We have recently been given a hvra1u for recording church services. What we would like to be able to do is to record directly to the pc. With our old camera we sent video and audio to the nursery and want to do the same with this camera and finally we want to use a pc monitor (with dvi and vga connectors) in place of using the hvra1u's view screen.

What I need help with is to determine what I need to do to make the connections that I mentioned above?

Your assistance is greatly appreciated.

Sam

Hi Sam,

This HDV camera is I believe one of the first generation that came out, and looking at specs online, it does not have an HDMI output. Options are Firewire and analog video.

Most newer computers do not have a Firewire port, but if you have a Mac or PC desktop, an inexpensive Firewire (1394) card can usually be added quite easily. This will allow you to capture direct from the live camera feed into the computer. There is free capture software available, so you don't even need editing software, but could use Adobe Premiere or other apps for capture as well.

Any of the analog video outputs could be routed to other monitors. The camera can be operated in a 1080i HD mode, or standard definition (SD) video modes, your choice. So you could be capturing HDV or DV video, and outputting HD or SD analog according to that selection.

No video camera with analog outputs is going to connect directly to a display via DVI or VGA, no compatible connection. There are inexpensive portable LCD displays that can be mounted right on top of the camera, for instance 7" models, that will accept a composite video input for monitoring.

Thanks