Camera control software via firewire???
 

Hi,
I'm looking for a sofware programme that can control my camera from my laptop via firewire or usb.
Im not using the camera as a capture device to record to the laptop
I need a programme that will allow me to activate the camera and record onto the cameras MiniDV cassette.
I dont need any fancy zoom controls or anything
Just something that I can monitor and press record
Cameras that I have are
Sony HDR-HC1
Canon GL1
Cheers

Which OS do you have?

This one is not making sense to me. Are you talking about using it as a remote to control over internet ?

If you are just talking about controling it from a lap top connected by firewire, why bother. Get a LANC controler-- assuming your camera has the LANC input.

Camera control
 

Yes I understand that
But I want to be able to use the laptop as a monitor also
both my cameras have lanc capabilities

Depends
 

I havent purchased the laptop yet, I want to see if it works on my regular desktop first (it has Windows XP)
But would probably be Windows XP for my laptop also
Cheers

You could take your camcorder along to your local Best Buy/Circuit City and explain you are in the market for a laptop and that a critical feature is the ability for it to work with your camcorder. Most Sony laptops have a built-in FireWire port (4-pin), so it would be too much effort for the person in the store! You'd need a 4-pin to 4-pin FireWire cable to try it with.

Of course you can capture directly through the camera on firewire on just about any PC, but I was under impression you wanted to control zoom and focus capabilities too. I am not aware of anything that does that through firewire.

Incidentally, if you have an hdv rig, HDVSplit actually does a nice "tapeless" capture to my Compaq AMD 64 3200 lap top.