How can I copy videos from a digital camcorder onto laptop (running WindowsXP media edition) with firewire connection?
There are two main methods of capturing, either analog or digital. You can use analog capture with almost any device; you can only use digital capture with digital devices that have a Firewire output. Both methods require appropriate hardware installed in the computer. Analog capture normally requires a capture card, but MPEG capture can be done using an external device on a USB or parallel port. Digital camcorders use the Digital Video (DV) standard. This defines not only the size of the tape, but also the format of the digital data. All DV camcorders produce digital data in the same format. DV and Mini-DV are the same except for the physical size of the cartridge and hence the running time. Digital-8 cameras also use the same data format, but use a tape that is physically the same as Video-8. Firewire (or IEEE1394) is a high-speed serial data connection, used by almost all DV camcorders. It needs a Firewire port on the computer (often as a plug-in card), but there is now a trend in h
