On Fri, 16 Oct 1998 10:37:07 -0700, "Stark Raven" wrote:

>I am thinking of buying a Canon ZR digital video camcorder. It has a
>FireWire connector and I was wondering if the following scenario was
>possible:
>
>After I video something, I want to connect the ZR to my PC via the Firewire,
>edit my video, then output the edited video back to any number of
>formats/devices: 1) to my PC harddisk as a Quicktime or MPEG-2 file, etc.,
>or 2) back to a tape on the ZR.

No problem... (well, THAT'S an oversimplification...!!! ;-)
Assuming all is set up and running well on the PC, and you
use the software properly, yes, you can do what you want to do...

>If I can input the video to my PC, any idea of how long the transfer process
>would take and how much harddisk space a, say, one hour DV tape would take
>up?

1-gig per 4 3/4 minutes, with an individual file-size limit of 2-gigs
(you would need to capture the video in pieces, though some FireWire
software [Spark, and others] allows you to output seamlessly multiple
AVI files back to the camcorder). That's for mini-DV - if you convert
to another format, the space requirements could be much different.

>If all this is possible, what are the software tools I need for my Win98 PC
>to make it work? (Premier, etc.?)

The capture/playback software that comes with the Firewire card, and a
compatible editing program (Premiere, and others) if you want to make
any changes in the copied video files.

>Also, will any kind of FireWire connection on the PC do? I know that the
>high-end Compaq consumer Presarios have a FireWire interface, but I have yet
>to hear of anyone really using it to do video stuff.

Dunno - but the quality of the capture/play software is VERY important!
It makes sense to stick with proven hardware/software...