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Do camcorders work under linux?


william
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Hi All:

It has been almost 1 year since I decided to give linux a try, nowadays I don't use windows at home anymore, all my needs regarding a PC desktop were fulfilled (web surfing, audio, games, office suite and photo editing), but the only thing that I do really miss since I opted for not being infected by a virus on almost a monthly basis is digital video editing.

 

I have a sony DCR TRV 140 camcorder which I've been trying to get it properly working using its usb interface, I've already done a google search in order to see if any lucky guy has already succeeded in doing that, but I'm always stuck at that IEEE-1394 thing that according to what I understood is a kind of interface (FireWire), faster then USB, that I'm not sure if my Sony camcorder supports it.(I don't think so,)

 

I've already installed cinelerra and kino, the first one despite of being able to see its splash screen when initialized seemed to be not working (the splash screen appears for some minutes and suddenly it disapears), I tried kino which loads, but whenever I try to open its preferences tab, it warns me that ieee1394 modules were not loaded, so that I'm not able to capture any video from the camcorder, actually it doesn't recognize my camcorder.

 

Sorry for my stupidity, but are camcorders supposed to work under linux? I think it's feasible, but how? My USB digital still camera works pretty welll with gtkam without any kernel compilation or whatever, just plug it and play....What the hell am I doing wrong here? I've been using kernel 2.6.3.7.

 

Thanks for any input.

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I have a sony DCR TRV 140 camcorder which I've been trying to get it properly working using its usb interface, I've already done a google search in order to see if any lucky guy has already succeeded in doing that, but I'm always stuck at that IEEE-1394 thing that according to what I understood is a kind of interface (FireWire), faster then USB, that I'm not  sure if my Sony camcorder supports it.(I don't think so,)

 

I've already installed cinelerra and kino, the first one despite of being able to see its splash screen when initialized seemed to be not working (the splash screen appears for some minutes and suddenly it disapears), I tried kino which loads, but whenever I try to open its preferences tab, it warns me that ieee1394 modules were not loaded, so that I'm not able to capture any video from the camcorder, actually it doesn't recognize my camcorder.

Does your camera have I-Link (this is what sony call firewire/ieee1394), I had a quick search but could not find a spec for your camera.

 

If so then you should be able to load the ieee1394 modules (ohci1394 and ieee1394) once these are loaded you should be a step closer to getting kino to recognise your camcorder.

 

Leo

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How do you connect your cam to your computer?

 

IEEE1394 is actually well supported under linux. Next to kino and cinelerra (which is supposedly quite complicated) there are some more mandrake packages for home video editing, just forgot the name,...

Anyway, there should be ways to do this by now...

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I connect tha camcorder through a USB cable. I'm not sure if there's a I-Link interface, I'll have to check that, despite of not feeling like spending money with cables and whatever.

 

If a USB connection is possible it'd be great!!!

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This is not a double post anymore.

edited to add this:Linux USB. My camcorder is not listed in the working device list for USB support. So I will have to go for ieee1394 interface. I will see how it works, what kind of cable or card I will have to buy.

Anyway, thanks to all for the inputs.

Edited by william
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what kind of cable or card I will have to buy.

Check your pc first to make sure that it does not already support firewire/ieee1394 as it is quite common to have this included on newer pcs and motherboards. If you do not have it already you can pick up pci cards fairly cheaply (mine is a pninnacle dv500 and is recognised fine by Harddrake, although I have not attempted dv editing yet). You will also need ieee1394 cable to connect the camera to the pc.

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Hi William.

I have a JVC-DV500, and have yet to edit video, but can confirm that Kino will work perfectly. I hooked up the Vidcam last night and all the capture controls worked OK. I didn't configure anything, it recognised the cam first go, and B4 I knew it I was watching my ugly mug in the dark . :woot:

My question is, have you captured or transferred video to windows using USB?

My understanding is unless you're using USB2 full speed (480mbps) , video off a cam is to much for the USB1.1 inteface.

I've used a webcam in mdk10 with USB1 but I doubt you'd get DV working with a USB1 interface.

I say this because I tried using the USB1 interface on my vidcam but found out through lots of searching that it is only for still pictures or MPEG4 compression direct from the camera (i.e. to use it as a webcam)

So I got an el cheapo firewire/ieee1394 card for $40AU ($20US) and have since had fun :D

 

Hope this helps.

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My question is, have you captured or transferred video to windows using USB?

Yes arthurking, indeed. But anyway, I'll go for a pinacle card in order to make capturing working here. According to what I read I won't succeed in getting it to work with USB interface, even being 2.0 (the one I have here).

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Well, after purchasing a pci 1394 card and inserting the appropriate modules (ohci 1394 and raw 1394), kino is working like a charm, except the audio that I can hear only from the camera. Considering that I have to use the alsa drivers to make my usb extigy sound blaster working, I think I'll have some problems to figure out how to make sound work with kino.

But anyway, thanks guys, at least it's not necessary to boot my computer to capture and edit the movies of my son with windows anymore.

Thanks for all the inputs and a special thanks to Leo, I've saved a lot of money opting for a pci.

Edited by william
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Kino. Sound. ALSA. OSS. ARRGGHH!!

When I made my first reply I didn't really play around too much with Kino.

But on closer examination I too found a 'no sound problem'

I didn't realise Kino currently only supported OSS.

I did search around a bit about it and read something about editing a source file for libdv that helps with sound. Also having the most current versions of all softwares required will get sound working. I'm a bit vague at the moment, but I have to re-find all those links from my histories.

 

cheers.

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problem already solved arthurking, there's another thread of mine, in which aRTee suggested to symlink the /dev/dsp (OSS) to /dev/s*nd , the place where alsa stuffs are.

 

It really worked for kino and UT2004.

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