DV Video

[~YuckFou~]

I have a DV Video Cam and would like to get the stuff on DV tape on to my PC for editing. The manual I have only mentions putting stills from the cam to disc, there is no mention of recording from video. As this is an older cam, Sharp VL-PD3E, I'm not sure it can be done.
There appear to be several outputs, one marked s/video-video-audio, another marked DV, and another marked PC communication.
The first looks like a wide(15mm) but narrow(5mm) USB, the second looks like diddy usb (5mm x 4mm) And the third looks like a small headphone socket.

While in Comet last night checking out the sale I noticed a DV Video Kit, it had a card (firewire?) ad software.

My questions are what do I need/is it possible? Once the video is edited can I output through my GF3 that has TV out? Could the video also be burt to DVD to play in any DVD player?
I would prefer to just get the card cheap and trial some software if poss.

Ta muchly.

 

[bids]

I would get a PCI Firewire card for about £30, a four to six pin firewire cable (small end in your cam DV socket, big end into PCI card), and away you go.

Loads of software to try - basic is Windows XP movie maker - better would be Pinnacle software. You can get a load of DV editing stuff off front cover CD's to try too. With your cam connected, you simply play the tape, and record onto PC in whatever format/resolution you want. You will certainly be able to play it out of your GF3 TV-out, with the right S-Video cable. If you burn the video onto a CD in the right format, and the software supports it, you could play in your DVD too (I haven't tried the latter as my software only sppports up to MPEG 2, although I'm told by my bro that it works.).

 

[GDW]

Agree with above as Ive done this with film from my Hi8 camera.

Be warned though that some DVD players (not the PC ones) are media sensitive. Particularly those made by Sony.

If you have a Sony DVD player make sure you use a brand of CDRs called Vivastar, otherwise anything you burn wont be read by your player.

 

[Rubber Bullets]

Hi Yuck,

I am no expert but have been down this path this year and here is some of what I've learned.

As far as software is concerned the prime choice is Adobe Premiere, this is expensive, but you can download a trial version from the Adobe site, as well as find it on coverdiscs sometimes.

A fire wire card is the least you will need for getting the video onto your comp, the 'diddy usb' socket is the one to use.

DV needs a lot of space; a 35 min clip on my HD at the moment is taking up 7.4 GB, and editing requires at least 2 HDDs, one just for the video files. In addition these need to be reasonably fast, to support the highish data rate that DV requires.

I have never played with the TV out on my card, so I'm not sure how it works exactly, but one thing to remember is that if you are taping the output there is no sound, so a separate set of wires would need to come from your soundcard.

As for other ways to output your video the editing software will send it back to the camera. This is only useful if the camera has the facility to act as a VCR, and many don't. The thing about this is that in this country video cameras are taxed differently to VCRs, so video cameras that are also VCRs attract the higher tax. Therefore many don't do this. BUT, these are cameras that are built for a worldwide market and often you will find that these cameras have simply been modified to stop them recording, and that this mod can be reversed. This may well not be the case with yours, but it is worth finding out.

If you can tape the complete project back to your camera then this can easily be attached in turn to a normal VCR to put it on VHS tape.

DV editing is a money pit. If you really get into it then you will want to upgrade. I now have a pinnacle editing card, which has a breakout box that I connect my camera to via firewire, and s-vhs and composite outputs that I can connect my video recorder straight to. This card also supports real time editing, which means that I can view transitions immediately, instead of waiting minutes for the things to render. I can also output to video tape without rendering entire projects, a process that can take hours for even a relatively small clip.

This card cost £500 so it wasn't cheap but it has been worth every penny, and comes with a complete copy of Premiere 6.5 and so is quite good value.

My next purchase will be a DVD writer, though I haven't fully researched that yet.

I hope that this is useful

s

 

[~YuckFou~]

Thanks everyone for your replies, I'll pick up a card at the next comp fair in town. It's really a one off project for some wedding video so I doubt I'll be spending loads.
I've got about 30 GB free on one drive so that should be enough I guess as I don't want the finished article to be longer than an hour. I'm assuming that the various software mentioned has special effects/fades etc?

 

[Rubber Bullets]

Well Premiere certainly has all the effects you'd need, and if it a one off then the 30 day trial could well be enough. (it'll take a bit of getting used to, get a good book out of the library )

s

 

[FatBusinessman]

Originally posted by bids
I would get a PCI Firewire card for about £30, a four to six pin firewire cable (small end in your cam DV socket, big end into PCI card), and away you go.

For that price, wouldn't you be better off just buying an Audigy? (Or some other sound card with FireWire capability)

 

[~YuckFou~]

Originally posted by FatBusinessman


For that price, wouldn't you be better off just buying an Audigy? (Or some other sound card with FireWire capability)

Done some homework...

3 Port Firewire Card (IEE1394) £16.55 at the first webby I checked (Tekheads), an Audigy card is £50+.
So it's really cheap, and I'm dowloading the demo of Premiere now. An Audigy card is £50+.


edit/
Been doing more homework, this is a really useful site.