MiniDV video to a computer — how?
A consumer-grade MiniDV camcorder records on a MiniDV cassette — “Mini”, because it is the smallest cassette in the Digital Video Cassette (DVC) family, which was developed in the mid-1990s to store digital standard-definition DV video. Large DV cassette was supposed to replace VHS in home video recorders, but this has never happened.
Instead, large cassette, as well as medium cassette, have found application in professional use to store higher-quality flavors of DV.
Consumer-grade MiniDV camcorders can have up to four types of inputs and outputs: composite, SVideo, Firewire and USB. Professional camcorders can also have analog component output or SDI, but I am not going to talk about these.
Firewire ▭ The best and the standard way to transfer video off a DV camcorder is to use IEEE-1394 digital link also known as FireWire™, iLINK™ or MIL1394 or simply as DV connector. FireWire was standardized in 1995, the same year when DV launched, and many of the same companies developed both technologies.
Almost all DV camcorders have a FireWire port — smaller consumer camcorders have a 4-pin port, some larger camcorders have a 6-pin port. 6-pin Firewire uses 2 pins to supply power and 4 pins for data. 4-pin connectors carry no power, only data. You can connect 4-pin Firewire to 6-pin with a cable. Originally Firewire has been designed for transfer speeds up to 400 Mbit/s, but unless labelled, digital camcorders and VTRs use the slower 100 Mbit/s protocol.
In 2003, Firewire 800 was introduced, having higher transfer speed and support for longer cables. The connector has 9 pins, and you can convert between the first-generation and the second-generation with a simple cable.
Apple was the original developer of Firewire and included it into all of its products during late 1990s and 2000s, including iMac, MacBook and even first generations of iPod. In 2012 Apple introduced Lightning connector and removed Firewire port from its mobile devices. In the same year Firewire was removed from the third generation MacBook, replaced with Thunderbolt. It is possible to convert Firewire to Thunderbolt with an adapter. These adapters are out of production, and their price on the used market has skyrocketed.
There is no generic Firewire to USB adapter, do not believe scammers on eBay or Amazon! There are devices like Pinnacle 500-USB and 700-USB that convert analog composite, analog SVideo as well as DV into digital video over USB, but you cannot convert Firewire to USB with a simple cable.
With the above information, how do you proceed, considering that your camcorder has a 4-pin Firewire port?
- If your computer has a 4-pin Firewire port, use a 4-pin to 4-pin cable.
- If your computer has a 6-pin Firewire port, use a 4-pin to 6-pin cable.
- If your computer has a 9-pin Firewire 800 port, either use a 4-pin to 9-pin cable, or use two cables: 4-pin to 6-pin, then 6-pin to 9-pin. Make sure those 6-pin connectors have different genders.
- If your computer has a Thunderbolt 1 or Thunderbolt 2 port, use a Firewire 400 to Firewire 800 cable connected to a Firewire 800 to Thunderbolt cable. As far as I know, there is no direct Firewire 400 to Thunderbolt conversion cable.
- If your computer has a Thunderbolt 3 or newer port shaped as USB-C, first convert from Firewire 400 to Firewire 800, then Firewire 800 to Thunderbolt 2, then Thunderbolt 2 to Thunderbolt 3. At this point you may decide to buy a refurbished Windows PC and install a Firewire expansion card in it.
Scott Schramm has done a lot of research on the conversion from Firewire to Thunderbolt, check out his videos on YouTube. You may notice he uses an HDV camcorder, which can record and play both DV (standard definition intraframe format) and HDV video (MPEG2-based interframe format). In both cases you need to use Firewire to transfer video to a computer. It is interesting that Panasonic engineers implemented DV and MPEG-2 compatibility on the transport level way back in 1996.
USB ▭ Another digital interface option is USB. My video where I demonstrate how to transfer full-resolution video from a MiniDV camcorder to a Windows computer over USB became quite popular, gathering more than 100 thousand views, so feel free to check it out!
Basically, there are three cases for using USB port on a MiniDV camcorder:
1. The USB port is used to transfer files from a memory card, which is used in many MiniDV camcorders for still images as well as for short low-resolution videos. In this case USB is used for file-based transfer — nothing special.
2. The second option is using the camcorder as a webcam. The resolution and the frame rate are low, and if some frames are dropped or the video freezes, it is no big deal; many camcorders have this mode.
3. Finally, the functionality that we are looking for is transferring video off tape in full resolution in real time. This one is hard to ascertain. You need to thoroughly study the user manual, and even then you may still remain in the woods.
Unlike Firewire, USB had not originally been designed for sending real-time data, such as audio and video, at a constant rate. This was rectified in 2003 with the introduction of USB Video Device Class (UVC), while USB 2.0, released in 2000, increased maximum data rate from 12 Mbit/s to 480 Mbit/s. MiniDV camcorders stopped selling around 2006 or 2007, so there were three or four years in the mid-2000s, when some MiniDV camcorders implemented UVC and allowed transferring video over USB.
