PlanetZ forums - scopeusers.com

Hello,

I need to sync a video camera that receives firewire, I'm not an expert at all in that field, so I need some help...

For a work I need to do I would get rid of the quicktime format, both because my current machine has only one disk for streaming data and the other one with system runs virtual memory too, but mainly because the producer prefers to lend me a firewire camera rather than converting all the takes to .mov...

I currently have 3 CW cards in a Tusl2c, that serves me so well that I never needed to upgrade...but...

I would need a firewire card to put in it, I need it only to sync the camera, not much data, but I wouldn't find myself with serious pci problems, as I do everything on Scope....

So, If you have any suggestions for the best solutions, my ears are open!

Thanks in advance!

while I'm not a real expert on this, I remember someone screwing a complete Windows installation by exactly what you're about to do - that was sometime back, though
At least the FW chipset thing didn't match the camera's or the OS or whatever - total mess.

Unless someone knows better, I'd suggest to leave your solid installation 'as is' and instead lend a machine with FW on board and proper driver support.
Then transfer the stuff via LAN connection or externa disk.

What does this 'only sync the camera' mean ?
Afaik picture and sound on these cams are a digital stream and the frame decoding is done later by the processing software - or do you just want to grab the analog sound ?

cheers, Tom

On 2004-06-15 17:55, astroman wrote:
What does this 'only sync the camera' mean ?
Afaik picture and sound on these cams are a digital stream and the frame decoding is done later by the processing software - or do you just want to grab the analog sound ?

cheers, Tom

Thanks Tom

I would like only to control Vcam motion, while monitoring it's outputon throug tv set directly connected to it, it should be possible....or not?

with Movie Maker you can do that. But that is somehow limited to wmv format. (At least it was the only format to deliver a result to name "good") For more formats Pinnacle Studio is probably best. Is sometimes bundled with DVD-writers. And, yes, you can control the camera from within the software. I also recommend not to use your DAW for that. These older boards, like CUSL/TUSL were not really "invented" for USB2, Firewire&Co.

i bought a cheap pinnacle package called DV Clip to go with our mini dv.

This consists of a generic firewire card and simple editing software, and never a problem with cusl2-c,scope & pulsar 1 boards, p3 800 and 98se.

On 2004-06-15 19:09, alfonso wrote:
... I would like only to control Vcam motion, while monitoring it's outputon throug tv set directly connected to it...

then you'd 'only' need the control plug of the camera, a kind of serial connection to the computer.
Problem would be that in the days of digicams that stuff is almost impossible to find and sometimes even a connector may cost more than the package Wayne aquired

The Miro (or Pinnacle) Studio 400 is useful for 'analog' type editing, but I mention it only for completeness - and in case someone with an outdated videocam stumbles across this thread

There's a bunch of 'digital' packages by Pinnacle (like Wayne's) all featuring a similiar software, but various connection modes - I've recently seen that army of boxes in supermarket...

All (very) cheap solutions transfer the digtal film from the camera to the HD and use a software codec for editing - a fast cpu and mobo required !

The home mid-price stuff around 150 Euro has (some) hardware support by special chips for encoding/decoding of the digital stream.
Price and content like software plugins may vary, but you wont find high data rates = top quality in this range.

The (at least) semi-pro gear starts from about 400 Euro with full hardware support for high data rates, better software etc.

Unfortunately it's all called digital video and without background knowledge it's close to impossible to guess the content of a package - but you CAN rely on the (rough) numbers of the classification above.
My dad's a hobby filmer and so I (am condemned to)check this from time to time...

That's a bit unspecific to your original question - and in fact I don't even know if the camera's analog output is active during control by software.
It may depend on both camera model and software - at least you should ask before aquiring a certain piece of gear - and don't forget the cpu requirements on the packages.

cheers, Tom

Thanks a lot!

I'll check.