectors and the picture quality was awesome, but the same video after transferring to PC via USB looks horrible and grainy and not even close to the TV picture and the window size like i mentioned above was only 320x240?

bear with me for being a total noob? thanks for any help in advance?

 

[BobDaMenkey]

Originally posted by: KayGee
hi, first of all, i'm a total noob, i've just started playing around with my camcorder. it's a jvc 1.33 megapixel GR-D93US and i have a few questions.

1. which is better quality-wise to transfer from DV tape to the PC, USB or firewire? is there any difference in quality at all when transferring with USB or firewire?

2. this is what the jvc website says "1/4-inch 1.33 Megapixel CCD for Superb Image Quality", so does this tell you what the resolution of the video is gonna be? cause when i transferred my video using USB, the mpg file on my PC was only 320*240 or something, so that's nowhere near 1.33 MP. so what is the difference between a 680K CCD and a 1.33 M CCD?

3. i did some sample test videos and viewed them on a TV set using RCA connectors and the picture quality was awesome, but the same video after transferring to PC via USB looks horrible and grainy and not even close to the TV picture and the window size like i mentioned above was only 320x240?

bear with me for being a total noob? thanks for any help in advance?

1) There is no difference in quality, or there shouldn't be at least. The only difference is transfer rate. USB is slower than Firewire, and USB 2.0 is Faster than Firewire.

2) Not entirely sure how to awnser that. There might be some sort of option to toggle the resolution to a higher one on the cam itself. My megapixel knowledge is not up to snuff.

3) TVs are going to look clearer than a computer 99% of the time, because they run at much lower resolutions. 640x480 with old school ones. The new HDTVs will do 1080xwhatever it is. Your computer (hopefully) runs at a higher resolution, thusly the image gets sreched more and looks 'crappy'.

 

[KayGee]

ok thanks bob for the help. i can't seem to find any information to answer my questions. maybe they are too generic. thanks again.

 

[rbV5]

1. There is no difference when "transfering" from usb or firewire. However, there may be a huge difference in what gets transfered over which on your camera.
For instance, my Sony DV uses firewire for DV transfers from the DV tape, while USB is used only to transfer low resolution MPEG from the memory stick (or still photos)
2. Thats likely simply the resolution of the still images recorded to a media card, has nothing to do with the resolution of the DV footage. DV resolution goes up to something like 540 lines. The MPG format of the video file shows you are not transfering DV footage.
3. My guess, your DV camera....USB=low resolution from media card. Firewire=DV transfers from the DV tape.

Read your manual

 

[KayGee]

hi rbV5, thanks for your reply. i actually looked at the settings for the capture program that came with the camcorder and there happen to be different settings for USB and firewire. with the USB option, there are no options for quality, but with the firewire option, the capture can be done as mpeg-1 with low, normal, high and highest quality settings. the only problem is the camcorder didn't come with a supplied firewire cable, so i had to order one. are there any other options to transfer the video, i do have an x800 pro vivo graphics card. thanks again for the help.

 

[rbV5]

You don't want to do an analog capture with your VIVO card, and you don't want to use MPEG either. DV is a lossless (or nearly lossless) codec, you want to use a capture software that allows you to control your camcorder and transfer the DV over from the DV tape on your DV camcorder.

Sounds to me like you're mixed up on the USB and Firewire Options, but thats just the way my camcorder is so?

 

[kini62]

Originally posted by: KayGee
hi, first of all, i'm a total noob, i've just started playing around with my camcorder. it's a jvc 1.33 megapixel GR-D93US and i have a few questions.

1. which is better quality-wise to transfer from DV tape to the PC, USB or firewire? is there any difference in quality at all when transferring with USB or firewire?

You need to use Firewire to transfer from the the tape. Almost all camcorders and all software are set up this way. Notice I said almost. In your case your camera most likely uses the USB to transfer from the memory card.

2. this is what the jvc website says "1/4-inch 1.33 Megapixel CCD for Superb Image Quality", so does this tell you what the resolution of the video is gonna be? cause when i transferred my video using USB, the mpg file on my PC was only 320*240 or something, so that's nowhere near 1.33 MP. so what is the difference between a 680K CCD and a 1.33 M CCD?

1.33mega pixels is the max resolution of your CCD. It can "in theory" capture a 1.33MP still image. All DV Camcorders (that are not HD DV) record at the same resolution. It's 720x480. The differences between camcorders are in the lense and the size of the CCD, faster/bigger is better. More light, more color etc.... So a 680K CCD would most likely (depending on speed of the lense) have less or worse low light cabability and would not be able to take as high res stills.

3. i did some sample test videos and viewed them on a TV set using RCA connectors and the picture quality was awesome, but the same video after transferring to PC via USB looks horrible and grainy and not even close to the TV picture and the window size like i mentioned above was only 320x240?

bear with me for being a total noob? thanks for any help in advance?

Again, you need to transfer via Firewire for full quality. At 720x480 DV takes about 13 gigabytes per hour. So if you file size is not this size, then the signal is being compressed or somehow else reduced in quality.[B/]