Panasonic nv-gs11 - Part 2- trying Firewire capture/transfer to Ubuntu PC and quick re-encode

[@MrGorian22]

Hmm, curious that you would go through the effort of doing it on an Ubuntu OS instead of just using Windows

[@Slon104]

Yeah Well I got this old laptop with 2GB of RAM (I belie) and intel core 2 duo.... (no USB 3.0 just 100 mbit Ethernet) It is just that I am spoiled by windows 10 automatic driver install and was not feeling like to setup an XP, 7 or 8.1. By the way windows 10 wold kill this laptop with just windows defender running. Ubuntu prose: 1. the latest version can be installed 2. automatic driver install 3. really helpful community ( it is just easier to google "Ubuntu...(problem)" then "Windows XP/7/8.1.... problem" Had just one problem with graphics that I was not able to capture in OBS, the wallpaper... and was not able to playback the video that I captured but If I wold search for an driver I believe that I wold solve this issue. AnyDesk was working for some reason right out of the box so I just moved all of the RAW captures to my PC and yeah. Was surprised that it just worked on first take. Ubuntu had some problems booting up and some times when I was trying things it just froze. But I think that it was cause the Firewire being Firewire and I can not imagine how frustrating this process could have be on windows as ubuntu was handling the HW lockup pretty nicely. When I figure out what works and what not to do I was able to capture all my tapes in one go :)

[@MrGorian22]

@@Slon104 Thanks for the response, I guess that's fair enough, I did my transfers using a laptop with an Intel Core 2 Duo and the PC originally had 2GB of RAM which I then upgraded to have 4GB (this is super cheap and easy nowadays because the DDR2 RAM that these old laptops often came with is worthless). As well as that the laptop originally came with Windows XP, but I was running Windows 8.1 at the time. The only two issues I ran into when trying to do it on my old laptop was that the Firewire IEEE 1394 driver's don't automatically come with Windows 8 or Windows 10, they have to be downloaded from Windows here: support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/2970191/firewire-port-based-device-does-not-work-correctly-in-windows-8-1-or-w But as for the speed of the actual laptop itself, mine ran perfectly fine with it's original spinning disk Hard Drive, and I believe performance can be significantly improved if you throw in a cheap 120GB SSD as the CPU is still more than capable, I was running Scenalyzer to capture the footage and the CPU topped out at around 30%-40% which I was very surprised to see, but it clearly meant the CPU had no issues keeping up with the MiniDV capture through Firewire. Anyway, I'm just typing this out as someone may see it years from now, it looks like you've managed to capture everything.

[@ваня-я9ю6ф]

Can u give me link for this all drivers? i have such camera/ i need this very

[@halseykale9930]

ok man but a half hour video without voice over is almost useless. I need to know how to do this with a Panasonic nv gs27 and windows 10 x64 via firewire and I can't really understand what you are doing here

[@MrGorian22]

Here halsey, here's a quick rundown of what I was doing: If you're looking for the absolute best transfer for MiniDV Tapes, you'll want to transfer the footage through a Firewire 4 pin cable which would most likely be labelled as the 'DV' Port on your camcorder. This type of transfer will be a direct bit-for-bit transfer of what's on the tape to your computer and quality will not suffer. You'll have to do more research on this but this is basically the main things you'll need: A MiniDV Camcorder that has a DV (Firewire 4 pin) port A laptop or desktop with a Firewire Port (Desktops often use 6 pin and laptops often use 4 pin) A Firewire Cable (Either 4 pin to 4 pin OR 4 pin to 6 pin depending on your computer) IT'S VERY IMPORTANT TO USE Reputable DV Capture Software such as Scenalyzer or WinDV, they're old programs, but they work great for DV Cameras on Windows 10 and can be downloaded online with ease. As for the rest or if you run into some issues, you'll have to look through Google and Forums, most new computers don't have a Firewire port but it would be worth getting a Firewire desktop card if you have a desktop or an old laptop with a Firewire port as they should be relatively cheap, I promise it's well worth it. P.S. DO NOT buy a Firewire to USB cable, they don't really work

[@halseykale9930]

@@MrGorian22 ok thanks man. I managed to find a FireWire PCI for my pc pc. Just a question because I'm not used to DV cameras: I have some very old miniDV cassettes and when I play them the video on the LCD sort of get pixeled and buggy. Will the video be that buggy when I transfer it on pc or is it just a camera bug (maybe because it's from 2005)?

[@MrGorian22]

@@halseykale9930 I'm not sure, probably the easiest way to test whether it's just a camera bug or if it'll show up that badly on the final image would be to use the AV Out Jack on the camera and hook it up to the composite ports on a TV, I assume you would already have the cable for this? As this is how I originally viewed the output, I wouldn't capture using this port though as it's an analog signal to the TV. Also, are you saying you've found a Firewire PCI laying around the house or did you order it online? Let me know how it goes.

[@halseykale9930]

@@MrGorian22 yeah by connecting to the TV I should be able to see whether it's a camera problem or the actual tape is bugged, thanks. No, I ordered one online, it'll take one or two weeks to be delivered I guess.

[@MrGorian22]

@@halseykale9930 Anytime :D Can't wait to hear what happens when you've got everything together, I assume you're good with computers because you have a desktop so that says alot.😁