What is a firewire connection/ cord and why is it necessary for importing video to a computer?

Question

In response to the answer I have gotten from my previously asked question I would like to know what a firewire cord is, where to find the place of connection on my computer, how or where to purchase such a connection, why it is absolutely necessary, and anything else I would need to know about importing my videos on my sony camcorder (HDV minidv etc.) to my sony editing program. I use a dell with windows vista.

Forgive me for being so specific and particular but, I am truly inept when it comes to computer/electronics skills. Please, dumb down your answer to me as much as possible.

Your time is appreciated.

Answer 1

Firewire is also known as DV, IEEE1394a, and i.LINK.

The firewire cable will connect the DV port of your camcorder - typically miniDV tape (there are a few hard drive based JVC camcorders that use firewire, too) to the firewire port on your computer.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firewire

If your computer does not have a firewire port, they are typically inexpensive and easy to add

http://shop3.frys.com/%7BUG1qEPOfPGV6Org...

but since we don't know what kind of computer you have, it is impossible to know for sure.

The DV port on a miniDV tape based camcorder is ALWAYS a 4-pin jack. Most computers' firewire ports are a 6-pin jack, so you need a cable like this:

http://shop3.frys.com/product/4338425;js...

Some computers have a 4-pin firewire port - in which case you need a firewire cable like this:

http://shop3.frys.com/product/4338465;js...

The reason firewire is used is to allow DV or HDV-format video transfer from the camcorder to you computer. USB will not work.

There was no dumbing down of this response - you are apparently smart enough to have purchased a miniDV tape based camcorder - and they provide the best available video quality because the digital video data is the least compressed when compared to other consumer camcorder digital video storage methods.