Question for Canon HV30 video guys....PLEASE HELP!

[SanAngeloBowman]

Ok I bought a Canon HV30 video camera as it was highly recommended by some on here and other places on the net I read for outdoor filming.

Heres the big question: I dont have an IEEE 1394 firewire card/port on my computer. How am I supposed to download my videos?!!!!! Everyone thats bought one of those firewire-USB cables has said same thing.....ITs worthless and doesnt work!

I was wondering if I bought an external hard drive with the firewire port will it be read by my laptop when I have it chained to the computer to download videos?

Or am I just totally screwed with the brand new laptop I just bought

Anyone have an older laptop with a firewire port that would like to trade for a BRAND NEW laptop?

[SanAngeloBowman]

great thanks for help guys

[Casey]

Are you sure it has/requires firewire? Many of the HD camcorders today do what they do through USB or an SD card. I have a Panasonic with onboard memory and an SD slot. I record to the SD card and then punch that into my computer.

If you need firewire, the cards are pretty cheap and easy to install into a computer. What you will need to edit the HD video is a pretty strong machine. If you're going to edit on a 5 year old PC, like I initially did, you're going to find it to be painful.

I would suggest you get an SD card to record to, then an SDHC card reader and use that method to get the video into the computer. From there, it's all about the PC and the horsepower it has.

Hope this helps.

[Casey]

OK, I educated myself somewhat. It uses the SD card for stills. Scratch the suggestion about recording video to that.

However, I don't see that it has firewire. It uses USB to move the data from the camcorder to the computer.

You'll need video editing software. Windows has movie maker and there are options out there from Sony Vegas for $90 to Adobe Premiere for $700.

[SanAngeloBowman]

CASEY

After much research and trips to several local computer stores and discussions with people on HV20.com appearantly these awsome lil cameras ONLY download stills via SD - USB port and ONLY firewire - firewire for video.

It didnt even occur to me because my previous vid cam used mini USB - USB ? go figure right.

SO.....the guys at every computer store said same thing. You can NOT add a fire wire 1394 port to any laptop and I dont have an "express card" port to use an adapter. Anything else will not support the video HDV technology.

Anyway the solutionhas comr down to me trading laptops with my wife. She gets a brand new one and I get her older Dell 19" that has a firewire port 1394 already in it. I told her it was that or Id have to go buy a totally new one custom built with the ports I need so I could be mobile on locations.

Oh BTW I'll be using the new Campbell CamerasDream Season Editing program so if anyone out there has any tips or glitches theyve found feel free to drop some tips. I already found some of the storyline lapovers to be a bit tricky.

[SanAngeloBowman]

oh I should add......the recording medium is Mini DV tape and I believe this is why you can only use fire wire. My old camera was all sd card and internal harddrive and only needed USB for file transfer.

But these cameras came so highly recommended (HV20, HV30, HV40) that I had to get one. Tons of film student and short film producers swear by them and put together some pretty cool impressive rigs with 35mm adapters and telephoto monster size setups , grips, matte boxes, etc. so I guess we'll see how it goes.

[SanAngeloBowman]

Some samples of the rigs from that website I mentioned. I'm building mine right now.