--- Forwarded Message from David Herren <[log in to unmask]> ---

>Date: Fri, 8 Jun 2001 13:37:23 -0400
>From: David Herren <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Re: #6171 firewire necessary for DV camera?
>Cc: [log in to unmask]
>To: Language Learning and Technology International Information Forum    <[log in to unmask]>
>In-Reply-To: <[log in to unmask]>

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Firewire is not (just) a cable, it is a high speed data bus.

Most DV cameras will also have analog RCA connectors for video and sound, 
but by using those, you're forcing the camera to do a digital to analog 
conversion and then you'll have to capture the video and digitize it again 
in the computer...

If you're going to do a digital to analog conversion at the camera, and 
then an analog to digital conversion in the computer, why buy a digital 
camera in the first place? The whole point of buying a digital camera is 
to facilitate moving the digital video _directly_ into the computer 
without a double conversion and resulting loss of quality. Furthermore, 
using Firewire, you can dump vast quantities of video at MUCH higher speed 
than an analog capture with NO loss of quality.


On Thursday, June 7, 2001, at 05:26 PM, LLTI-Editor wrote:

>      We are considering buying a digital video camera.  A number of
> the web pages I have read mention using Firewire connections between
> the camera and the computer.  That makes sense.  However, we don't
> have any Firewire-equipped computers.
>      Question:  Is a firewire connection necessary?  It is _the_ way
> to transfer a couple minutes of video from camera to computer?
> Assuming other cables choices are available, are they just to slow
> anyway?

--
/david herren, shoreham, vt

The effort of producing good quality data outweighs the effort of making 
the tools to access it.
-Tim Berners-Lee, May 17, 1991 (The "birthday" of the web)