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General discussion

resolution issue usb vs firewire on a sony dcr-hc32e

Feb 6, 2006 11:25AM PST

I have tried usb streaming to my pc the camera limits it to a max 320x240 res.
If i was to Purchase a video capture card and to use a firewire cable would this allow me to capture in full resoltuion?

Discussion is locked

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dv connection
Feb 6, 2006 5:28PM PST

Yes, a firewire connection will allow you to achieve dvd quality resolution. You must have a video editing program installed in order to "capture" the video, and it comes in at 1x (real time capture). Files are big. 1 hr video yields a 13g AVI file. The USB connection is meant to import stills, not the high reslution video. Sony (and the other manufacturers) don't explain this very well, and they don't even provide a firewire cable in the box. It is worth it to get a firewire connector and a decent video editing package. The HC32 is capable of producing a very good dvd video picture. And yes, you will need a video capture card. Some cards come with a decent video editor. Hopefully you have a p4 processor and a fairly big hard drive. If not, it is simpler to go with a free standing video recorder.

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dv connection
Feb 6, 2006 11:23PM PST

One small correction to glennlee's post you need to get a Firewire card, not a video capture card. Firewire cards are $20~50 some come with the cable. You would need a video capture only if you plan to capture analog video.

If you have XP-SP2 Windows movie maker 2 will work, it's not the best but it's free.
The full versions of Nero and Rixio have video editting programs. Here is a link with good info. John

http://www.timwerx.net/odds/pcfile.htm

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dv capture
Feb 7, 2006 2:46AM PST

You are correct. Up too late, and I mistated to place video capture cards have. They do allow capture of video, but at 640 X 480 resolution via AV input (standard AV RCA type jacks). That is equivalent to VHS resolution. A firewire card is necesssary for true high resolution capture. A video editing package is necessary to interface. Here is a very good explanation of the whole process, and a very good analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the video editing packages from a recent issue of PC World:

http://www.pcworld.com/howto/article/0,aid,109697,pg,1,00.asp

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Analog captue.
Feb 8, 2006 3:26AM PST

One of the problems with analog capture is setting the capture quality.
The defalt for composit video is 320x240,,what???
Yes, this dates back to the Commador64 days, when they used something called EGA graphics, all the rave then.
The Commador64 used a standard TV monitor(NTSC analog 525 line)and a composit video cable to connect to it. You could use any TV that had a video input for the monitor.
And today we are stuck with this. When you capture analog video you need to change the capture settings the highest quality, 640x480, DV quality, etc. how it's labled depends on what software your using. John