Capturing in Windows 11 Firewire?
 

Hey Gang,

I still have an insurmountable task of transferring all my family videos from Hi-8 (almost done) and an illegal amount of Mini DV's from family events & vacations.

As many of you know (or should know) Bill Gates in his infinite wisdom has decided to make the FORCED upgrade to Windows 11 incompatible with Firewire.

I have to devices i used to record and eventually port into the computer via firewire. A Digital Hi 8 and a Sony DCR-TRV38, both of which output via Firewire.

What are y'all finding as a solution or work around? There are simply not enough hours in the day to transfer all my Mini DV tapes before October 14th, which is when Windows 10 turns into a pumpkin.

What are my choices once i upgrade to Windows 11?

Thanks in advance for any info. (I did search the forum but did not find any threads on this)

Denicio

Firewire isn't officially supported in Windows 10 either, but you're able to make it work by loading the legacy drivers. From a quick search it seems the same is true of Windows 11. Just make sure the Firewire chipset is of a specific model. Some are known to work better than others. DYOR but if you need help let me know.

Good to know!

Any pro tips on finding out what chipset my firewire card has? Something in bios or in My Computer?

Yes, I believe you can open your Device Manager and locate your 'FireWire Bus Host Controllers'-from there you should be able to see your chipset I believe? I know Texas Instruments is preferred, but I can't remember if it's a specific model.

As your replied, i remembered where to find it. HA!

Here is what i have.

Awesome, looks like you have a TI. You should be set to handle most all Firewire tasks as long as you're able to get driver compatibility in Windows 11.

Now that is where my knowledge stops. How do i get driver compatibility in Win 11 for this Firewire card?
Where would i go to get it?

Is anyone here using it successfully on Win 11?

This should do it for you. There is a step-by-step comment under the post in the first link. If Windows doesn't have the driver already (I doubt it will but follow it and try) the second link has a direct link to the legacy driver hosted on Microsoft's website.

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...2-a7eab207e472

https://www.startech.com/en-eu/faq/f...cy-driver-swap

Thanks so much for your help.

Are you running Win 11 with firewire, by chance?

No, I am not. I have run Firewire successfully in Windows 10, and the process is essentially the same. Windows 11 also seems to be working better with legacy drivers than Windows 10 did.

If you'd like proof it works in Windows 11, check out the last comment of this thread: https://forum.rme-audio.de/viewtopic.php?id=41486

Thanks for this post! I am a audio nerd! Run a studio for 30 years now. I actually own the RME UFX that uses USB (thankfully).

So sending me something from RME is 100% speaking my language!

Thanks for all your help!

No problemo. I am also a huge audio nerd. I know much more about audio than video that's for sure. Especially analog video. I'm currently helping to build out a (amateur) studio space right now, for my buddies band. We're converting the jam space into a studio and streaming space. Should be a fun project. Just picked up for it a Presonus Quantum 2626. Which is Thunderbolt 3 and has <1ms Latency all around. You can track live straight out the DAW apparently. It's great.

Bill Gates hasn't been actively involved with Microsoft since 2006, so 19 years ago now. :2cents:

(And do, I don't consider being on the BOD or as "advisor" to Nadella as being more than an on-paper title. Not actively involved in the day-to-day decisions on products. He's way outdated on Microsoft, if you listen to him speak now.)

It was a snarky joke, more than anything. Poorly written, i suppose, but it was intended at snark. We all know Bill has spent those 19 years working on getting those microchips put in vaccines so he can read our minds. That's what i am told by the farmers in my area on the Nextdoor app (i wish i were kidding).

Lord Smurf, do you have any experience with Win 11 yet? Any thought or solutions for my conundrum?
At this point i plan on building a new computer with my fingers crossed that the firewire solutions above will work on my new system.

If you can manage the space, you could keep your old system around, install a legacy Operating System, and keep it offline. You can set up a separate VLAN for offline transfers using a managed switch (I like the aruba s2500 for $50 used since it offers 10 gigabit for cheap) That way you can have a system (maybe windows 7?) That is compatible with many of the tasks and hardware the newer systems may not be. Just food for thought.

I have considered this. Especially since the new build will literally be from the ground up. The ONLY thing that will be saved will be the case and video card. The problem is the current system has started giving me long motherboard beeps when doing tasks requiring a lot of power (rendering audio or video files). My tech guru and i have gone through just about every test you can do and cant nail down what the problem is. I fear its on its last leg. I am really hoping the new system with Win 11 and those legacy fire wire drivers work.

