video capture from camcorder via usb in msp 6.5

[hase23]

hallo* I am trying to capture dv-video from a mini-dv camcorder via usb. - but i don't find a way to get it working.

i am using "video capture" under msp 6.5 (director's cut version).

it is possible to control the camera-functions (stop-play-wind-etc) with the program but i don't get a picture on the preview screen and can't find the camera in the recording settings either.

are there any possibilities?

thanks and greetings
joern*

[GeorgeW]

which camcorder make and model do you have? Are there any other connections from camcorder to computer (other than USB)?

Also, is that a USB 1.1 or USB 2.0 port on your computer? And are you connected directly to a USB port on the computer (and not a USB hub device)?

[hase23]

The camcorder is a "Panasonic NV-GS250".

There is also the possibility to connect the camera through an AV-cable (composite-video and left/right-audio > 3 cinch-connectors into pc). Using this together with the USB-connection and selecting "composite" as video-source, I actually get a picture. (But not the right audio signal...).
But using this I cannot capture DV-video directly, it seems to deal with the video-signal as if it comes from an analog source.

It is a USB 2.0 port located directly on the frontside of the pc. No hubs.

thanks for answering*

[hase23]

The camcorder is a "Panasonic NV-GS250".

There is also the possibility to connect the camera through an AV-cable (composite-video and left/right-audio > 3 cinch-connectors into pc). Using this together with the USB-connection and selecting "composite" as video-source, I actually get a picture. (But not the right audio signal...).
But using this I cannot capture DV-video directly, it seems to deal with the video-signal as if it comes from an analog source.

It is a USB 2.0 port located directly on the frontside of the pc. No hubs.

thanks for answering*

[GeorgeW]

dv capture via USB 2.0 might require you to use the supplied software that came with your camcorder. Did you get anything like MotionDV STUDIO 5.3 LE in your camcorder box?

If you have a firewire cable, and a firewire port on your computer, that would probably work as well (as that has been the norm for transferring dv video -- until recently with these camcorders that can do it via USB 2.0).

Try the MotionDV Studio software to see if it will work properly...

[hase23]

oh .. nice quick answer, thank you a lot!

yes, there came that "MotionDV STUDIO"-software together with the camera and with that transferring the video into the computer in dv-format works well.

so it seems, i have to do it that way.. i would have liked more to do it with the msp-capture-software and get rid of the MotionDV STUDIO, wich is not at all comparable to msp when it comes to editing the video..

2 questions left:
what did you mean with using a fire-wire-cable? there is no "firewire-plug" in the camera.. is it possible to plug it into the same plug as the usb-cable?

and: do you know, whether usb-support is better with a newer version of media-studio-pro?

thank you again & best greetings

joern
(from germany.. that in case you wonder about my english ... from where do you write?)
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[GeorgeW]

I understand that your camcorder does have a firewire port as well as a USB port -- did you check your manual? It's probably a 4-pin port -- so it won't look like a 6-pin port you might see on a computer.

Once you capture the dv .avi videos, you can use MSP to edit it just as if MSP did the capture.

DV transfer via USB is relatively new, so perhaps Panasonic added some unique code to allow your bundled software to do that type of transfer.

I'm not sure if MSP7 will allow for it because I have never had a camcorder that had this feature. Until now, I had only heard that this type of transfer was possible, and never actually heard of someone really doing it -- I am assuming you can actually transfer DV .avi's via USB as long as you are using the bundled software?

[Devil]

what did you mean with using a fire-wire-cable? there is no "firewire-plug" in the camera.. is it possible to plug it into the same plug as the usb-cable?

http://www.panasonic.co.uk/camcorders/n ... /index.htm

This site clearly states an IEEE-1394 i/o aka Firewire (the latter is a registered trade mark of Apple). I recommend you use that to copy the DV stream to your 'puter. More reliable and faster. It is not the same plug as USB.

[hase23]

thank you all for your helpfull replies!

yes, the bundled software does the job of capturing and msp6.5 opens the .avi files generated by that well for editing ... i can live with that ...

no, the camera i got here, has really no IEEE-1394 i/o ... the model on the referred page is an nvgs250B, which has IEEE-1394 i/o, but NO usb (it is a british website) ... the camera i deal with here has the model name nvgs250EG and seem to have the usb instead of IEEE-1394 i/o .. maybe the models vary slightly from country to country? anyway, it is as it is ..

have a nice day*

joern
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[hase23]

ooops ... i think i have to apologize me ... on the german product-site for the ...EG-model is stated, that there should be a firewire i/o.
( http://www.produkte.panasonic.de/product/product.asp?sStr=4@-@10@21@120@@@@@@NV-GS250EG-S@Mini-DV%7CCamcorder@&altMod=N&upper=&prop= ).. i will go searching for it ...
god hint!

[Devil]

I'd be really surprised if there were no IEEE-1394 I/O as this is the standard for DV video. USB would really be for stills but they may have also implemented it for video, as well. The problem with USB is that DV video has a bitrate of about 3.6 Mb/s + bitchecks and handshakes. If that's the only thing connected to a USB2 port, it would not be a problem, but if you have a mouse, printer, scanner, external drive, modem or goodness knows what else also connected to USB ports, they all have to do time sharing. Even on the much faster IEEE-1394 ports, it is hairy to, for example, bring in a DV stream to save it on an external IEEE-1394 hard disk.

[hase23]

thank you devil for the details about ieee-1394..
i at least found the plug for this: beneath the lcd-display.. the only thing: i have to get an extra cable for that (which seems to cost about 35 euros & there seem to be different models with 4 or 6 pins & somebody told me, a friend of him destroyed his camcorder by using the wrong one..smoke came out of his camera.. uhhh).. because: panasonic put only an usb-cable ( + av-cale) into the camera-box.. also in the manual they describe the usb-connection as standard-procedure to transfer the video-data to the pc.. the ieee-1394 is referred to as a possibility to connect the camcorder to another "digital video device" to "transfer pictures in high quality in digital format".. i wonder whether this includes a pc-capture program.. strange.. but thank you a lot for the hint about the usb-connection not to use parallel with other usb-devices..
have a good time ...
joern
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