Help w/ Connecting DV Camcorder to PC

[Simba22]

Hi everyone! I'm sorry this is kind of long but I hope someone can help me! I bought a Canon ZR800 DV Camcorder with the intention of being able to load video directly from the camcorder to the PC but I didn't pay enough attention to the "included accessories" and here I am now, 2 days away from WDW, and I just realized that my camcorder did not come with a USB cable!

I went online to the site I bought it from (Circuit City) and also to the Canon website. I just don't know enough about electronics to know what I need! There are only a few options but none of them have a description that tell me what I need to know!

Here is what I found! Can someone please tell me which one of these is right for my camera?

Belkin Pro Series 4-Pin Mini-B USB Cable
• A to 4-pin connection
• Connect devices to PC • 6' long
USB cable: Connect your computer or USB hub to a digital camera, MP3 player, PDA, or other device that uses a 4-pin mini-B connection.

Canon DV Cable (CV-150F)
• 4-pin firewire connection • Digital video cable
Firewire connection: Fits any Canon camcorder with 4-pin firewire connections.
(What is firewire?? )

Circuit City FireWire® Cable (6FTFW4PIN4PIN)
• 6' length
• 4-pin to 4-pin • 400Mbps data transfers
• High-performance
Get connected: Use this FireWire cable to connect your FireWire-enabled video recorder or other audio-video device to your PC or Mac®. This high-performance cable features a 4-pin to 4-pin connection as well as transfer speeds up to 400Mbps—fast enough for real-time multimedia.

Belkin FireWire Cable (F3N402V-06-ICE)
• 6' length
• 4-pin to 4-pin • 400Mbps transfer rate
• Plug-and-play
FireWire cable: Transfer data from your digital camcorder or other 4-pin device to a 4-pin notebook port or audio/video device. Transfer rates up to 400Mbps and plug-and-play capability help you get everything transferred quickly.
(I don't have a notebook...does this mean it only works with laptops?)


TIA!

 

[MarkBarbieri]

I'm not a camcorder expert, so take this with a grain of salt.

It's my understanding that while camcorders can connect via USB or Firewire (also know as IEEW 1394 or i.Link), they do different things with those connections. The USB connection is typically used to transfer relatively low resolution MPEG compressed video. To transfer the actual DV bitstream as recorded on the mini-DV tape, you need to use to the Firewire connection.

USB and Firewire are very different. Your computer almost certainly supports USB but it may not support Firewire. If it does, great. If not, you'll need to get a firewire port added (not very expensive or complicated). Look for a port that looks something like this photo from Wikipedia

You will need to purchase a cable that looks something like this picture from the same the same Wikipedia article

The first cable you listed is a USB cable and is not what you want. The next three are all Firewire cables, but they are all 4-pin to 4-pin cables. That means that they have the little connector on both sides. I believe that those are primarily used to hook up two portable devices (like two video cameras) to each other. Computers typically have 6-pin sockets, so you would want to use a 4-pin to 6-pin connector to connect the camcorder (4-pin) to the computer (6-pin).

You could find something like that at Circuit City here, but they want $32 for it. I'd be more inclined to get it at Amazon here for $2.40 or Newegg here for $3.50. I've never paid much attention to brand names for Firewire cables and haven't ever had any problems.

Before you buy a cable, make sure that confirm that your computer has Firewire / IEEE 1394 / i.Link port. Don't stress on the timing. You can record onto tapes to your hearts content in Disney and take as long as you need to get things sorted out on your computer when you get home.

 

[Simba22]

Before you buy a cable, make sure that confirm that your computer has Firewire / IEEE 1394 / i.Link port. Don't stress on the timing. You can record onto tapes to your hearts content in Disney and take as long as you need to get things sorted out on your computer when you get home.

I checked the back of my computer last night and it does have a port labeled "IEEE 1394" So does that mean that I can buy the 4pin to 4pin firewire cable (for like $50... ) and i will be able to transfer my videos to my PC?

 

[MarkBarbieri]

I checked the back of my computer last night and it does have a port labeled "IEEE 1394" So does that mean that I can buy the 4pin to 4pin firewire cable (for like $50... ) and i will be able to transfer my videos to my PC?

Having the IEEE 1394 port is good. Now you need to determine if it is a 6-pin or a 4-pin port. In my limited experience, most computers have a 6-pin port that looks like the first picture I posted. If the port on your computer looks like that, get a 4-pin to 6-pin cable, not 4-pin to 4-pin. If, on the other hand, your computer's port looks just like the one on your video camera (small with a little "dent" in one side), get the 4-pin to 4-pin cable.

I would strongly suggest that you just order a cheap cable from NewEgg or Amazon and not buy the vastly overpriced cables at Circuit City, Best Buy, etc. It is true that cheap cables tend not to be made as well. In my experience, however, they are almost always good enough. The data being passed along the cable is digital. The cable will either pass it all correctly or it won't work at all. Using a better cable will not make your video look any different. I own a $3,500 video camera and use a $3 cable.

 

[Disney*Dreamer]

You can get the firewire cable at walmart for $24. I just went through this exact same problem about a month ago, and I got mine at walmart, because it was much cheeper than any of the electronics stores, and it works great.

Oh and I bought the 4pin to 6pin, it looks just like the pic, but it is grey

 

[H.E. Pennypacker]

CompUSA.com has a 10 foot 4-pin to 6-pin FireWire cable for $5.99. Should do the trick. http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?pfp=cat3&product_code=50136906

 

[caniswolfie]

I'll add that a lot of laptops have a 4 pin connection on it, but if your connection looks like the picture that was posted above, that was a 6 pin connector. A four pin connector will look a lot like the connector on the Camcorder.-

 

[Simba22]

thanks everyone! You're the best!