4-pin firewire at DVinfo.net

Adi Head · February 18th, 2006, 05:08 AM

hi. can i hook up a sony pd150 to a notebook computer using 4-pin firewire and capture video?

i've always used a 6-pin firewire cable with my desktop.

but now i'm having problems capturing (dropping frames by the dozens/a minute). i've tried solving the problem in many ways and have narrowed it down to being either an issue with my camera's firewire port, or my desktops firewire port, or my desktop's firewire interface, which is onboard the motherboard.

i want to test the camera on a different computer. all i have is a notebook. it's perfectly capable of handling video capture, but it only has the smaller 4-pin firewire port.

thanks

Boyd Ostroff · February 18th, 2006, 09:39 AM

The 4 pin port shouldn't matter since the other two pins on a 6-pin cable are for power supply and not used by the PD-150. Have you tried more than one cable? And are you sure that it isn't a performance issue on the laptop, like a slow/fragmented disk drive or other software running while you capture?

Do you have another DV camera? You could try connecting them both together with the 4-pin cable. Put the other camera in VCR mode and hit record. Put the PD-150 in camera mode. You should be able to record to the other camera from the PD-150 if everything is OK with the firewire port and cable.

Mike Rehmus · February 18th, 2006, 09:43 AM

4 pin or 6 pin firewire have the same data characteristics. You problem doesn't come from the firewire connection, I'd guess. Any version of the IEEE-1394 interface is capable of transmitting DV data.

If your laptop or the desktop have only a single hard drive, that is very likely the problem. The OS has full access to the drive regardless of what you are asking the system to do. When it accesses the drive, you will lose frames.

Otherwise it could be a LAN or Virus protection software or some other program that is operating in the background. Or it could be your ports are sharing interrupts.

You don't give the characteristics of the computers so guesses are all we can make.

Adi Head · February 18th, 2006, 11:59 AM

i'm sorry. i think my description of the problem i'm having was misleading.

the problem i'm having is actually with my desktop computer, which is the computer i usually use for video editing. there's a whole thread i started in the what's new in vegas forum, thinking it had something to do with software. but after formatting my drives, reinstalling windows and software, using a brand new firewire cable, and still having problems - i came to the conclusion that it must be either something in the firewire interface in my computer or my pd150.

i want to test the pd150 on a different computer - my laptop. but it only has a 4-pin firewire port. so i was curious if this would be an appropriate test. from your replies i understand that it is. thanks

adi

Robert M Wright · February 20th, 2006, 03:54 AM

Which operating system are you using? (Windows XP or Windows 98, or something else?)

Adi Head · February 20th, 2006, 04:36 AM

windows xp pro

Robert M Wright · February 20th, 2006, 04:25 PM

I was thinking maybe if you had an older operating system the hard drives might somehow have got out of DMA mode. (I don't think that should be a problem with XP.)

Did you try using a different firewire cable to the desktop yet? So often, it's just a really simple thing we somehow overlooked (I sure do that a lot!).

Robert M Wright · February 20th, 2006, 04:27 PM

Oops. I just read up and saw you tried that.

Robert M Wright · February 20th, 2006, 04:31 PM

Next step is to get that 4 pinner and give it a whirl trying to capture to the laptop. Be sure to defrag the drive in your laptop, because most laptops have 5400rpm drives, and you will get dropouts trying to capture to a fragmented 5400rpm drive.

Nick Weeks · February 20th, 2006, 05:31 PM

If you determine its the firewire port on your PC, www.newegg.com has some cards for around $20

Greg Boston · February 20th, 2006, 05:40 PM

I capture to my Compaq laptop (4 pin to 4 pin FW) using Win XP Home and Canon's DVPC recorder. I always disable as many processes as possible and don't have any problems. I am capturing to the internal drive.

You might try using Scenalyzer (free demo download) and see if that helps. Sometimes, running a lean and mean capture program helps, as it doesn't have as much processor overhead.

-gb-

Robert M Wright · February 20th, 2006, 09:05 PM

There's a real good freeware product that is excellent at capturing without dropouts, even if you are multi-tasking your computer (it buffers the imput in RAM, which many payware software packages just don't bother to do). You can preview while capturing and it will put time/date in the filenames of the captured files, based on the time/date stamp in the first frame of a clip too. if you want. I can't remember the name of the dang thing off the top of my head, even though I use it (it's not on this computer though) and it has a real simple name even! When I remember, I'll try to post it.

Adi Head · February 21st, 2006, 12:34 AM

thanks everyone for the input. i'll be getting the 4-pin firewire cable today to test it out. you're right about the laptop's hard drive, it's 5400rpm. so i'll defragment it as you suggest. i'll try different capturing software, including scenalyzer (thanks, greg.... and that freeware, you were talking about robert, if the name of it comes back to you).

i'll let you know of the outcomes soon. thanks again!

adi

February 18th, 2006, 05:08 AM	#1
Adi Head Major Player Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Brooklyn, NY Posts: 642	4-pin firewire hi. can i hook up a sony pd150 to a notebook computer using 4-pin firewire and capture video? i've always used a 6-pin firewire cable with my desktop. but now i'm having problems capturing (dropping frames by the dozens/a minute). i've tried solving the problem in many ways and have narrowed it down to being either an issue with my camera's firewire port, or my desktops firewire port, or my desktop's firewire interface, which is onboard the motherboard. i want to test the camera on a different computer. all i have is a notebook. it's perfectly capable of handling video capture, but it only has the smaller 4-pin firewire port. thanks

