[plug] Video camera newbie

[Rob Davies]

On 13 Sep 2004, at 8:12pm, Carl Gherardi wrote:

> Hmm... look like I left out a few significant details.
>
> On 13/09/2004, at 7:56 AM, Rob Davies wrote:
>
>>
>> On 12 Sep 2004, at 12:51pm, Carl Gherardi wrote:
>>
>>> Hey Guys,
>>>
>>> I managed to get my brother running linux - and hes been happy with 
>>> it for 6 months now, but he now wants to grab and edit video from a 
>>> digital video camera. "i've got this (windows) software here, how do 
>>> i install it?"
>>>
>>> What is the general process for getting digital video via usb?
>>>
>>
>> USB or USB2 is totally useless for video capture it will drop frames 
>> even if you manage to get it to work. This means finding a camera 
>> with a USB port which for video I doubt you will find, still capture 
>> is USB even from a video camera, but video is definitely FIREWIRE / 
>> IEEE1394.
>>
>
> Ive had a few of these type of problems under Mac OS 9.x previously 
> even with firewire.
>

Throughput?

> The video camera has already been purchased - its a jvc gr-d73, and 
> has both usb and firewire ports(and no manual.. so i dont know if its 
> usb 2.0)
>

As mentioned in first email firewire will be for transfer of video 
which also compresses it to the DV format and USB will be for still 
captured imagery either on tape, but more than likely some sort of 
memory card or stick.

Not sure of model as it does not register on jvc site.



>>
>>> Most of the stuff i'm finding on the web is - get firewire working, 
>>> use dvgrab, open kino/cinelerra. I'm using usb so i'm a little lost.
>>>
>>
>> I would recommend cinelerra for which Slackware has ports that are 
>> native, but if you are a relative newbie to video or linux it could 
>> be a severe learning curve. On the bright side their is a large video 
>> community whom use linux hence, information scattered over WWW and 
>> newsgroups / mailing lists. Remember google is your friend!
>>
>
> Do you have a couple you frequent/recommend?
>

Remember Google is your friend.

http://heroinewarrior.com/cinelerra.php3
http://cinelerra.org/
http://www.robfisher.net/video/cinelerra1.html


>>> I've used usb mass storage devices previously, but the camera 
>>> doesn't appear to act like one.
>>>
>>
>> And you won't, see above!
>
> As the camera doesn't actually use a tape, I figured it was using some 
> sort of solid state memory like a thumb drive or a digital camera.
>
> Are there any video cameras you can copy files straight from without 
> having to worry about from drops?

Usually this is a cause of hardware throughput: trying too compile a 
higher video codec or standard than system is able to transfer.

>
>>
>>> If I need to get a firewire card I will, but i'd like to avoid it if 
>>> possible.
>>>
>>
>> As suggested by Skribe, spend the money, not sure of which one to 
>> recommend, but I am sure their are others on the list whom would 
>> know.
>>
>
> Any success stories out there?
>

Nope, mine came built in sorry.


Cheers!

Rob Davies
rob at rjdarts.com

"It is the world which makes known to us our belonging to a 
subject-communtiy, especially the existence in the world of the 
manufactured objects." Sartre.