At last here's my post with some extra things to check. As you can see from my "signature" lines below, I have what would be considered a "minimum" system for capturing digital video AND IT WORKS FINE, even with a JVC camcorder.
I have found a few things:
You need a recent version of DirectX from Microsoft ( version 9 or better) to get the DV driver "msdv.sys". That driver is then placed in two folders by the installer: C:\Windows\System\Directx\migrate\ and also C:\Windows\System32\Drivers\.
In the latter folder, you also need file "stream.sys".
When your camcorder is connected and "on", there should be an entry in Control Panel\System\Device Manager entitled "Imaging Device", under which there is a generic driver "Microsoft DV Camera and VCR".
This is in addition to the 1394 Bus Controller at the top of the list.
For JVC users only, whose FireWire card isn't working correctly:
This IEEE1394 Bus Controller driver in Device Manager should be named "Texas Instruments OHCI Compliant", not the generic OHCI Compliant one (it must say T.I.). If it isn't the TI driver, you can go into the Driver\Update Driver within that item and select Next, then Display a List (NOT the default "Search for...")!!!
If the above TI driver isn't a selectable item in the "short" list of "compatible" drivers shown when you hit "next", then select "Show All Hardware" and Next, and scan down the manufacturer list to Texas Instruments and find the Texas Instruments OHCI Compliant (compliant is the key word again) one in that list. Select and install it, even though you get a warning message (if it doesn't work you can always go through this process again to replace the original driver).

So it sounds like you are saying it doesn't matter what firewire card you have as long as you have the TI driver installed. I'll have to test this theory out this weekend.

Rob

Of the myriads of posts on these and other forums, of people with firewire card compatibility problems, I have been just amazed that no one has talked about trying another driver instead of another card.
It may not work, but we won't know until several people with non-TI chipset cards try it out. Unfortunately, most people are in a hurry to get it working and run back to exchange the cards asap.

Normally Windows XP comes with drivers so no additional IEEE-1394 drivers are needed when installing an OHCI IEEE 1394 interface. Normally you install IEEE-1394 card by plugging it in and Windows XP completes the installation.

I have two systems with IEEE-1394 with what is listed as NEC OHCI IEEE 1394 in Device Manager.

Rich

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FireWire Survey

Is this a PC-only poll?

As a Mac-user, I realize that the integration of Apple software and Apple's built-in FW ports cause them to have much fewer issues in this area. In 4 years, with 6 different Macs (one with a generic 3rd party PCI FW card), 3 different DV converters (Dazzle, DAC, Canopus), and 2 MiniDV cameras (Sony and Canon), I have only had one FW issue with a Canopus ACDV300 that had both 4-pin and 6-pin FW-out ports but didn't like 6-pin to 6-pin cables (of course, the Canopus manual clearly said to use the included 4-pin to 6-pin cable, but as a Mac-user, I'm not accustomed to reading manuals).

Yes, I wrote it as a poll/survey for PC's.

For the record, I have never had Firewire problems with the six or eight PC's I have used. I have not used or owned a Mac in a long time, but their Firewire appears to possibly be easier to set up than some PC's.


Rich

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FireWire Survey

Never had a problem with FireWire on my PC or a Mac machine.

Counting my blessings...

I have 2 PC's at home & & work. My editing computer is a Mac G4 1 mghz, with Final Cut Pro 2. I have never had a problem I could not solve w correct settings.

As far as PC's are concearned I am sick & tired of the the OS locking up on an intermittent basis. Down w Microsoft; long live Apple.

