This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
Connecting for DV Capture
Before setting up for DV capture, quickly review the sections "Selecting Your Capture Drive," "Defragmenting Your Capture Drive," and "Testing Your Capture Drive" in Chapter 2.
I'm assuming that you have a FireWire connector or card installed in your computer. If you don't, start there, and make sure it's up and running. Don't spend too much on the connector; for your purposes, virtually all cards will serve equally well, from the $19 variety on up, and they all plug into an available PCI card slot inside your PC. Choosing one with at least two ports will allow you to connect both your camcorder and a FireWire hard drive, as needed, for additional storage space for your captured video.
To connect your camera and computer for DV capture
- Plug in your DV camcorder to AC power. Battery power should work, but it doesn't work with all cameras.
- Make sure that the camcorder is in VCR, VTR, or Play mode.
- Connect your FireWire cable to the camera's DV connector (
Figure 3.7
).
Virtually all cameras use a tiny four-pin connector like that on the left side of Figure 3.8 .
Figure 3.7 The DV port on my loaner Canon GL2 camera. Note the single analog A/V connector for composite video and both audio channels.
Figure 3.8 A four-pin (on the left) to six-pin DV cable. DV cables also come with dual four-pin and dual six-pin connectors.
- Connect the FireWire cable to your computer using one of the two slots shown on the left in
Figure 3.9
and the larger six-pin connector shown on the right in Figure 3.8.
You're now ready to run Studio and enter Capture mode.
Figure 3.9 The typical six-pin DV connectors (on the left) are found on most—but not all—computers.
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Tip
- Speaking of buying a cable, basic FireWire cables are priced between $12 and $50, depending on brand and store. If you're buying, check out www.cables.com, which offers a complete line of FireWire cables at very reasonable prices.