What kind of fire wire lead do i need to connect a dell lap top to a jvc GR DX 77 camcorder?

Question

i think they both have 4 pin sockets can i connect 4 pin to 4 pin

Answer 1

You don't need firewire. USB is every bit as good and your laptop already has them, all you need is a Mini USB cable & you probably got one of those supplied with you camcorder, if you didn't then they are quite cheap and available freely in all computer/ photographic (Jessops is best) shops & also in Tesco or Asda.Windows will detect your cam when you plug it in and switch it on to "Playback" & will also install the driver so you don't have to fiddle about.

Answer 2

one that fits at both ends.

my one came with the card

Answer 3

"I think" won't cut it...

Here is some information on Firewire - you are interested specifically in the Firweire 400 connectors:

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

Since you did not tell us what model Dell laptop you have, we cannot research to see if Dell makes any laptops with built-in firewire. I don't think they do... which means if you have a firewire port, it will be an add-on in the form of a PCMCIA card (most likely plugged into the PCMCIA slot on the left side of the laptop). These PC cards can be either 4-pin or 6-pin... most commonly, 6-pin. The only traditional Windows based laptops that *might* come with a built-in Firewire port are the higher-end Sony Vaios (and Sony calls it "i.Link".

Firewire, i.Link and IEEE1394 are all the same thing.

If you right-click on "My Computer, select "Properties" and click on the "Hardware" tab, look for "IEEE1394". If it is not there, you have no Firewire (or you have the port and the driver is not properly installed).

Apple Macintosh computers have had Firewire for many years. The only Mac that I know of that does not have a Firewire port is the new MacBook Air - but it is not meant to be a primary computer for video editing, so that does not matter.

Answer 4

The camcorder will have a 4 pin socket, the laptop probably has a 6 pin socket though it could be 4 pin too.  If your camcorder and laptop have different sockets it's a 4 pin to 6 pin cable.  They're the most common and you can get them from any electronics / computer shop - the make doesn't matter.