Wanted to Borrow/buy - Sony Mini DV video cable

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shk292

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#318031 8-Dec-2024 20:31

Hi everyone, my son is making some retro movies but we're a bit stuck on how to get the recorded movies from the camera (Sony DCR-PC103E) to computer. Back in the day I had a PC with firewire, but that machine no longer wants to boot up and putting the interface card in a newer machine stops it from booting.

So, plan B is to transfer to a DVD recorder via the composite video out, but we need the cable to do this - can anyone help? It's on ebay here but won't ship to NZ:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/AV-A-V-TV-Video-Cable-Cord-Lead-For-Sony-Camcorder-Handycam-DCR-PC100E-PC103E-/282483031769?_ul=IN

Pictured below also - the important bit is the small D-shaped connector

Would like to borrow/rent/buy one of these if anyone has one, I'm on Auckland NS but would pay for postage

Thanks

AV A/V TV Video Cable Cord Lead For Sony Camcorder Handycam DCR-PC100E PC103E - Picture 1 of 3

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#3318210 8-Dec-2024 22:23

You can still get Firewire PCIe cards and cables - try aliexpress.com.

shk292

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#3318234 9-Dec-2024 06:58

fe31nz:
You can still get Firewire PCIe cards and cables - try aliexpress.com.

Thanks, I'll probably buy one of those as a longer term solution but he's keen to get his edits done in the next week or so, so I'm hoping for a short term fix also

fe31nz

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#3318598 9-Dec-2024 22:28

Just be aware that composite video will give you a degraded picture compared to firewire. With firewire, you are transferring the digital data directly off the tape. With composite video, the digital signal is being converted to analogue with considerable degradation in the process. And then whatever you are feeding the composite video into will convert back to a digital format, usually with further degradation due to using a lossy compression codec. If possible, you should at least prevent the composite to digital conversion from using lossy compression - see if you can get it to store uncompressed or using a lossless compression codec such as HuffyYUV. The resulting files will be huge (gigabyte per minute), but then you can do your edits on those files and then finally do a lossy compression on the edited result.

Jaxson

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#3318599 9-Dec-2024 22:41

Firewire requires a compatible card/socket on your pc and these are not common these days.
Also need to download specific capture software for FireWire camera control for mini dv tapes.
There is no FireWire to usb conversion.

nova

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#3318600 9-Dec-2024 23:01

An old mac might be worth considering (pre 2012ish should have firewire). You sometimes see people selling old imacs in the $50 range, but a mac mini might be more convenient. Something like this should probably work and has a decent amount of storage for video editing:

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/1927385401067486

Jaxson

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#3318606 10-Dec-2024 02:13

Great idea on the iMac approach.
FYI I found recent premiere pro software versions from Adobe no longer support dv capture.
Assume iMovie would still be suitable for this purpose on the older iMac with FireWire hardware.

Goosey

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#3318615 10-Dec-2024 07:08

I’d suggest you get in touch with Auckland Camera centre or photo warehouse in Auckland. There’s also Photo&Video in Christchurch.

Ya just never know what they have lurking around…

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lchiu7

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#3318670 10-Dec-2024 07:48

Just will add my own experiences here. I transferred all my videotapes (VHS, Hi8 and Digital8) using Firewire.

For the Digital8 the camcorder outputs a Firewire signal which I then passed into either a Windows 7 laptop with a PCMCIA FIrewire card or my desktop running Windows 10 in which I had installed a cheap Firerwire card.

For the analogue devices I fed the signal into a Canopus ADVC110 FireWire adapter that can take analogue video input and output a firewires signal that I can capture with my FireWire adapters. The DV video I then edited in Premier Pro. Worked pretty well for me.