The advantage with Apple is that the guts of your computer are Apple.
If you have a PC, every component is made by a different company with the chance of a compatibility problem that may not show up on "day 1". Also I feel that more PC users add more third-party devices and use more questionable software in their machines than do Apple users.
This eventually ends up in serious, hard to diagnose problems unless you get lucky and everything works well together. I believe this is why most camcorder manufacturers don't like to diagnose PC related problems, placing little if any info in their manuals and not providing IEEE1394 cables.
My PC has gone through many upgrades and changes over the years, from being a Pentium 60 with 16MB RAM, a 520MB hard disk and 14kbps modem, to a Pentium 166MMX with 64MB SDRAM and 2GB hard drive, to this Celeron 500. The only original parts are the tower case, power supply, and monitor. I have a lot of freeware and shareware, but I think I have eliminated all the "problem" software that affected my PC from time to time. All the hardware is very stable. I also do very frequent maintenance in these areas (at LEAST once a week): Registry cleaning (I use 3 programs), Defragmentation (I use Norton SpeedDisk), and Ad removal (I use 2 programs). I have no intentions of purchasing a new PC as I am very familiar with the few idiosyncrasies of what I have and am not anxious for a whole new learning curve to begin: especially when I hear all the "horror stories" from people with 2.2 GHz Pentium IVs with Windows XP SP2. My PC may be somewhat slower, but it makes DVDs effortlessly. My major problem at present is that the latest programs from Cyberlink (PowerProducer Gold and PowerDVD 5) will not even install. I either get "Application Error" from InstallShield or an error from the installer saying I don't have Windows installed!!!
I continue to use VideoStudio 8 and PowerDVD 4 XP until Cyberlink comes up with a solution.
Here are the components I utilize that work like a charm:

M-Tech M628 (LX440 chipset) motherboard: 66MHZ FSB
Evergreen Performa 500 (Celeron 500 in Slotket)
mixed SDRAM: 2x32MB 66MHz, 2x128MB 100MHz
PowerColor GeForce2 MX video card with 32MB
Hercules Fortissimo III 5.1 channel sound card
Maxtor 20GB (3 partitions) and Maxtor 30GB (4 partitions) 7200 RPM hard drives
LGE 8080B CD-RW
LGE GSA-4160B DVD-RW

Have been with Norton Utilities since the beginning and it's share of problems the most recent being InstallShield. I don't recall any problems with PowerProducer but it did give me initial problems with Sony Movie Studio. InstallShield has also affected Firewire transfers on one of my machines and not the other. After three tests I got tired of testing. Besides since transferring video is usually an hour or two project I don't want to take chances in having to trouble shoot. That's why I recommend re-booting, shut down everything and just use WinDV to transfer.


Rich

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FireWire Survey

Hi Poncho:

Well WinDVD may not be the answer, unless it is capable of burning Double-Layer DVDs.
I already use Ulead's VideoStudio8 for single-layer burning.
LGE service support told me I need PowerProducer Gold 2.0 (which came with my GSA-4160B double-layer burner) to burn the Double-layer media (quote from tech's e-mail: " It's the software that
determines if it can burn a dual layer disc or not").

I don't "really" need PowerDVD 5.0 as I have 4.0 XP working ok, but I would like to know if this is the "tip of the iceberg": i.e. have some changes been made to Cyberlink's software installer to prevent me from using any of their future products.

I have a Samsung vp d31 mini dv camcorder Every thing was running perfectly for 4 days I bought a 3.2 pentium 4 pc was running the camcorder off the Firewire 1394 cable and then all of a sudden it has no stopped working and the pc wont recognise the camcorder.
Is this down to the cable or are other factors at play
PLEASE HELP

I finally got around to testing your theory out and for me it didn't work. I have two cards in my computer- one with TI chip and one without. Both have the same driver and I can only get the card with the TI chip to work.

Rob

Thanksd for taking the time to check out the theory.

I just started trying to transfer movies from my Sony HC30 DV camera to my laptop (Toshiba Satellite A25-S207, 512MB, Pentium 4 2.66 GHz, 40 GB HD + 120 GB HD thru USB 2.0). Since my laptop did not come with a Firewire port, I purchased a PCMCIA card (ADS Tech PYRO 1394 DV Cardbus). I also bought an external DVD burner (Sony). By this point, I had at least four video capture/editing programs to choose from. I chose Roxio DVD Builder (6.0).

No problems recognizing devices, drivers, etc.

But the video quality was really crappy. I dropped frames, I had bits of static, and lots of pops and distortions of sound. What happened?

I had slightly better results when I saved the incoming file on to my external USB 2.0 Hard drive (Western, 7200 rpm, 120 GB), but still not acceptible...the VHS tapes I made directly from the camera look *much* better.

I feel like there's either (1) a hardware problem or (2) a capture setting problem. My guess is that I got a crappy firewire card...but which one do you all recommend? Could that really be making the difference? If you feel the problem is more likely #2, then please direct me to the appropriate forum.

Thanks!

Scott L.