DynamicJ

Hey guys, just picked up this little gem, Panasonic GS31

now I want to connect this thing to my PC to do a little editing, but I cannot figure out what cable I need. I know a lot of you guys (nismopick, etc,) are into capturing video, but I am very new to this. anyone able to point me in the right direction? As far as I know, I guess there is a cable that I can plug from the camcorder straight to a usb port??

jason

entropy31

i dont think usb is fast enough for capturing video off mini dv. most use firewire. or you could get a tv tuner card with ins for A/V or S-video or RCA depending on what your cam uses.

RPS13_GZ32

Looks like according to the specs from CC, it uses either a USB or Firewire port (IEEE 1394). Just hook your camera up to the USB and it should recognize it. It may do a little driver or application loading process when you first hook it up, thats just to let your computer see the device. Once the OS sees it, you should be able to access all of your video files by going to My Computer and clicking on your video camera icon (the video files may be in a subdirectory).

Sorry, I don't have much experience with VIDEO cameras, but quite a bit w/ digi/vid cameras, and none w/ Panasonic. It sounds like the same basic process: Just hook it up (USB in your case), Let the computer find it, Open the video camera folder/directory, Select video. Hope this helps, good luck

EDIT: If your computer doesn't automatically see it, you may have to install some software that came with it, many new cameras and camcorders don't require you to install software, but some still do. Or if you are using an older system w/ a USB (older than 5 years), you may have to instruct your computer to look for a new device on that USB slot. Being that this is a new camera, and I assume your using a new-ish computer, they should see each other automatically...

entropy31

if the video is recorded on mini dv tape, you have to capture it in real time. usb isnt fast enough for that. my dv cam can also record short vids to memory sticks, and it can capture from the mem stick with usb because it doesnt have to be real time, and its a more compressed format. firewire is fast enough for real time capture from mini dv.

RPS13_GZ32

LoL, proof that I don't know much about video cameras. It is a good point, I would also recommend going w/ a Firewire plug (if your computer has one). I think Entropy is right, USB wouldn't be able to do any Real Time video, it is really probably ment for still images, and short videos that are on the storage card.

DynamicJ

yeah. I've got a pretty powerful system. I just don't have one of those firewire ports (i think) I am pretty new to this whole thing. my camcorder has a slot for an SD card, but I figure it would take a pretty large one, and Im not too thrilled about spending 100 bucks on a 1 gig SD Card

entropy31

the video recorded to the sd card wont be the same as the video on the mini dv tape. it will be much lower quality. you can drop a firewire card into your pc pretty cheap.

hoov100

you can tell if you have a firewire port or not by this...

DynamicJ

sweet! why didnt I come back here in the last 6 days?! I DO have firewire!