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**Guru** · 17 December 2001, 15:53

SB Audigy Platinum EX!

**X-Caliber** · 17 December 2001, 16:23

I am not sure whether it is the SB Audigy or the ATI 8500DV, both of which come with firewire ports, but one of the two (or possible both) do not allow you to transfer sound with your video from your DV cam. You should look into it. I have an Adaptec 4300 card, works really well. If you want to hook up other devices, besides a DV cam, then I would recommend the Adaptec card since the ports output enough power for other devices like CD burners and removable disk drives. You should also check out the power output from the ports on the other two cards, since they probably differ. If you get the adaptec card OEM, you will probably get it cheap, I bought it retail for $65

-X-

**CodeDuck** · 18 December 2001, 04:06

Looks like I should get the Adaptec 4300, have you got any experience with playing back video to the camcorder using this card?

**wkulecz** · 18 December 2001, 06:20

Any 1394 card with a TI or Agare chipset should be OK. ADS Pyro has worked well for me in many systems. Definitely avoid NEC and Via based 1394 cards.

Adaptec was one of the first 1394 suppliers, but their initial chipset is now an orphan. Don't know what they are using now on the 4300, but once you get away form "high end" SCSI controllers, I think Adaptec is crap for mass-market stuff.

--wally.

**X-Caliber** · 18 December 2001, 17:37

my Sony DV cam ran fine with the 4300, but overall it will depend on your hardware, ie: video + CPU

What do you have?

-X-

**Phil Pugh** · 19 December 2001, 02:27

I have a no-name (the box it came in said SOHO 1394) Lucent (Agere) chipset 3-port PCI card.

I bought it (for £21/ ~$30) to put in the new system I was building (specs below). I also have a RAPTOR - but I wanted to try an OHCI compliant card for the new system as support for the RAPTOR is getting problematic.

It works well with MSP 6.5 and patches, DX8.1 and Windows ME. Both my SONY and CANON DV cameras work with it.

**Jerry Jones** · 19 December 2001, 16:28

Jerrold Jones

Wally,

I tested the 4300 by Adaptec.

It's just a plain vanilla TI chipset... like the ADS Pyro.

It performed well... the same as our ATI DV Wonder (Agere chip) board.

Those older Adaptec boards featured an old IBM Firewire chipset that many people have insisted was flawed from the beginning.

**wkulecz** · 20 December 2001, 08:44

Yes we have (had) one of those early Adaptec boards and it never did work right. All the LSI chips on it said "AICxxxxx" so I've asumed it was an Adaptec design. If you want to think of Firewire as a "serial SCSI" Adaptec was in a good position to be a leader -- maybe that was the mistake -- trying to make 1394 be "serial SCSI". Pure speculation on my part, I've no inside info, I'm just another dissatisified Adapted customer :-)

I stand by my statement about Adaptec, but will rephrase, "if you are depending on Adaptec for drivers, you are asking for trouble once you get away from higher end SCSI". I'm still using my old 2940 narrow controller -- got it when I bought my first PCI 486. It was expensive at the time but has given very good value, but once you get much below the top of their line, IMHO you are better off with Symbios.

Glad to see they've gone with one of the two known to work well 1394 chipsets. We don't need "competition" in 1394 chipsets, we need one good standard design that works 100% and is licensed "everywhere" so its produced cheaply based on volume.

What driver installs with the Agere 1394 chip on W2K?

Given when I went to Microcenter to pick up another 1394 card I had several choices: nonames based on Via for $39.95, ADS Pro basic for $49.95, and ATI DV wonder for $49.95. Was no-brainer for me to go with the Pyro because of past bad results with Via 1394 controllers and I've way too many orphaned ATI video boards lying around to buy anything else from them.

But being basically cheap, if I see a noname based on Agere I'll give it a try next time.

At this point, ADS is about the only "brand name" that I'm willing to pay anything extra for.

--wally.

**Jerry Jones** · 22 December 2001, 15:39

The Agere chip boards are listed in device manager under Win2K as "OHCI Compliant IEEE 1394 Host Controller."

They use the Microsoft Device Control in MediaStudio Pro.

No proprietary driver is required.

**Pace** · 6 March 2002, 05:03

Behold the Adaptec 4300

Just been thinking about getting an Adaptec 4300 card. I now know 3 people with DV cams (wow

), my sisters Canon MV400i, JCV GR### (cousin), and two Sony Digital8s (cousin and friends work).

The Canon came with a Firewire card, which I have successfully used to transfer video from the Canon and a Sony, and also back to the Canon.

However, this card doesn't seem to work in Premiere (5), and it only seems to capture at 360x288.

So, my sister wants her card back, to use the camera on her own PC...and I want to get a more capable Firewire card.

I heard from another MURCer a while back that there are different OHCI standards maybe? Memory is very fuzzy, but would an Adaptec 4300 work in Premiere, and grab at 720x576?

Also, I don't have any software as such (the Canon came with some software), so I noticed that the 4300 came with MGI VideoWave 4, but I can't get that bundle anymore - just DVpics or DVpics Plus, which some with MGI VideoWave 4 SE. Is SE a good video editor, or should I look at getting something better? (the Premiere 5 I mentioned above isn't mine

)

Thanks in advance,

Paul.

**johnpr98** · 6 March 2002, 15:27

In the UK some of the best deals for the reliable ADS Pyro are at LynxDV

Check out the sofware bundles, Ulead Video Studio 5 & Ulead Media Studio Pro 6VE in the same box for (You check the price if you are interested

)

Regards

John

http://www.johnpr98.com

**Pace** · 6 March 2002, 17:29

Ta!

Choices so far

<table> <tr bgcolor=#ffccff><th>Product</th><th>Supplier</th><th>Software</th><th>Price (£)</th></tr> <tr bgcolor=#ffcccc><td>PYRO 1394 PCI</td><td><a href="http://www.lynxdv.com/dvstore/">LynxDV</a></td> <td>Ulead Video Studio 5 DV Full</td><td>£50</td></tr> <tr bgcolor=#ff99cc><td>PYRO 1394 DV PCI</td><td><a href="http://www.lynxdv.com/dvstore/">LynxDV</a></td> <td>Ulead Video Studio 5 DV Full<br>Ulead Media Studio Pro 6 VE</td><td>£70</td></tr> <tr bgcolor=#ffcccc><td>Adaptec 4300 DVpics</td> <td><a href="http://www.dabs.com/products/prod-search.asp?action=search&tid=008&mid=519&ob=manufa cturer&obd=asc&stab=ref">Dabs.com</a></td><td>MGI VideoWave 4 SE</td> <td>£59</td></tr></table>
Edit: Don't put spaces in table tags

**Duty** · 8 March 2002, 00:01

I love my Audigy. Not a frame loss in 3 months...

Jeff

**Pace** · 8 March 2002, 08:24

McChicken meal with regular coke

Does the Audigy come with any video software?

And can anyone confirm my problem with low-res captures - is this due to my cheap Firewire card?

Thanks again

P.

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What IEEE1394 (FireWire) card do you recommend?

What IEEE1394 (FireWire) card do you recommend?

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