Is Firewire capable of transferring HD-quality video from a camcorder?

Question

My desktop PC has a Firewire port - just wondering if that has enough data-transfer capabilities to transfer video from my HD camcorder?

Answer 1

If the camcorder is HDV then the data transfer rate is the same as SD. sounds crazy but SD miniDV has little compression and HD is compressed with Mpeg2 so the data rate on the transfer works out the same. that is 25 Mbps.

Some professional DV variants use 50 Mbps on firewire, and some DV decks can transfer at 4x realtime for 100 Mbps over firewire. The real limit will be how fast your computer can process the incoming stream without dropping a frame.

Answer 2

Yes it will.

Ordinary Firewire 400 will be fine but if it's the latest standard Firewire 800 then it will do the job very nicely.

You'll know if it's Firewire 800 because the connectors are different from the older standard so there'll be no confusion.

As a reassurance, the camera makers would not provide unsuitable interfaces.

Answer 3

You don't need to have more than 50 Mbps (Mega-bits per second) to transfer HD content in real time. Really, you'll probably need less

You'll get a minimum of 100 on any firewire, and up to 400 on the standard 4-pin to 6-pin connection.

If you're having a problem, it's probably with something else, like your RAM or your software.

Answer 4

yes, for best results install a second internal hard drive (7200rpm speed) and set this up as the capture disc (though the video application preferences) this goes for all video, not just HD.  As an earlier respondent pointed out, the data rate of standard def DV footage and HDV footage is the same.

You will need a gutsy video card in order to work with HDV, at least 256MB, prefereably more, also look at upgrading your RAM to at least 2GB.

The processing required to handle HDV (because of the MPREG coding) requires a very fast and powerful machine.

Answer 5

Yes it works really well.

Answer 6

I imagine you can xfer HD video files with any medium, even a serial cable if you have enough time.

Answer 7

try it, it will just take longer