Will this wire allow me to download video footage to my computer?

Question

http://cgi.ebay.com/DV-Firewire-Cable-4-PANASONIC-PV-GS31-GS14-DV102-DV103_W0QQitemZ290117105279QQihZ019QQcategoryZ23780QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQ_trksidZp1638.m118.l1247QQcmdZViewItem

The incompetent ebay seller is taking their sweet time to answer my question.

Answer 1

If you've got a MiniDV camcorder and a firewire card in your PC with a 6 pin socket that's the cable you need.

Answer 2

If you have a mini dv (cassette) camcorder….

Your dv camcorder needs a firewire connection (ieee 1394) in order to download video, your PC probably did not come with a firewire port, so you will have to buy one and install it, since most computers (except possibly brand new) don't come with a firewire port, your camcorder did not come with a firewire cord so you have to purchase a cord too. Your camcorder did come with a USB cord and that is used for downloading stills from your camcorder.

So the cord needs the dv end for your camera and the firewire end that fits into your firewire card in your PC. That cord looks like the right one. If you need to purchse the firewire card you might want to get the cord at the same time.

Answer 3

It could, if your computer has that input and another device like a camcorder has that same output on it.

Answer 4

Just to clarify one thing, this is NOT USB!  Firewire and USB are completely different things, and are incompatible with each other.  This doesn't mean that this cable won't work for you, it just means that you have to be careful about terminology here.

As for the cable:

Yes, it will work, IF your computer has a 6-pin Firewire port AND your camcorder has a 4-pin Firewire port.

What kind of camcorder do you have?  Brand AND model, please.  If your camcorder uses Firewire to output video (MiniDV camcorders practically all do), then you can use at least one end of this cable.  Then, you need to look at your computer.

You see, the cable has two different ends - one is a 4-pin end, which is almost always the size of camcorder Firewire ports.  The other end is 6-pin, which is often used in computers.  However, some computers (often laptops) use 4-pin ports, so if you have a 4-pin port on your computer, you'd need a 4-pin-to-4-pin cable.

If your computer does not have a Firewire port at all, AND if you're using a camcorder that uses Firewire, then you'll need to purchase and install Firewire card, which isn't too expensive (think $30 or so).

So, look at your connections.  If one end of your connection is a 4-pin port, and the other end is a 6-pin port, then this cable will work for you.

For reference, the following terms mean the same thing:

Firewire, DV, i.Link, IEEE 1394

*USB is NOT Firewire!  They are not compatible!