Firewire port needed in a brand new PC build, best options?

Liberty610 · #1 02-02-2018, 01:05 AM

Hey everyone.

I have built myself a Windows 10 64bit PC for multi-media use. I do a lot of smaller production projects for both video and audio, from editing and working with newer digital video cameras, to music production.

Here is my current setup via PC Parts Picker website:
https://pcpartpicker.com/b/BqHhP6

I am running the new AMD Threadripper 1960x with a brand new model Gigabyte motherboard for it. Windows 10 Pro 64bit. I am currently without any Firewire ports for capturing Mini DV tapes digitally from a Canon HV30 cam corder. My wife's computer is a little older with Firewire on it, but I wasn't able to successfully get the computer to talk to the cannon cam corder with HDVSPlit.She has Windows 10 on her pc. I tried insatlling the Firewire legacy driver, got HDVsplit to see the camer for one run, but it blue screened on me.

I am currently looking at PCi-E firewire cards on Newegg and Amazon. Are there any suggestions on which brands or offerings I should go with? Or are they all pretty standard in how they function? At this point, I am pretty sure this will be for strictly capturing DV, as I have nothing else firewire related I need. Are there issues with Windows 10 pro and firewire with it being an older/dated port?

THis is the one I am currently looking at, as amny say Windows 10 has no issues with it...

https://www.amazon.com/Rosewill-Fire...410761b19a0e08

Thanks in advance for any help!

NJRoadfan · #2 02-02-2018, 07:20 AM

Any PCIe card should work. Windows will load generic OHCI drivers. HDVSplit is a buggy mess, particularly with regards to the preview window function. I had problems with it in Windows 7 and turned it off. After that, no issues with capture (I have a Canon HV20). Just use the camcorder's LCD for previewing.

Liberty610 · #3 02-02-2018, 09:59 AM

Awesome! Thanks for the feedback!

I noticed on the wife's Dell (which has firewire on the motherboard back panel) had the OHCI drivers installed, but when looking around online yesterday I read an article where those standard drivers can cause issues, and you could potentially need to install the 'legacy' version of the driver. I tried that on her pc, but the legacy version never came up as an option. I installed it, rebooted, then went into device manager, click on the firewire port, clicked the drivers tab, and search for it, but only the original OHCI was there. No 'legacy' option was there. So I wasn't sure what to think in regards to what would happen on my setup. I also read though, that certain dell machines need their special drivers off their website, so that could be an issue too.

Rosewill is the company that makes that card I posted the link for, and that is the one I ended up ordering. After reading some of the Q & A under it on Amazon, Rosewill support said to download their drivers off their website for it. I jumped ahead and did that just in case the standard OHCI driver gives me issues.

The also has a spot for a molex power cable. Is that needed in order for the entire card to function, or only if you need enough juice to bus power something? All I will be doing is capturing video with it.

NJRoadfan · #4 02-02-2018, 10:22 AM

The Molex is needed to supply enough current to 6-pin bus powered firewire devices (hard drives, etc.). It is not needed for capturing from camcorders.

Windows 10 doesn't include the legacy driver, you can get it here: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/...ndows-8-1-or-w

Liberty610 · #5 02-02-2018, 10:25 AM

That is what I figured. Thanks so much for the reply!

lordsmurf · #6 02-02-2018, 09:12 PM

I probably need to do this on either a Windows XP system (2009 hardware, PCIe open) or Windows 7 (all PCIe). I want to re-test all my Canopus and DataVideo DV boxes, one last time, before I sell them off. I need to grab a lot of sample as to why 4:1:1 NTSC compression sucks.

If you do get that $19 card from Amazon, let me know how it works for you.

Liberty610 · #7 02-02-2018, 09:19 PM

Will do! Should be here tomorrow (Saturday) according the the tracking on it. I plan on installing it right away to test out the HV30 I just bought off eBay.

-- merged --

Got the firewire card install. Hit a snag right away. This is doing the same that my wife's computer did with HDVsplit.

When I installed the card and re-booted, it's listed in devive manager without any issues. I plugged my HV30 into the first port, turned the camera. Windows 10 picked up on it, and asked me 'what action I would like to take for inporting" but the only thing list there was a photo app I use.

I opened HDVsplit, and it does not find the camera at all....

Any suggestions?

*UPDATE*

I got Sony Vegas capture to work with it. I forgot about the DV vs HDV ordeal. HDVsplit only works with HDV tapes/footage. The current capture I am doing is standard DV. I'll use the Vegas Pro DV capture for these I suppose, and then name the files by date manually.

Other then this hiccup, so far this Firewire card has worked flawlessly.

NJRoadfan · #8 02-04-2018, 06:34 PM

HDVSplit is only for HDV/MPEG2 capture. You can use WinDV for capturing standard DV content from the camcorder.

Liberty610 · #9 02-04-2018, 06:59 PM

Yea, I figured that out ha. It's been way to long since I have captured video over firewire. I've been recording straight to SD cards since 2012.

Is there a difference in how footage gets captured as far as the software goes? I have WinDv, but didn't instal it again yet. Are there different capture software that capture better then others? I thought it was all the same because it's all digital, but again, it's been a while since I've worked with the MiniDV format.

lordsmurf · #10 02-04-2018, 11:16 PM

DV is DV, no matter the software.
WinDV should always be the first attempt. It's best, easiest, and free.
After that, Scenalyzer (available in this forum).

Liberty610 · #11 02-06-2018, 08:25 AM

I'll switch to WinDv for sure. The Sony app works, but it's some what of a pain to get to it without opening Vegas first.

ehbowen · #12 02-13-2018, 05:34 PM

I know I'm late to this party, but I've been using a StarTech 3-port FireWire PCIe card which I bought from B&H a year ago. Installed with no problems and very transparent to use; when I hooked up my Video Walkman to capture 8mm & Mini-DV VideoStudio recognized both units and was able to control them without a hitch. I just bought a second card to include in the new rackmount PC I'm building.