On Tue, Aug 5, 2008 at 5:23 PM, John R Pierce <pierce at hogranch.com> wrote: <snip> > almost all MiniDV camcorders capture video via IEEE1394 ("Firewire"), its > the standard for the DV format. The ones that have USB, that port is > generally used only for still photo. > > DVD camcorders and hard disk camcorders use higher levels of compression > that aren't as suitable for editing as DV, however, they are less likely to > use IEEE1394. When I began this thread, on 05 August, I thought we were going to get the camcorder the next day. We finally got it yesterday! Very long delay, for the company where my stepson works, to approve it for sale, at a deep discount....... It is DVD and from a review I read about the camcorder, the quality, with DVD, isn't as good, but, they are very easy to use. No need to buy a PCI Firewire card. :-) All of the replies I got to this thread are greatly appreciated! When I began the thread, I knew nothing about digital camcorders (our old one is VHS-C).