firewire cards
 

I'm just wondering/

If you have a firewire card installed on your computer, do you still need a fancy capture card?

I have a canon xl1s and was just wondering why the dv packages are so expensive if all you need is just a firewire card and cable.

Is there a diffrence between the two?

Thank you

Llewellyn

The only reason for a "fancy capture card" is if you do work an an analog format like Beta SP and need a way to convert analog to digital. Those of us working in DV already have no need for anything more than a firewire card.

These days if your computer is fast enough a cheap OHCI firewire card may be all that you need with the right software. Or you can get a higher cost "real time card" which will let you do color correction and filters without rendering.

Of course, nothing is a simple as it sounds. If you buy a $40 firewire card and Avid Dv Xpress you will end up spending over $1,200 whereas if you buy a Matrox RXT100 or a Canopus Storm you get a real time card and Premiere and other software for around a $1,000. The Avid software is very good but many folks are happy with Premiere.

Probably the cheapest combination would be a $40 card and Vegas Video for $350.

Rick

fire wire
 

Thank you

Llewellyn

Firewire
 

I have heard good things about "Blade" NLE.....made by INsynch.....runs just over $300......you might want to take a look at that, along with a Pyro card for about $50...been using premiere, and works great for me...you can find promotional packages , like "ADS Pyro PLatinum" for $299, thats for the card AND premiere....great deal

The ADS Pyro firewire cards are solid products. I highly recommend them.

I bought an ADS Pyro firewire card and I may now be looking at two Canon XL1's with shorted out DV ports. Not 100% sure it's the cards fault, but probably. They replaced it about 6 weeks after I returned it.


For what it's worth, I don't know what the ADS card offers that a $20 card doesn't have. I don't think I'd buy another, unless I was looking for a specific software package.

That's sad to hear, Dylan, I'd be pretty upset too. So far, mine has been working fine with my AG-DV1000 deck. One reason I went with the ADS Pyro was because it was on Avid's supported hardware list. I ordered directly from the company, card cost me $49 before shipping (it was just the base card and nothing else).

<<<-- Originally posted by Dylan Couper : I bought an ADS Pyro firewire card and I may now be looking at two Canon XL1's with shorted out DV ports. Not 100% sure it's the cards fault, but probably. They replaced it about 6 weeks after I returned it.


For what it's worth, I don't know what the ADS card offers that a $20 card doesn't have. I don't think I'd buy another, unless I was looking for a specific software package. -->>>

Dylan,

Did the cards short out the port right away or was it really gradual? I have a Pyro BasicDV and a Canon ZR20 and I haven't had any problems... I've been using it for about a year now.

I used it for a few months before the problem occured. I can't say 100% that it is the cards fault, because ADS did not ship back a report of what they found wrong with the old card, when they gave me a new one. It's possible it was a problem with the wire, but of the computer nerds I talked to, 3 out of 4 said it would be 100% the fault of the card.

I remember a posting on one of the Usenet groups about a firewire cable that had been shipped with the leads reversed. That apparently blew the firewire port on a bunch of cameras. But it was an immediate thing, nothing gradual.

I guess if it was a mass problem with ADS cards they would have issued a recall.