Good points, shaunthesheep.
Some things to think about.
Thanks for the reply.

[quote="shaunthesheep" post=9048][quote="Rentfrow" post=9043The other thing is that firewire is a bit long in the tooth now and USB cameras with HDD and/or SD cards predominate over tape based/firewire cameras at least in the consumer market.[/quote]

FW has never been that popular in the world of Windows. Sure, Sony likes to include it (they call it iLink), but it's not common to most other manufacturers.

That said, FW is still being included on all HDV cameras, and I think it's on some P2 cameras as well. Most AVCHD cameras have USB, but not FW.

Like SCSI, I expect FW to be around for a long time to come, but it will probably become less important and less common as time goes on.

Rentfrow wrote:
The very first thing which I would do, would be to forget about KWorld hardware and CyberLink software. HC42 is an analog/digital converter itself! So the only thing you need is a FireWire port, that's all. I use an old HC30E as a converter/digital VCR since it was brand new. Never had any problem with it, in any NLE software. And I can assure you, that I've tried a lot of them.

I don't believe any PC manufacturer can stop you in installing the simplest FireWire 400 card in your PC. And I don't believe you can do any harm to any PC, simply opening it and putting the card into PCI or PCIe slot. It doesn't need any drivers or software, each BIOS is recognizing it immediately, the same each OS.

Just do it and enjoy your LW with infinite standard definition capture possibility.

Rentfrow wrote:

Now I see your point in a better light. Throw it to Gateway - you absolutely need a FireWire port, what can they do for you?

I was using some PCMCIA cards with FireWire ports on some older notebooks. Does it have any PCMCIA/ExpressCard port?

EDIT

Well, I've checked some ads and there're some USB/FireWire cables/adapters. Some of them are reported to work with digital camcorders...

Hopefully there is build-in screencasting/screen capture with this software. It would be very useful for me as well.

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