Video Capture with 875P onboard Firewire?

[Blackbox]

This may be a dumb question.

Should I be able to capture video through the onboard firewire ports on my 875P motherboard?

Or are these ports for firewire drives only?

Do I need to get a PCI capture card?

 

[Arcanedeath]

you don't need a deticated capture card to get DV from a camera, any firewire port and the usual software will do, Hardware capture cards most likely have more features or better performance than just using software and a firewire port but if you have a fairly high end system you should be fine w/ just software unless your trying to do something heavy duty

 

[Blackbox]

The firewire ports won't see my camera (Canon XL1).

I have tried Microsoft Moviemaker 2, Ulead Videostudio and Premiere 6.0.

OS is XP with SP1a.

Any advice appreciated.

 

[bacillus]

are you using the correct 4 pin to 6 pin firewire cable?

 

[Blackbox]

I'm using a Belkin 6 pin to 4 pin cable.

When I plug the camera into the PC the words "DV IN" begins flashing in the viewfinder.

Any idea what this means?

 

[Kartajan]

good news: your PC is doing what it is supposed to.

bad news: your camera has issues. My Sony used to do capture just fine with movie maker. then my wife dropped it. now whenever I hook into my PC, all I get is the camera saying"DV-IN", but no workie workie on pulling video from the camera. The only thing that I can think of that has a shot of fixing your issue is if you need a driver for your camera from the manufacturer(you shouldn't, XP should have already), or your camera is not set up in it's own menu/ configuration (that shouldn't be it, it should all go automatically.)

i.e.: I think the firewire/1394 on your camera is broken/ defective.

** on mine, I plugged in my friend's camera to my system, same camera as mine, and all was good- thus verifiying my diagnosis. **



edit: DV IN says that you can send video IN to the camera still... Just not out..

 

[Blackbox]

I've tried another firewire cable with no luck.

I've tried another brand of DV camera which wasn't recognised either.

I borrowed a capture card and it worked with my camera.

Is this a driver issue?

Or maybe my firewire interface is broken.

Is there an easy way to check the operation of my firewire ports?

 

[Kartajan]

easiest way to verify:

1. you tried another camera, didn't work.- then you used a card and it did. Assuming that you used the same cable you have already verified the fault to be in your 1394 implementation. (assuming 1394a support from motherboard) you could re check drivers for your 1394 support (usually TI or VIA, the VIA ones are good from XP install- not sure on TI). Barring success- you can get a $50 1394a card, and be good.

sorry about the assumption of a camera fault- it is just so much more likely due to the portability of the camera vice the PC.

another way to check your firewire is with another firewire device- HDD/ etc.

 

[Blackbox]

Problem Solved.

Faulty motherboard.