Video recorder drivers

[Rollason]

I have a Panasonic NV-MX500b camcorder for which I have lost the driver CD. Having changed my computer I now find myself unable to download video. I have tried Panasonic's web site and they are unable to help saying that the camcorder is obsolete. I have tried various web sites which I have not found helpful. Can you help? Roy.

[Ken Berry]

By camera standards, your Panasonic is indeed a dinosaur. And with a maximum frame size of 320 x 240 in its mpeg-4 format, I am a bit surprised that you still want to use it.

That being said, however, have you tried simply using Windows to copy the contents of the SD card to your computer, and then open VS and use Insert Media to navigate to where you have stored the video and try to open it that way?

[RobertOZ]

Ken, don't want to butt in here, but surely that camera is Mini-DV and only require an IEEE 1394 port to transfer files from camera to PC, either direct capture from within VS or using many of the free Mini-DV capture programs available

[Ken Berry]

If you look up the camera, it says at the top "Mini DV" but is clearly not a camcorder recording the DV/AVI format. It only records in mpeg-4 with the low maximum frame size I mentioned. Moreover, no mention of a mini DV tape or a Firewire port -- only a 16 MB SD card to record to. The camera apparently dates from 2003.

See the complete specification list at https://www.cnet.com/products/panasonic ... -dv/specs/

On the other hand, your query prompted me to do a further search, and another review does mention a Firewire port. But again the only output format specified is that small frame sized mpeg-4... See http://www.backoffice.be/prod_uk/Panaso ... ptical.asp

So I guess we need Rollason to tell us whether it does indeed use a mini DV tape for recording, and if so, whether he has tried and failed to use Firewire to transfer it to his computer. If he has a Firewire port on his computer, then the problem might relate to the updated Firewire driver in recent versions of Windows, and the consequent need to roll back to a legacy Firewire driver. But we can go into that if Rollason confirms the DV tape/Firewire questions.

[asik1]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Panasonic-Mini- ... Swn-tZHbHK

[Rollason]

Thank you all for your comments. My problem is in getting my computer to recognise the camcorder. I have tried S video - usb, S video - firewire and S video using a Canopus converter. In none of these instances will the computer recognise the camcorder. The medium, as I'm sure you know, is mini cassette and I wonder if there is any piece of kit that I can use, other than a camcorder, to download these tapes. They are old family tapes and I would very much like to transfer them to DVD. I am not aware of any mini DVD download programmes but if I can't get the computer to recognise the camcorder then I'm done before I start. Surely, this is the critical bit. There is a DV outlet on this camcorder but that doesn't seem to work either. I haven't tried the USB mini and perhaps I should give that a try. It all seems to come down to having a USB driver and that I don't have. I hope that this helps. Roy

[BrianCee]

Using the DV outlet is the only real way to go - BUT - there is a problem there if you do not have a 6 pin DV (IEEE1394 / i-ink / firewire) socket on your new computer

so - do you have a firewire port on your new computer

[lata]

Hi Roy

Has the capture process worked in the past or never worked.?
Are you still running Windows 7?

View these posts regarding Legacy driver for Firewire.

http://forum.corel.com/EN/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=61392&p
http://forum.corel.com/EN/viewtopic.php ... er#p338840

These details may also help.
http://myvideoproblems.com/ProblemPages ... tureW7.htm

[Rollason]

Hi Trevor,
Yes, I do have a fire wire port but it's 4 pin and I have tried that, without success, using the S video outlet on the camcorder. I've also tried the USB edit mini port, a 4 pin horseshoe shaped socket with a cable that came with the camcorder. That didn't work either. I've never used it before as things worked OK with the S video/USB cable. 'Until I changed the computer!!!' I have to come back to the lack, I think, of a driver. Roy.

[RobertOZ]

You should not need any drivers, as a test I connected my Canon MVX330i via firewire and VS recognizes the camera and imports without issue. I have never had any of the Canon drivers installed, have always used free capture programs to import to computer

[Ken Berry]

So you have a four pin Firewire port on your camera and a 4 pin Firewire port on your computer. But do you have a 4 pin-to-4 pin Firewire cable? (Still, to me it sounds a little strange that if you have a Firewire port on your computer that it is only 4 pin...)

Anyway, if you do have such a cable, then you will need to look at those links lata/Trevor gave above to roll back your (Windows-provided) Firewire driver to a legacy one...

A number of us here also use a freeware program called WinDV which can be found at http://windv.mourek.cz/ It gives more flexibility (including the ability to assign your own name to the captured clips) than VS. But you will still need to roll back to a legacy Firewire drive....

[lata]

Hi
Earlier Brian asked if you had a FireWire port on your PC

Generally that would be a 6 pin, 4 pin on camcorder.

And are you running windows 7??

[Rollason]

Sorry for the delay in replying. I've been on holiday etc. Yes, there is firewire port on my PC. but not on the camcorder. Incidentally, I have tried using an analogue to digital (Arcsoft) adaptor but this doesn't seem to do anything for me. When I install the driver I can't locate it anywhere on my PC. I have also tried a Canopus adaptor but again, this doesn't seem to do anything. Should there be a driver for the Canopus and if so would you know from where I can download it? Thank you. Roy.

[Ken Berry]

I found the camera's manual on-line, and in the specifications given for the camera, it does not mention Firewire as such, but the "DV Input/Output Terminal" is shown to be a 4 pin IEEE1394 jack -- in other words Firewire. See https://www.manualslib.com/manual/65223 ... =52#manual

So depending on the size of the Firewire jack on your computer (normally a 6 pin but it could be 4 pin as well) you will need the relevant 4 pin to 4 or 6 pin cable to connect the camera to the computer. Panasonic never provided these as a standard accessory. But a decent video store should still stock them.

As for Canopus Firewire capture devices, my understanding is that they used the Firewire driver that came with Windows. However, our earlier comments about needing to revive the legacy Firewire driver again applies here.

If you use the USB or other connection than Firewire, you will be limited to low quality streaming video. This is where I got the low quality small frame sizes I mentioned in my much earlier post here, which RobertOZ kindly picked up.

With the correct Firewire/IEEE1394 cable connecting the camera to your computer, and with the correct 'legacy' Firewire driver, then VS should be able to see the camera and capture from it in high quality DV/AVI format.

[lata]

Hi Roy

Typical cable
https://www.cclonline.com/product/2700/ ... e/CAB3002/

The larger plug (6pin) is PC end, the smaller 4 pin for camcorder.