A user manual simply mentioning USB is not good enough, but USB 2.0 High Speed is a good sign, UVC is even better. Manuals often talk about transferring pictures without specifying whether these are still or moving pictures, and they can mean either. The ability to record moving pictures, a.k.a. videos, on a memory card and record still pictures on tape muddles the matters even more.
It is nice to have clear indication of what a camcorder can do. Here the camcorder can only transfer files over USB when used with a Mac, this was OK when all Macs had Firewire ports for transferring videos.
When connected to a Windows machine, the same camcorder can use USB for transferring video as well, but only on Windows XP; Windows Me and 2000 are too old ;-)
Sadly, I don’t have a Windows XP machine, would Windows 10 suffice? I guess not. Windows 7 64-bit? Does not work either. What about Windows 7 32-bit Starter Edition on my netbook? Installing drivers was a pain, and I want to thank Brad who helped me find the drivers and other software for this camcorder. In the end, this did not work. I managed to start the ImageMixer, but when I clicked on the “Import video” button, it crashed. In a fit of despair, I tried VirtualDub, it found the device, offering only 160x120 @ 15 fps mode, pitiful even for a webcam.
As always, your mileage may vary, all I am saying is that you cannot blindly trust the promises made by the manufacturer twenty years ago.
But wait! I was able to transfer DV video over USB to Windows 7 and Windows 10 machines truly in a plug-and-play fashion using this Panasonic camcorder, the GS500. According to the comments on the video I referred above, people have similar positive experience with other Panasonic models of that era.
All I did, was:
▪ I turned the camcorder on and put it in Play mode (not in PC mode).
▪ I selected USB FUNCTION → MOTION DV, depending on your model it can be either in BASIC or ADVANCED menu.
▪ I made sure my computer is connected to the Internet to enable automatic driver update.
▪ I connected the camcorder to a computer via USB.
▪ On Windows 10, I verified that in Windows Control Panel → System Settings → Privacy → App Permissions → Camera is enabled for desktop apps.
Windows recognized a new USB device, found a fitting driver on the Internet and — voila! — I am in business!
Whether you connect your camcorder to a computer via Firewire or USB, you establish a digital link between the camcorder and the computer, and from this point on the interaction is similar no matter Firewire or USB. In the best case, the OS will find and install needed drivers — some people claim Firewire connection does not need drivers, but I beg to differ, these drivers are just installed behind the scenes if your computer is connected to the internet.
Then you can use an application like WinDV or ScenalyzerLive on Windows to capture video. It is a testament to the common implementation of a high-level streaming video protocol on top of Firewire and USB, as well to the software writing skills of the app developers, that both of these applications, originally designed with Firewire transfer in mind, work for USB transfer as well!
I don’t know much about capturing DV video on a Mac. I assume that it should be quite simple when using native Firewire or Firewire over Thunderbolt. I am not sure it is possible at all when using USB.
What can you do, if your computer does not have a Firewire port, and your camcorder cannot send video over USB? In this case analog connection is your last resort.
Composite video (CVBS) is a lowest common denominator. Usually, composite video connector has barrel shape, known as RCA-type connector. Often, it is accompanied with one or two connectors that transmit single- or dual-channel audio. A smaller camcorder may use a four-pole tip-ring-ring-sleeve (TRRS) connector that combines composite video and two-channel audio. If you are going to use a connector like this, make sure the cable pinout matches your camcorder, as there are several variations. As long as the ground pin matches, you can find a working combination of the RCA jacks.
S-video is a better quality analog connection type. It allows to achieve slightly higher detail and better color separation by sending luminance — the black-and-white portion of the image — and chrominance — the color portion — via separate wires instead of combining them like composite video does. Tests done in the end of the 1990s showed that the difference between video sent over S-video and over a digital link is minimal, so if you cannot transfer your DV video digitally, and your camcorder has an S-video port, this would be a viable option. Do not forget that S-video transfers video only, you need to transfer audio via a separate cable.
Because composite and S-video are analog technologies, you should use the same approach you would use to capture VHS or 8-mm video, that is, you need to employ an analog-to-digital converter and an appropriate software. In this video I explain how to capture analog video on Windows and convert it into a Youtube-friendly format.
In closing, use digital interfaces to capture DV video whenever possible, this delivers an exact copy of the information originally recorded on tape, just in a different container. If digital capture is not possible, use S-video, it can look almost as good as digital if you capture and process it correctly. Composite produces the lowest quality, but the result will still look better than a VHS or Hi8 video, so it is still worthwhile.
