Capture video directly to HDD

[bartnovsky]

Here is my idea:

there are plenty of digital devices (photo and video cameras) that are capable of writing data on the SD/SDHC cards. But I do not need the data afterwards, i want to get them directly on my pc to work with them in real time. All of the devices i held in my hands can do that via USB, but only after you finished shooting video/photo. I know also that a very old video cameras could tranfer the signal via firewire to pc, but i haven't seen such ability on cheep HD video cameras (<=$1500). Though the bitrate (~15-20 mbps) is considerably less than bandwidth of USB 2.0

Does anyone know if such device exists? or could I duplicate the data from sdhc to HDD somehow (but in real time)?

[um3k]

Canon HV20, HV30, and HV40 all can record live through firewire. They don't record to SDHC, though.

[bartnovsky]

I am confused and need your help. I really need to get live record through firewire - however,
they mention only transfer from the cassette to computer in the manual(http://camcorderanswers.com/manuals/canon_hv30_manual.pdf p.67-77).
My boyfriend made a mistake by buying JVC Everio GZ-HD5, hoping that it would be possible to record live through firewire. It turned out that only prerecorded material can be send through firewire. I would like to be smarter...
Please, help me.

[jmartinr]

Try it. Put it in DV-mode and try to capture with windv.exe (http://windv.mourek.cz/)(a great and really simple program for capturing DV).

[Ghitulescu]

Canon HV20, HV30, and HV40 all can record live through firewire. They don't record to SDHC, though.

All DV-in enabled DV-camcorders can be used as "live"-cameras through firewire. Some pickier camcorders need a tape (the really nasty ones put the tape in REC-PAUSE mode).

And all of them can be used as "live" using analog video-out.

[bartnovsky]

All DV-in enabled DV-camcorders can be used as "live"-cameras through firewire. Some pickier camcorders need a tape (the really nasty ones put the tape in REC-PAUSE mode).

And all of them can be used as "live" using analog video-out.

Are you sure that this signal would come out in the "full hd" quality - people say different things so I am totally confused:confused:

[Ghitulescu]

Are you sure that this signal would come out in the "full hd" quality - people say different things so I am totally confused:confused:

There is no such thing "Full HD" quality. You and many others are the victims of marketing balooneys. You may want to say FullHD resolution (1920/1440x1080) ...

You cannot have FullHD on S-Video, the only analog connections that allow HD are YUV. I mean for consumers.

However, a DV camcorder cannot anyway output FullHD, for this you need at least a HDV camcorder.

Now, actually, everything depends on what do you want to achieve.

If you want to "tape" an eg open air concert that last longer than your DV tape (say 3h) by using your camcorder and the laptop - almost every camcorder (DV and D8) let you do this in real-time, provided you use say WinDV and the camcorder has DV-in enabled (has something to do with some internal chip - there are however models without DV-in that send the images to both tape and ilink). You can preview in real time but you will have access to the AVI only at the end, so use an NTFS drive (3h are about 50GB).

If you don't want an AVI, just to watch on PC what sees the camcorder through its lenses (like a surveillance camera), you may even use the default XP viewer (in Explorer).

For the Canon HV30 everthing is explained in p.74 - so it should work.

[Ghitulescu]

I am confused and need your help. I really need to get live record through firewire - however,
they mention only transfer from the cassette to computer in the manual(http://camcorderanswers.com/manuals/canon_hv30_manual.pdf p.67-77).
My boyfriend made a mistake by buying JVC Everio GZ-HD5, hoping that it would be possible to record live through firewire. It turned out that only prerecorded material can be send through firewire. I would like to be smarter...
Please, help me.

The HDV model you have the PDF (HV30) has a HDMI port. If you want FullHD (well 1440x1080) in real time, then use this output to a Blackmagic capture card. Well, it's about 2000€ but you capture HDMI without the need of a FireWire connection.

[Gavino]

You can preview in real time but you will have access to the AVI only at the end, so use an NTSC drive (3h are about 50GB).
(I think you mean NTFS, not NTSC.)

You could use the WinDV option to capture in separate files of x minutes each, giving you access to each segment after x minutes. And using 15 minute segments (about 3Gb) means you can use a FAT drive as well as NTFS.

[Ghitulescu]

(I think you mean NTFS, not NTSC.)

You could use the WinDV option to capture in separate files of x minutes each, giving you access to each segment after x minutes. And using 15 minute segments (about 3Gb) means you can use a FAT drive as well as NTFS.

You're right both ways ;)

However, I'm reluctant myself to such a splitting because some software I used in the past introduced audio clicks at join. What I do is to instruct WinDV to split at TC discontinuities.

[2Bdecided]

The HDV model you have the PDF (HV30) has a HDMI port. If you want FullHD (well 1440x1080) in real time, then use this output to a Blackmagic capture card. Well, it's about 2000€ but you capture HDMI without the need of a FireWire connection.The HDMI output is 1920x1080, not 1440x1080.

Far more importantly, it's uncompressed video, rather than 25Mbps MPEG-2 HDV.

Cheers,
David.

[Ghitulescu]

The HDMI output is 1920x1080, not 1440x1080.

Far more importantly, it's uncompressed video, rather than 25Mbps MPEG-2 HDV.

Cheers,
David.

But not from HDV. HDV outputs 1440.

HDMI is always uncompressed, therefore you need good transfer rates if you plan to capture an HDMI stream on your PC. It needs also to be unprotected.

[Comatose]

But he's saying it's not HDV. It comes directly from the sensor, so it's 1080p.

Also, the Blackmagic card is definitely not €2000. More like $200 (yeah they have stuff that costs a lot more, but you don't need those).

[Ghitulescu]

But he's saying it's not HDV. It comes directly from the sensor, so it's 1080p.

Also, the Blackmagic card is definitely not €2000. More like $200 (yeah they have stuff that costs a lot more, but you don't need those).

1080p it's the vertical resolution. And there are HDV camcorders (Canons and Sonys) that output 1440 samples instead of 1920 over HDMI.

Blackmagic produces many cards, they are really expensive here in Europe. I'll buy one at 200€ that can capture HDMI, could you direct me to a good supplier in Germany?

[Comatose]

You can always import one. Kinda hard to do as a private person, though =/

As for the resolution... 1080p usually refers to 1920x1080, and 1080i refers to 1440x1080, as interlaced video with 1080 height is almost always 1440x1080, and progressive video with 1080 height is almost always 1920x1080.

[Ghitulescu]

You can always import one. Kinda hard to do as a private person, though =/

As for the resolution... 1080p usually refers to 1920x1080, and 1080i refers to 1440x1080, as interlaced video with 1080 height is almost always 1440x1080, and progressive video with 1080 height is almost always 1920x1080.

1. I'll have to pay customs on top of the selling price, that's expensive, I mean REALLY expensive.

2. That 1080p refers to 1920x1080 and 1080i to 1440x1080 is new to me. I hope you've read that in SMPTE and not in WikiPedia ;)