Lois & Clark Forums Forums General Discussion Technical Help and How To's DV Camcoder to computer to DVD

I just got a mini DV camcorder for my 23rd birthday and I was wondering how to transfer the files to DVD. I have a video capture card by Belkin, however, it doesn't have the analogue input for sound. So I was wondering if sound from my camera will make it to the DVD via the S-video connection

Ok I've got it working, my only gripe now is that I whatever I capture isn't in colour even though my camcorder is a colour and also it has no sound now can someone point me to one that will do colour as well as sound?

The best way to transfer DV video/audio to a computer is through the firewire port, aka IEEE 1394. Your camera should include a firewire output and a cable for transfer to the computer. If your computer does not currently have a firewire port (most will have one unless it's a very cheap, generic PC), you'll need to pick up a firewire card. They're not very expensive and you can pick up any generic IEEE 1394 card ($20-$40 depending on brand).

The next thing is an application that can retrieve the video. Windows already has Windows Movie Maker so you can use that as a free option. There are tons of inexpensive consumer video capture applications on the market if you can't stand Movie Maker, all for varying prices likely between $40-100. Your video camera may also have bundled an app.

The reason why you want to use firewire instead of S-video is twofold. S-video is video only and does not support audio. If your capture card doesn't have those red and white analog audio cable inputs, you're out of luck to transfer audio to your computer.

Firewire, OTOH, carries both the video and audio signal on the same cable, plus control channels so that your application can control playback/fast forward/rewind/pause on the camera. That can't happen over S-video. Press capture on your application and it'll automatically start playback on your camera. Hit stop on the app to stop capture and the camera will stop. It's pretty cool.

The second reason is picture resolution and clarity. S-video is an analog video format so any conversion to digital (for storage as a movie on your hard drive) will cost you in picture clarity. And most likely, you'll be limited to 320x240 resolution. DV resolution is 720x480, the same resolution as DVD. You'll get a better picture, plus the video does not undergo a digital-to-analog-back to-digital conversion since DV is a native digital format. No conversions are necessary.

If for some reason I misunderstood and you actually have a Macintosh, it's even easier. Just plug in your firewire cable into your Mac (they've all had firewire for a long time) and run iMovie to capture your movie. That's it.

Once you have your video on the computer, you can edit it. Once done, your app can create a DVD out of your video(s).

Thanks Roger, I just discovered that I have a firewire port on my laptop so I will return the video capture cable and get the firewire cable. I am now wondering if the firewire cable means that I will get a colour picture as opposed to black and white.

I'm surprised your camera didn't include a firewire cable. You might want to check before you go out and buy one. I've never seen a DV camera that didn't have a firewire output and didn't include a cable, but then again, I guess I haven't seen every camera. A firewire cable will have a different connector on each end. There will be a very tiny connector (4-pin) that hooks up to the camera and a larger connector (6-pin) that hooks up to your laptop.

Here's what both ends of the firewire cable looks like:



I've noticed that if a color picture shows up as black & white, it's usually because some pins in the cable aren't quite connected properly. So it's probably either a bad S-video cable or it wasn't jammed into the connector well enough. If it shows up in the camera's built-in screen as color, the video output should also be in color.

Thanks for the input, my camera only came with the analogue AV cable and not firewire. My laptop is a four pin inlet so I'll have to get four to four, but I'm guessing something is up with the software because I hooked it up to my VCR and I got colour picture on the TV. Thanks so much for the help!

My bro-in-law has a DV card for his comp. You just buy it, stick it into an open expansion slot in the desktop, and *poof* you've got a DV port! From there, you can do whatever you want.

That didn't really work well for us, though. Instead, I was out shopping at Costco and found this .

It's a VCR, DVD player, and DVD burner in one. It also plays CDs (traditional and MP3 formats). Most importantly... it's got a DV port right on the front!

Hook the camcorder up to the player, play the recording on the TV, and record it to DVD with one machine. You can even transfer stuff from DVD to VHS and back.

So... there might well be something of the sort available near you.

Paul

Thanks for all your help Paul and Roger I got it working when I did a test run. Now I can start making movies!