Is firewire to usb cable ok for connecting DV videocamera (firewire) to my PC (usb) ?

[la-la]

There is a number of Firewire to USB cable sale offers on eBay and
elsewhere.
Is it possible to use such Firewire to usb cable as a replacement to
firewire PCI card installed in PC,
for connecting DV videocamera to PC to transfer recorded video to hard
disk ?

One offer from eBay is the following:
http://cgi.ebay.com/New-5-Feet-USB-...6QQihZ007QQcategoryZ51054QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

thanks,

Darius

 

[la-la]

I'll tell you what - buy it and try it, and if it works *and* also
doesn't damage your camera or computer, let us know on this NG.

Actually, it would be even better if you told us if it fails to work or
if it damages your equipment.

Ok, my friend. I can buy it as I intend to buy it
but need to know first if it is ok for connecting DV cam (4-pin
firewire) with PC (usb).
I can test it with one cam only but still hope to get a response from
a computer shop, video shop, having alread tested it with different
video cams.
One seller said it didn't work with his Sony DV cam.
Thanks.

Darius

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

Ok, my friend. I can buy it as I intend to buy it
but need to know first if it is ok for connecting DV cam (4-pin
firewire) with PC (usb).
I can test it with one cam only but still hope to get a response from
a computer shop, video shop, having alread tested it with different
video cams.
One seller said it didn't work with his Sony DV cam.
Thanks.

Darius

I guess my sarcasm was unclear.

1. I doubt that a passive electronic cable can convert USB to FireWire
or vice versa - and I see no hint of active electronics in the pictures
in your links.

2. I doubt that a passive electronic cable can connect a USB device to
a FireWire device or vice versa without damaging the equipment at one
or both ends.

 

[Elan Magavi]

I guess my sarcasm was unclear.

1. I doubt that a passive electronic cable can convert USB to FireWire or
vice versa - and I see no hint of active electronics in the pictures in
your links.

2. I doubt that a passive electronic cable can connect a USB device to a
FireWire device or vice versa without damaging the equipment at one or
both ends.

It isn't passive. There's curcuitry in the cable connectors.

Conceptually firewire to USB should be possible except that the two
protocols are very different. This cable will need a driver and that driver
will be the deciding factor as to whether this will work. However, for $199
you can get 5 firewire cards and 5 cables. So ... this would be a waste of
time and money.

 

[Richard Crowley]

1. I doubt that a passive electronic cable can convert USB to FireWire
or vice versa - and I see no hint of active electronics in the
pictures in your links.

2. I doubt that a passive electronic cable can connect a USB device to
a FireWire device or vice versa without damaging the equipment at one
or both ends.

I wouldn't expect damage. But I would be VERY surprised if
it worked for transferring video between camcorder and PC.

Native USB2 and native Firewire are each tricky in their own
respects. Making a "universal" conversion cable just does not
seem like a practical thing. But it is certainly worth trying for
that very low price.

 

[Richard Crowley]

...

Conceptually firewire to USB should be possible except that the two
protocols are very different. This cable will need a driver and that
driver will be the deciding factor as to whether this will work.
However, for $199 you can get 5 firewire cards and 5 cables. So ...
this would be a waste of time and money.

$199? Huh? The auction on the URL provided says 1 GBP.
That is less than US$ 2

 

[Elan Magavi]

...


$199? Huh? The auction on the URL provided says 1 GBP.
That is less than US$ 2

the "buy it now" was $199

 

[Richard Crowley]

...

the "buy it now" was $199

Your computer is seriously broken.

I am looking at the page right now (Ebay # 140081365985)
and it says...

"Buy It Now price: GBP 0.99 (Approximately US$ 1.95)"

 

[Tzortzakakis Dimitrios]

following:http://cgi.ebay.com/New-5-Feet-USB-2-0-to-Firewire-4-Pin-1394-Cabl
e-C... %3D3&sadis=200&fpos=41200&ga10244=10425&ftrt=1&ftrv=1&saprclo=&saprchi=&fsop
=1%26fsoo

It isn't passive. There's curcuitry in the cable connectors.

Conceptually firewire to USB should be possible except that the two
protocols are very different. This cable will need a driver and that driver
will be the deciding factor as to whether this will work. However, for $199
you can get 5 firewire cards and 5 cables. So ... this would be a waste of
time and money.

Not five, ten.I got a cliptech firewire card complete with cable and ulead
video software for 19 euros.The claim being able to connect USB with IEEE
1394 is adjacent to being able to connect an 110 V apparatus on a 220 V
outletAmd since delicate and expensive electronics are involved, I
wouldn't recommend it.It is also very expensive for $199

 

[Elan Magavi]

...

Your computer is seriously broken.

naw... there's an ad for the cable at the top of the page. Says "But it
Now": US $199.00

HOWEVER, it DOES say 100 pcs.. Which I completely missed. Doh!

