PepsiMan …thanks for your input,

I apologize for any confusion, but the SONY Handycam model I’m dealing with is the “DCR-TRV22”.
Also, so there is no misunderstanding, after numerous efforts over the past several years trying to connect the above mentioned device to my desktop (which I have windows 7, 64bit Home Premium installed) via Firewire, I gave up the chase.
As of late, and hence my return to this Forum, I am now attempting to connect my DCR-TRV22 to a Dell Latitude D830 laptop running Windows XP Pro, SP3 since the bundled software & drivers are supported on this version of Windows.
As I’ve mentioned, I have been able to successfully connect my device to the laptop via USB. I have downloaded both still images and video from the device to the laptop. However, the video (which is my main concern) quality is less than desirable, that is why I am now tying to connect the camera through the laptop’s IEEE / 1394 input (which by the way is 4-pin).
Since this Dell laptop’s processor is not all that powerful I haven’t installed Power director. Instead, I’m using the SONY software and Windows Movie Maker as an interface in order to capture the video.
Again, as far as I can tell, the laptop’s IEEE 1394 Bus Host Controller installed and appears to be working. I am using a brand new 3 ft. cable, and have double checked the camera’s DV IN/OUT settings. I have tried various power on, cable connect, power on/off scenarios between the laptop & camera. Bottom line, the laptop does not recognize the camera.
If you look at my last post, I have come across some discussion(s) about a “1394.INF” file that can get corrupted and without this file connection between laptop & device is not possible. I may be looking in the wrong place, but looking under the ‘Hardware’ tab, Drivers, there are 5 files listed for the ‘IEEE 1394 Bus Host controller’, but in my case the “1394.INF” file is not present.
Can anyone shed some light on this ‘theory’, or suggest something other than what has already been mentioned above?

Thanks in advance,
DJP

Hi DJP,

In what way is the video less than desirable? Since it is a digital stream then unless the USB connection is not fast enough, and consequently dropping bits, it's difficult to see how capture over IEEE1394 would be any different. There would be no difference in encoding since the digital stream is coming directly from the tape. Regards,
Mike

Home-build system:
Intel Core i5 Quad Core 3.3GHz, 2 x 4GB DDR3 1333MHz,
Asus Nvidia GT440 1GB, 2 x Western Digital WD10EARS 1TB, 1 x Seagate ST1000DM010 1TB,
Windows 7 Prof 64-bit, PD 9 Ultra 64, PD 13 Ultimate 64

Thanks again Fenman for your input,

Once I’ve downloaded the video from the camera to the laptop using the SONY software, I played the (MP3) file back through the (default) Windows Media Player. The video, for being ‘digital’ (even if it’s digital tape) looks somewhat ‘blurry’ as if it was an old (analog) movie.
Now from what I’ve read and heard from various sources, Firewire allows for a ‘cleaner’ digital transfer of data than USB. Are you saying that there should / will is no difference or degradation in video quality between the two connections?

That's right. The video (and audio) is encoded digitally on the tape and the transfer is essentially just a copy operation. There's a description of DV on Wikipedia here, if you're interested. It's rather technical but you can still get a fair idea of how it operates.

Provided the USB connection can keep up with the rate at which the digital stream comes off the tape there should be no difference. If it couldn't you would notice breakup of the image due to missing bits rather than blurriness.

IEEE1394, or 'Firewire', was conceived (before USB appeared) as a fast serial transfer connection to cater for these kinds of situations but newer, faster versions of USB have rendered it obsolete for many, though not all, applications. There are significant technical differences between the two systems, however. There is a description of IEE1394 on Wikipedia here.

That's my understanding, anyway, but I stand ready to be corrected if I'm mistaken. Regards,
Mike

Home-build system:
Intel Core i5 Quad Core 3.3GHz, 2 x 4GB DDR3 1333MHz,
Asus Nvidia GT440 1GB, 2 x Western Digital WD10EARS 1TB, 1 x Seagate ST1000DM010 1TB,
Windows 7 Prof 64-bit, PD 9 Ultra 64, PD 13 Ultimate 64

DJP.
i have to agree with Fenman here. WYSIWYG. it is a scenario of a dog chasing its own tail. garbage in garbage out!

