Firewire 400 or USB2

[daver]

Mrs DaveR has a Canon DV Cam thingy. An MVX1i or something.

It's about 4 years old I guess, so USB2 wasn't around at the time and Firewire was therefore the preferred means for downloading video from the mini DV tapes to PC for editing (she uses Roxio).

Question now is therefore: is there anything special about the way that Firewire downloads data or should the same thing now be achievable using USB2, thus freeing up the slot in the PC currently occupied by the Firewire card?

Cheers,

Dave.

[RobDickinson]

Is the Cannon Dv USB2 also or just USB1?

Both the device, any hubs and the PC controller need to be USB2 otherwise it'll be slow USB1

[daver]

I was thinking about the little 4-pin DV in/out port. Currently she has a lead a plug for this socket on one end and a Firewire plug on the other. I haven't confirmed yet, but the little 4-pin DV socket on the MVX1i looks remarkably similar to the socket on my EOS 10D - for which I have an equivalent lead with a USB plug on the other end of course... hence the question

[JonRB]

They're totally incompatible standards, as far as I am aware. If the camera is firewire then you need to plug it into a firewire port. You can't plug it into a USB2 port and expect it to work.

(Apologies if I've misunderstood the question)

[docevi1]

A firewire card is completely different to USB 2.0 - they operate on completely different standards.

The other thing to say is Firewire is more reliable and while offering the same max speed as USB2.0 gives that speed more consistenly.

[daver]

Thanks chaps, I think that fully answers the question.

Cheers, Dave.