4 pin firewire to usb driver

hanswalvis

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Sep 18, 2012
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10,510
Have a Panasonic DV camcorder with small 4 pin Firewire socket to handle DV output to Pinnacle's Studio on my PC. Got a Toshiba Satellite Laptop as a gift from the family but no Firewire ports on it. Only USB. Found a small firewire to usb adaptor through which I connected te camera to the Toshiba. The laptop does not even see the camera.

Do I need special drivers ? Seems none available anywhere

 
If the laptop has an express card slot I would recommend a card like one of these:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16839328006
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16839150027

I have looked for USB/Firewire hubs and what I found is that the combo hubs require a firewire and USB connection on the computer.

Is your camera off when you make the connection? You could try, if you haven't already, connecting with the camera off (laptop on) and then turning on the camera to see if a connection is made. Since USB and Firewire use two different protocols to communicate with the camera I guessing it won't work.

Does the Panasonic camcorder you speak of record to tape or an SD card?
 
I will do some more research and see if I can find a solution. I don't know that I will but I will try. Does the camcorder have a video out (audio/video port)? If yes, you might be able to use RCA cables and something like EasyCap http://www.amazon.com/EasyCAP-DC60-Creator-Capture-High-quality/dp/B002H3BSCM to capture the video. If you will tell me the model number of the camera I might be able to help you find a solution.
 

hanswalvis

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Sep 18, 2012
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Kenrivers and Cin19 - thank you for your responses. I followed the link supplied by Cin19 and sure enough, the cable is at Amazon BUT reading the reviews on the cable, I decided to stick to Ken's view that 1394 and usb are totally different protocols and the do NOT talk to each other at this point in time. In theory the adaptor I bought should harbour the same technology as the cable and it does NOT work. I tend to agree with Ken that my only option would be to use the Panasonic's dedicated cable for direct output via RCA sockets to TV, connect this up to the standard analogue to DV converter and in this way land with a mpeg type of file on the laptop. However - this entails considerable quality loss as compared to the avi files created when the camcorder speaks to my PC trough the 1394 cable....
 
I was actually hoping to find something that would be a direct connection from the camcorder to the laptop without having to go through a TV. I agree that there would some loss of quality going from digital to analog with this setup. If I come across anything I will be sure to let you know. I hate this for you and hope you are able to find a solution.
 

hanswalvis

Honorable
Sep 18, 2012
4
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10,510
Yup - it's disappointing... I am at the moment holidaying in Australia from Walvis Bay in Namibia (Africa) and I'm staying with my daughter who gave me this brand new Toshiba. Despite all efforts nobody seems to have a laptop sporting Firewire ports so transferring my holiday videos into Pinnacle's Studio will have to wait till I'm back home in December...... Thank you for your much appreciated help and advice