WMM captured videos had a lot of s/n ratio.
custom profile capture using PD10-12-14 1280x720 30i at 17Mb/sec didn't improve at all. down graded a lot! since it is SD.

in the past i used 14 years old panni dmr-e85h(original price $399.00) using S video connections. i bought a dell e6520R couple of years ago for less than $250 with shipping. it has a firewire, i7-2720qm cpu, 16GB ram, etc... i have two OSes installed on a seperate HDD, wXPsp3 & w7pro 64bit.

in my dell e6520R with wXPsp3, i found 1394.inf file even though sony dcr-trv740 driver was loaded auto...

if you want to spend some money to test to see if firewire transfers are better, then buy panni dmr-eh75v or equivalent to test your firewire transfers. it works with i-link cables.

panni dmr-e85h/eh75v has dvd recorder/writer with HDD so you can crudely edit and produce dvds with a snap!

happy happy joy joy

PepsiMan
'garbage in garbage out' 'no bridge too far'

Yashica Electro 8 LD-6 Super 8mm
Asrock TaiChi X470, AMD R7 2700X, W7P 64, MSI GTX1060 6GB, Corsair 16GB/RAM
Dell XPS L702X i7-2860QM, W7P / W10P 64, Intel HD3000/nVidia GT 550M 1GB, Micron 16GB/RAM
Samsung Galaxy Note3/NX1

If you open Windows Explorer, and type in the search box "1394.INF", then search each of your drives. You will either find that file or find that there is not that file anywhere on your computer.

I did that search on my computer and found that I do not have that file anywhere.

I also do not have any devices connected to my 1394 port. Carl312: Windows 10 64-bit 8 GB RAM,AMD Phenom II X4 965 3.4 GHz,ATI Radeon HD 5770 1GB,240GB SSD,two 1TB HDs.

The 1394.inf is the setup information text file on how the legacy driver is to be installed on an xp or win 7 pc. Once the driver is installed then it is no longer used and some users or disk utilities may delete them to save you a few bytes of hard disk space. Without the 1394.inf file then the driver will never be installed correctly. See the attached screenshot.

Quote ... As I’ve mentioned, I have been able to successfully connect my device to the laptop via USB. I have downloaded both still images and video from the device to the laptop. ...

k.
my trv740, i can only access ittybitty 320x240 videos on memory card through mini-USB. i can not access DV tape through mini-USB connection!!!

Quote ... However, the video (which is my main concern) quality is less than desirable, that is why I am now tying to connect the camera through the laptop’s IEEE / 1394 input (which by the way is 4-pin)...

two ways to transfer DV tape videos are through ieee/1394 firewire or A/V cables supplied by sony or equivalent...

now i go back to what i've stated. you might have damaged firewire port either camcorder or pc side or both. sorry. you bought a new ieee cards, too.

i couldn't find the BarrytheCrab's warnings about connecting and disconnecting firewire cables on camcorders.
p.s.
found Barry's Power-Director 15 wont detect Canon Vixia HV 40 camcorder. and adhere to below, Tomasc's link also.

my trv740 didn't require any drivers. windows xp pro sp3 and windows 7 pro sp1 64bit loaded as if it was plug and pray.

if you're looking for a faster laptops that'll run wXP and w7 is dell latitude e6520 or precision m4700 to name a few with 1394... just set the SATA to 'ATA' and Optimus 'Off' in the BIOS then you can run wXPsp3!

precision m4700 with i7-3840qm is CacoGrande's Is my GPU doing anything ? . most bang for the buck at $300???

happy happy joy joy

PepsiMan
'garbage in garbage out' 'no bridge too far'

Yashica Electro 8 LD-6 Super 8mm
Asrock TaiChi X470, AMD R7 2700X, W7P 64, MSI GTX1060 6GB, Corsair 16GB/RAM
Dell XPS L702X i7-2860QM, W7P / W10P 64, Intel HD3000/nVidia GT 550M 1GB, Micron 16GB/RAM
Samsung Galaxy Note3/NX1

With 66 threads to this post more than likely Pepsi Man has the right answer to this one. Others in this forum have purchased a used dv camcorder to fix the original problem.