 

[Elan Magavi]

naw... there's an ad for the cable at the top of the page. Says "But it
Now": US $199.00

"Buy it now" ... My computer may actually BE broekn. :}

 

[Ray S]

There is a number of Firewire to USB cable sale offers on eBay and
elsewhere.
Is it possible to use such Firewire to usb cable as a replacement to
firewire PCI card installed in PC,
for connecting DV videocamera to PC to transfer recorded video to hard
disk ?

One offer from eBay is the following:
http://cgi.ebay.com/New-5-Feet-USB-...6QQihZ007QQcategoryZ51054QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

thanks,

Darius

Why would you buy something that probably costs as much or more as a
simple firewire card that may or may not really work?

 

[Elan Magavi]

Why would you buy something that probably costs as much or more as a
simple firewire card that may or may not really work?

my bad.. they're $1.99!! Even more of a reason to stay way from them.

 

[Richard Crowley]

Why would you buy something that probably costs as much or more as a
simple firewire card that may or may not really work?

At $2, it costs a fraction of the cheapest firewire card
(~$15 in my neighborhood)

 

[Ray S]

...

At $2, it costs a fraction of the cheapest firewire card
(~$15 in my neighborhood)

Well then, lets send someone out to by some and test them out.

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

[...]

I guess my sarcasm was unclear.

1. I doubt that a passive electronic cable can convert USB to FireWire or
vice versa - and I see no hint of active electronics in the pictures in
your links.

2. I doubt that a passive electronic cable can connect a USB device to a
FireWire device or vice versa without damaging the equipment at one or both
ends.

It isn't passive. There's curcuitry in the cable connectors.

Conceptually firewire to USB should be possible except that the two protocols
are very different. This cable will need a driver and that driver will be the
deciding factor as to whether this will work. However, for $199 you can get 5
firewire cards and 5 cables. So ... this would be a waste of time and money.

I would hope there is circuitry in the connectors, but (to quote me) "I
see no hint of" any circuitry in any of the views I looked at.

Since circuitry can be very small and USB provides 5V DC power, I could
obviously be quite wrong, but I choose to remain doubtful anyway.

If anyone actually buys and tries one of these cables (I confess that
it won't be me), I'd love to see a report.

 

[Gene]

FYI: I got the Belkin F5U503 PCI card in the mail a few days ago,
and replaced the old VT6306 (VIA chip) PCI firewire card.

I took a 1.5hr LP MiniDV tape & my old Sony PC100 camcorder,
as well as two Sony D8 camcorders at 1.5hr LP and captured
about 20 or so hours to disk with the Belkin F5U503 PCI card.
I had "ZERO" freezes, hang-up, etc. It was a 100% success.
With the old VIA card, it was constant crash.

All of the programs like Roxio, Sony 7, NeroVision, etc. worked
without incident. Zero problems. (I'm SURE some of these programs
have bugs, but I did not find any during the tests.) With the VIA
chip, I usually froze with all of these programs during capture.

I will re-post this as a new thread, as there may be other folks out there
that are having problems with firewire & Sony camcorders.

To make a long story short:

If you are trying to get Sony camcorder data into a hard drive file
on a PC with firewire (DV) and you THINK it's your software and/or
a cheap iLink (DV or firewire) cable - it may not be that at all.
It may be the logic in the firewire chip on your motherboard, or
bus card.

I solved my capture problem by simply buying two used :
Belkin F5U503 PCI cards on eBay for a whopping $0.99/USD
each, plus shipping. That's two cards for < $17 total

BTW: I purposely chose an really cheap, and long firewire cable for the
tests. I ended up using a 3' Belkin, but they ALL worked just fine.
Additionally, I did not need any additional drivers, or software - my
Windows XP Pro recognized the TI chip & all as well - put plug
the PCI card in & re-boot.

CAUTION: I would ONLY get the Belkin F5U503 PCI card, and no other
card - not even another Belkin model. The Belkin F5U503 PCI card
is the only one that I KNOW works, otherwise, YMMV.

Gene

 

[smsradius]

Just for the records, I got one of these Firewire to USB cables from
ebay for $.99 and plugged it into my Sony DCR HC38. The computer
actually runs Server 2003 which is not supported by the Sony USB
driver, but nevertheless, all I got was an 'USB Device not Recognized'
error. The Sony Motion Browser does not recognize anything, either. I
will keep looking for a driver for this cable, but without such a
driver imho this cannot work.

 

[Cari \(MS-MVP\)]

Return it and get a PCI firewire card...

 

[Ray S]

Just for the records, I got one of these Firewire to USB cables from
ebay for $.99 and plugged it into my Sony DCR HC38. The computer
actually runs Server 2003 which is not supported by the Sony USB
driver, but nevertheless, all I got was an 'USB Device not Recognized'
error. The Sony Motion Browser does not recognize anything, either. I
will keep looking for a driver for this cable, but without such a
driver imho this cannot work.

Have you actually tried to use an applicatin to capture from the camera?
Expecting server 2003 to just lay it down like you were plugging in a
thumb drive may be expecting too much.