February 18th, 2006, 09:43 AM	#3
Mike Rehmus Wrangler Join Date: May 2002 Location: Vallejo, California Posts: 4,049	4 pin or 6 pin firewire have the same data characteristics. You problem doesn't come from the firewire connection, I'd guess. Any version of the IEEE-1394 interface is capable of transmitting DV data. If your laptop or the desktop have only a single hard drive, that is very likely the problem. The OS has full access to the drive regardless of what you are asking the system to do. When it accesses the drive, you will lose frames. Otherwise it could be a LAN or Virus protection software or some other program that is operating in the background. Or it could be your ports are sharing interrupts. You don't give the characteristics of the computers so guesses are all we can make. __________________ Mike Rehmus Hey, I can see the carrot at the end of the tunnel!

February 18th, 2006, 09:39 AM	#2
Boyd Ostroff Wrangler Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Mays Landing, NJ Posts: 11,788	The 4 pin port shouldn't matter since the other two pins on a 6-pin cable are for power supply and not used by the PD-150. Have you tried more than one cable? And are you sure that it isn't a performance issue on the laptop, like a slow/fragmented disk drive or other software running while you capture? Do you have another DV camera? You could try connecting them both together with the 4-pin cable. Put the other camera in VCR mode and hit record. Put the PD-150 in camera mode. You should be able to record to the other camera from the PD-150 if everything is OK with the firewire port and cable.

February 18th, 2006, 11:59 AM	#4
Adi Head Major Player Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Brooklyn, NY Posts: 642	i'm sorry. i think my description of the problem i'm having was misleading. the problem i'm having is actually with my desktop computer, which is the computer i usually use for video editing. there's a whole thread i started in the what's new in vegas forum, thinking it had something to do with software. but after formatting my drives, reinstalling windows and software, using a brand new firewire cable, and still having problems - i came to the conclusion that it must be either something in the firewire interface in my computer or my pd150. i want to test the pd150 on a different computer - my laptop. but it only has a 4-pin firewire port. so i was curious if this would be an appropriate test. from your replies i understand that it is. thanks adi

February 20th, 2006, 03:54 AM	#5
Robert M Wright Inner Circle Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Minnesota (USA) Posts: 2,171	Which operating system are you using? (Windows XP or Windows 98, or something else?)

February 20th, 2006, 04:36 AM	#6
Adi Head Major Player Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Brooklyn, NY Posts: 642	windows xp pro

February 20th, 2006, 04:25 PM	#7
Robert M Wright Inner Circle Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Minnesota (USA) Posts: 2,171	I was thinking maybe if you had an older operating system the hard drives might somehow have got out of DMA mode. (I don't think that should be a problem with XP.) Did you try using a different firewire cable to the desktop yet? So often, it's just a really simple thing we somehow overlooked (I sure do that a lot!).

February 20th, 2006, 04:27 PM	#8
Robert M Wright Inner Circle Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Minnesota (USA) Posts: 2,171	Oops. I just read up and saw you tried that.

February 20th, 2006, 04:31 PM	#9
Robert M Wright Inner Circle Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Minnesota (USA) Posts: 2,171	Next step is to get that 4 pinner and give it a whirl trying to capture to the laptop. Be sure to defrag the drive in your laptop, because most laptops have 5400rpm drives, and you will get dropouts trying to capture to a fragmented 5400rpm drive.

February 20th, 2006, 05:31 PM	#10
Nick Weeks Major Player Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Birmingham, AL USA Posts: 722	If you determine its the firewire port on your PC, www.newegg.com has some cards for around $20

February 20th, 2006, 05:40 PM	#11
Greg Boston Wrangler Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: DFW area, TX Posts: 6,117 Images: 1	I capture to my Compaq laptop (4 pin to 4 pin FW) using Win XP Home and Canon's DVPC recorder. I always disable as many processes as possible and don't have any problems. I am capturing to the internal drive. You might try using Scenalyzer (free demo download) and see if that helps. Sometimes, running a lean and mean capture program helps, as it doesn't have as much processor overhead. -gb-

February 20th, 2006, 09:05 PM	#12
Robert M Wright Inner Circle Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Minnesota (USA) Posts: 2,171	There's a real good freeware product that is excellent at capturing without dropouts, even if you are multi-tasking your computer (it buffers the imput in RAM, which many payware software packages just don't bother to do). You can preview while capturing and it will put time/date in the filenames of the captured files, based on the time/date stamp in the first frame of a clip too. if you want. I can't remember the name of the dang thing off the top of my head, even though I use it (it's not on this computer though) and it has a real simple name even! When I remember, I'll try to post it.

February 21st, 2006, 12:34 AM	#13
Adi Head Major Player Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Brooklyn, NY Posts: 642	thanks everyone for the input. i'll be getting the 4-pin firewire cable today to test it out. you're right about the laptop's hard drive, it's 5400rpm. so i'll defragment it as you suggest. i'll try different capturing software, including scenalyzer (thanks, greg.... and that freeware, you were talking about robert, if the name of it comes back to you). i'll let you know of the outcomes soon. thanks again! adi