More than likely the firewire port either on the camcorder or the pc is fried by hot plugging, using it like a usb port connection. See this article: https://support.focusrite.com/hc/en-gb/articles/207359305-FireWire-safety-when-plugging-and-unplugging-your-FireWire-devices- . See the correct procedure for connecting and disconnecting from firewire.

I Thank All that have given input regarding my dilemma,

Now ‘armed’ with your helpful information, I believe I need to go back and re-evaluated my options and my situation. I would still like to try and connect my camcorder via IEEE just to satisfy my own curiosity. Who knows, maybe it’s just time to move on and upgrade to today’s technology.

Again, many thanks!
DJP

[quotePostId=202649]Hello Forum,

My problem is this; I have a SONY DRC-TRV22 HandyCam connected to my system via IEEE 1394 (FireWire). When I open PowerDirector and select on Capture, the camcorder option (image) highlights, as if PowerDirector recognizes the device, but nothing else happens. Typically, using the i-LINK (IEEE) feature of the camcorder in ‘Capture’ mode, a screen representing the camcorder functions (eg. Play, Forward, Rewind, Pause, etc.) would display and function as those on the camcorder. Given this, I could then download / record my video & images from the camcorder to PowerDirector. My OS is Windows 7 (64 bit) Home Premium. I know that there are no drivers in Win 7 for my camcorder however, the i-LINK (IEEE) connection (given all that I have read on various forums) does work.
Has anyone had a similar experience interfacing a camcorder w/ PowerDirector and if so, were you able to correct the problem?

Thanks to All!
[/quotePostId]


I use a Sony VX-2100 Digital Camcorder with 1394 Firewire out and what cables do I need to get the footage into the Power Director 16 Softwarre? The Laptop does not have 1394 Fire Wire Imputs, but USB. Si how can I get footage from Camera into the Software to Edit?
Thanks

If your laptop has an Expresscard slot you could purchase an IEEE1394 adaptor like this. Regards,
Mike

Home-build system:
Intel Core i5 Quad Core 3.3GHz, 2 x 4GB DDR3 1333MHz,
Asus Nvidia GT440 1GB, 2 x Western Digital WD10EARS 1TB, 1 x Seagate ST1000DM010 1TB,
Windows 7 Prof 64-bit, PD 9 Ultra 64, PD 13 Ultimate 64

Quote ... My problem is this; I have a SONY DRC-TRV22 HandyCam connected to my system via IEEE 1394 (FireWire)...

if windows movie maker, windv and virtualdub doesn't recognize, then you, too got a fried ieee/1394 port...

Quote ... I use a Sony VX-2100 Digital Camcorder with 1394 Firewire out and what cables do I need to get the footage into the Power Director 16 Softwarre? The Laptop does not have 1394 Fire Wire Imputs, but USB. Si how can I get footage from Camera into the Software to Edit? ...

Fenman's way should work and BarrytheCrab's H8 video import or get the panni with dvd and or hdd writer recorder then import them using your pc's dvd-rom to PD16 on my March 01 response above.

happy happy joy joy

PepsiMan
'garbage in garbage out' 'no bridge too far'

Yashica Electro 8 LD-6 Super 8mm
Asrock TaiChi X470, AMD R7 2700X, W7P 64, MSI GTX1060 6GB, Corsair 16GB/RAM
Dell XPS L702X i7-2860QM, W7P / W10P 64, Intel HD3000/nVidia GT 550M 1GB, Micron 16GB/RAM
Samsung Galaxy Note3/NX1