Connecting Canon Camcorder to PC via Firewire - advice needed

Belisarius · 20 Jul 2023 at 15:43

Hi,

Long time lurker after a bit more advice please? My son has uncovered our old camcorder. A Canon MV850i and wants to look at getting some of the old MiniDV stuff we have onto his PC and then DVD.

We have a PC (OCuk built) with:
MSI B450M Mortar (Socket AM4) DDR4 mATX Motherboard
PowerColor Radeon RX 590 Red Dragon 8192MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card

I understand I need a Firewire connection which I don't think this setup has?

What type of card do I need to set this up? I'm assuming a PCIe? And there would be space on the MSi to fit this? No other cards in the PC. I've seen some that have 3 different Firewire connections?

And are there likely to be issues connecting this up in Windows 11?

Any advice most gratefully received.

Cheers

A

EGuitarStar · 21 Jul 2023 at 12:47

Scrap that. I'll post an update later after checking camera manual and looking up your motherboard manual

Belisarius · 21 Jul 2023 at 13:06

I found this link: https://www.manualslib.com/manual/24481/Canon-Mv830.html?page=86

Which is basically the same model. And I think I have the right type of cable. Just not sure on the PC side of it...

Thanks for looking at this.

A

EGuitarStar · 21 Jul 2023 at 15:07

Your motherboard: https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/B450M-MORTAR/Specification which has a few PCIe slots for a Firewire card.

Your Canon Camera and its' manual can be found here: https://files.canon-europe.com/files/soft24399/Manual/MV850i_MV830i_CUG_EN.pdf

Page 86 of the manual says "A driver is preinstalled on Windows operating systems later than Windows98 Second Edition and Mac operating systems later than Mac OS 9, and will be installed automatically." This means you shouldn't need additional software for the computer to recognise your Canon Camera.

You need to make sure you either get a Firewire card which has both the 4 pin port (i.Link) or 6 PIN port or you have the necessary cable for connecting. User manual states "Use the optional CV-150F (4 pin-4 pin) or CV-250F (4 pin-6 pin) DV Cable."

OCUK sell a Firewire card which has the 6 pin Firewire 400 port but it does not have the 4 pin port. https://www.overclockers.co.uk/star...-express-firewire-card-adapter-cc-02d-sr.html

Belisarius · 21 Jul 2023 at 15:23

Ahh that's useful. So I def need a PCIe type card? The one you link to is a preorder. Bit pricey as well but suppose cheaper than sending all the tapes off to be done.

The cable I have looks like the bottom connector on the card image.

EGuitarStar · 21 Jul 2023 at 15:44

I can't link to other competitors as OCUK sell the same/similar type of goods. But if you look at the larger suppliers you'll be able to find what you need.

You will require a PCIe card for this, don't waste your money on the USB to Firewire convertors, huge probability that they won't work.

Belisarius · 22 Aug 2023 at 22:49

Apologies. I was sure I'd replied to this. I picked up a cheap PCIe card. Bit of a tight fit as right next to the graphics card but it seemed to work. Followed various guides re drivers needed and kept getting a blue screen when trying to install. Tried various bits of software with no joy then found Debut Video Capture Software which just seemed to work! Video successfully captured.

Thank you for the help.

A