Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Dan The Chainsawman]

I bought a camcorder. Turns out I need firewire to transfer the data from the minitape to my lap top. I would just depend on the memory card, but the damn thing is showing memory card errors already. I'm guessing I bought a crappy card, and from what I've read memory cards aren't exactly dependable.

So my question is:

Can I get a firewire board that is like seperate module, like one of those old school external modems, for my lap top? Not sure my lap top can be fitted with one of the internal firewire boards is why I am asking.

Or.. if you all know some way around the problem I am all ears.

[Demophobe]

From here.

Not sure about availability in Korea, but more than likely one can buy such a card.

[Dan The Chainsawman]

errr. so what does a pcmia port look like on a lap top?

[Demonicat]

Is there any advantage to firewire over USB2.0 and memory cards?

[Dan The Chainsawman]

Well my memory card crapped out in like 2 hours. I'm guessing having a firewire connection allows for the transfer of data off the mini tapes and that would make it more dependable.

[jazblanc77]

There should be at least one firewire port on your computer. It is likely that it would have something like "ieee 1394", "ieee", or "1394" printed under it.

[TTC]

To add to the post above. There are 2 types of firewire ports. 6 pin and 4 pin. 6 pin ports draw power from the bus, and are shown in the image that demophobe posted. (they're big, kind of like a USB port, but with 1 rounded end)

4 pin ports are smaller, kind of like the small USB connection that your digital camera has. But look like this:

http://akamaipix.crutchfield.com/lifestyle/2001/l4PinFirewireJack.jpeg

Laptops usually have 4 pin ports. Your digicam should have a 4 pin port as well, so you just need a 4pin -> 4pin cable.

[Dan The Chainsawman]

My camcorder has a port for both the USB 2 and another port for the USB cables. My laptop only takes USB 2 cables though. So far I've managed to survive by just using the memory card, but I'd like to be able to use the minitapes for more than just proping up the short leg on my desk.