In that case, you can pick up a used system with the right specifications. I paid ~$50 shipped a few years ago for a mini desktop that takes full size pci and pci-e cards. i5-3570K. Even had an optical drive. It didnt have an ssd but I paid $7 for a used one. (I'm sure you could just transplant your old ssd.) You could get something slightly newer like an i5-7500.

*edit*

i5-7500 is 7th gen intel, if you want to ensure max compatibility with Windows 7, I believe 7th gen starts to get iffy for driver support. so maybe stick with 6th gen or under if WIndows 7 is a goal.

Also if you have not heard of a KVM switch (I'm sure you have) it helps switch your keyboard, mouse, and screen to and from different computers. Super useful for a situation like this.

We sold our office in october and work remotely now with virtual workstations. My IT guys turned me on to my first KVM switch. At first it was a bit of a head scratcher but once i studied it and then hooked it up, its brilliant!
I have an office computer that will be retired due to incompatibility with Win 11, so i'll crack it open today to see if it can take a PCIe card.

In this scenario, how would you use this machine? Just for transfers? Then move the files over to the new system for editing and rendering? (just home movies)

Yeah so I would use it for workflows like Firewire transfers, VHS capture, basically anything that is optimized better on Windows 7 (or whichever OS you choose.) If you need to capture any VHS (sounds like you're done with those though) you can use the ATI TV Wonder USB 2.0 with Windows 7. If you just need it for Firewire transfer, that's even easier.

Also useful for just running old software you remember using from 10+ years ago. I had a motu traveler mk3 I couldn't get to work correctly in Windows 10 (pops and clicks abound) -Now that I'm finally getting a legacy system set up for capturing VHS, I kinda regret selling it. Since it seems like one of the best interfaces with Windows XP compatibility (Not counting RME, Apogee, etc. Since those are ridiculously priced for just capturing VHS audio.)

Back on topic, yes I would set up a separate vlan using a managed switch. You could also do it through a router or AP (Access Point) if it has the functionality. I would then (to make it easier) add an extra NIC (Network Card) on every PC you want to have the ability to transfer on the "offline network" -Disregard if you already have more than one ethernet port.

ProTip:If you want top transfer speeds, the aruba s2500 I mentioned earlier has 4 10gigabit ports, and plenty of 1g ports, you can pick one up for about $50 after offer.

You can pick up used intel x520-da2 cards (10gbe NICs) for about $10-15 shipped. I think i saw like 2 for $10 once. Microsoft took away the drivers for Windows 7 on their website :( , but I can hunt them down for you again if you're okay with moderately trusted 3rd party driver websites. (it will be offline anyways, so I figure, what the hey.) -Or I can upload the ones I saved already (The drivers are good for most if not all intel NICs I believe.) I have the latest version before they took it off the website.

If you want to go to the trouble of installing nvme drivers on Windows 7 (plenty of people have done so successfully.) With the affordable setup I layed out, you can transfer between PC's at up to 10Gigabit (1,250 MBps) -Which is the fastest "consumer" standard.

I think I covered most bases? please let me know if you have any questions on the set up (you don't have to do this, you could also just transfer to usb hard drive if that's less of a headache for you.) Having this type of workflow can be very beneficial though, and its like $100 to set it up after buying cables and everything.

*Edit*

And yes to address the workflow on the second PC, it's really about preference. Most editors like having access to the internet and a stronger pc, so it makes sense most people would want to transfer to the main PC for editing, deinterlacing, all the usual jazz. If you have $300 to burn, the Topaz Video AI 7 Toolkit will seriously make your videos look beyond anything that you could've imagined just a few years ago.

Okay, i have many questions but first my solution.

I have resurrected an old Win 10 machine from my office. Updated it this weekend. And installed Vegas 12 on it (my preferred capture software) I will be upgrading the ram and most likely upgrading the spinny drive to an SSD (as long as i can get Win 10 installed on it).
I would rather NOT have to be constantly transferring the captured video to the new computer to do edits and renders, so the aruba s2500 has piqued my interest. I know NOTHING about it or how it works.

Can you explain it to me like i am in 6th grade? A step by step outline of how it works? If it allows me to simply hook the Old and New computer together and Xfr information between machines, this would be ace! Never heard of this before so its very new to me.