Staying in Wellington. Check out my AirBnB in the Wellington CBD. https://www.airbnb.co.nz/h/wellycbd PM me and mention GZ to get a 15% discount and no AirBnB charges.

shk292

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#3318681 10-Dec-2024 08:13

Hi all, thanks so much for the helpful replies and info. Technology marches on and what used to be commonplace suddenly is a museum piece. Last evening I had a revelation and remembered there is an old DVD recorder in the attic that has a firewire interface so we got that out and sure enough it will talk to the camera. But, its disc drawer won't open! So next step is to take its video output and connect into its modern equivalent, record to hard drive then transfer to a DVD. So far so good, now I just need to find a PC at home with a working optical drive and I can probably get the files onto a HDD ready for editing.
Quite a convoluted process, and not the greatest quality due to the analogue step in the middle but it'll do. I think I'll get a new firewire card for the PC for next time, also so I can archive any old tapes I want to keep. I'll also have a look at the old imac idea.
Thanks again all

lchiu7

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#3318688 10-Dec-2024 08:44

If you have a PC then I would probably buy something ike this

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32750183822.html

AliExpress is now shipping within 10 days now - a change I guess to compete with Temu. Then you don't have to worry about the DVD recorder.

Staying in Wellington. Check out my AirBnB in the Wellington CBD. https://www.airbnb.co.nz/h/wellycbd PM me and mention GZ to get a 15% discount and no AirBnB charges.

Jaxson

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#3318704 10-Dec-2024 09:20

lchiu7:
If you have a PC then I would probably buy something ike this

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32750183822.html

AliExpress is now shipping within 10 days now - a change I guess to compete with Temu. Then you don't have to worry about the DVD recorder.

I did the same From Amazon in Australia.

The intermediate device approach works if you have say an analogue output camera, which you can feed into the FireWire connected device. No ideal long term but still workable.

Warning to anyone reading this sitting with old mini dv tapes - transfer these now whilst you can still find devices to play them AND the mechanical tapes are still in ok condition. I have some that have deteriorated and frustratingly I’ve left it too late to get a quality transfer now without dropped frames, despite trying in two different camera players.

lchiu7

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#3318714 10-Dec-2024 10:11

Jaxson:
lchiu7:

If you have a PC then I would probably buy something ike this

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32750183822.html

AliExpress is now shipping within 10 days now - a change I guess to compete with Temu. Then you don't have to worry about the DVD recorder.

I did the same From Amazon in Australia.

The intermediate device approach works if you have say an analogue output camera, which you can feed into the FireWire connected device. No ideal long term but still workable.

That is what I use this for

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/349146-REG/Grass_Valley_602029_ADVC_110_Bidirectional_Media_Converter.html

Warning to anyone reading this sitting with old mini dv tapes - transfer these now whilst you can still find devices to play them AND the mechanical tapes are still in ok condition. I have some that have deteriorated and frustratingly I’ve left it too late to get a quality transfer now without dropped frames, despite trying in two different camera players.

Can't stress this part strongly enough. I transferred across tons of Hi8 videos going back 30 years and while they played okay I was relying on both the tapes still being playable the the camcorder I used to record them still able to play them.

Staying in Wellington. Check out my AirBnB in the Wellington CBD. https://www.airbnb.co.nz/h/wellycbd PM me and mention GZ to get a 15% discount and no AirBnB charges.

shk292

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#3318741 10-Dec-2024 11:12

We used to edit the videos and compile onto DVDs at the time, so most are sort of backed up in that way, although my confidence in writeable media as long term storage is low. So, I think that getting a firewire card and banking the tapes up to hard drive is the way ahead. Either that or imaging the DVDs onto storage

lchiu7

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#3318774 10-Dec-2024 13:33

shk292: We used to edit the videos and compile onto DVDs at the time, so most are sort of backed up in that way, although my confidence in writeable media as long term storage is low. So, I think that getting a firewire card and banking the tapes up to hard drive is the way ahead. Either that or imaging the DVDs onto storage

Good reminder,. Back the day after capturing the videos into DV format. I authored them all to DVD so that was MPE2 and ended up with disks with VOB files on them. I am not sure I have the original capture file anymore but ideally I would go back and recapture them and keep the DV files and save them somewhere safe. Can't really guaranteee how long the DVD-R discs are going to last.

Staying in Wellington. Check out my AirBnB in the Wellington CBD. https://www.airbnb.co.nz/h/wellycbd PM me and mention GZ to get a 15% discount and no AirBnB charges.

Jaxson

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#3318779 10-Dec-2024 14:21

Yes all physical media will have a limited lifespan.
Vob can be worked with but dvd had a compression element to it, so the original mini dv tape via FireWire is better if you can achieve it.

I’m following likes of topaz suite for enhancement of what is now ridickulously low res source content by todays standards.

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