Dell Latitude D810, video editing, and 1394 firewire vs usb 2.0

I recently purchased a Dell Latitude D810. Let me start by saying I *love* my laptop. It's fast, functional, pretty (you may not agree), and just all around wonderful. I did a great deal of research first, and was drawn toward a couple of Asus laptops, but in the end went with the Dell because of the flexibility of the "mobility plus" insurance plan. This is an *awesome* machine. For me it works as a desktop replacement, but it's mobile enough that I can take it with me to clients or bring it on a plane.

I also have the Advanced Port Replicator, which I also highly recommend if you intend to use your laptop as a desktop replacement. My laptop usually sits closed on my desk, and I use a monitor, mouse, keyboard, printer, external hard-drive, and external dvd burner, all hooked up to the APR. Drop the laptop in the APR, power-on, and it's like having a desktop computer. When it's time to go, no cables to unplug, just undock and go.

However, when I researched the D810, I was surprised to find that it has no 1394a firewire port. The APR also does not have firewire. The older model, the Latitude D800, has this port, so why doesn't the newer model? It seemed like no big deal to me, though, because the D810 has USB 2.0, which is faster than firewire (480 vs 400 mps).

Now, I've started using my D810 for video editing. My camcorder allows me to capture video via USB 2.0. Here is the problem:

-> Adobe Premiere Elements only captures video using firewire! I'd like to use Premiere Elements instead of Windows Movie Maker.

-> I am now told that USB 2.0 is NOT faster than firewire, that firewire may technically be slower but in actual practice is faster and better for certain applications, including video editing!

I have noticed that when I capture video via USB 2.0 in Windows Movie Maker, the quality of the video is significantly reduced. After reading some articles on the web, I have the impression that this is inevitable. A dv camcorder captures video at 640x480, 30 frames a second. This is too much data to transfer down either a firewire or usb pipe. So the resolution must be reduced to 320x240 and/or the framerate has to be reduced. (Can anyone confirm for me whether or not I have this information correct?)

So, here are my questions:

1) Will firewire do any better than USB for capturing video from my camcorder (which has ports for both)?

2) Is there any way to capture video at FULL quality, FULL speed? Can firewire do that? Why can't USB do that?

3) Has anyone else added firewire to your Latitude D810? Do you recommend a particular card? I wish there were a way to put a firewire port on the APR.

Thanks!

-Patrick
Latitude D810, 2ghz, 1 gig ram, 60 gig 7200 rpm hard-drive, bluetooth

p.s. Anyone else use D810 for video editing? I'd love to hear your experiences, what software you like, any tips, etc.

 

Patrick,

Deja vu.... I was looking at the D810 for video editing, but was put off by the lack of Firewire, But the PC Cards are not expensive, one example is : http://www.aver.com/products/dvm_AVerDVD_ezMaker_1394.shtm.

I wonder whether these cards are faster than the built in 1394 ports?

I also was abit put off by the chunkiness of the D810, but it is a personal thing. I am now looking at the HP nx8220 which also offer 4 year nbd onsite warrranties.

Good luck with your endeavours.

Sam

 

1. capture quality should have nothing to do with the transfer technology. check your capture settings in whatever app you are using

2. see above

3. i added firewire via PC card to my previous dell laptop running premiere

 

i have a question about this..not completely tho...but i have a digital video camera..and when i connect it to my laptop thru usb 2.0...and i go to windows movie maker and clik capture...it won't capture...it says that nothing is plugged in..and when i check what is plugged in...it only shows the pictures from it...i have a sony handicam dvc video camera that has a camera built into it as well...do u know how i could fix it??...or would i have to get the cable to connect it thru the 1394 port to make it work...??

 

I don't know what camcorder you have but I have a Sony and it has both usb and firewire. Now the real world is that usb 2.0 IS slightly faster than firewire BUT the Sony implementation of it is(was) junk. If you read the fine print you will find that the camcorder slows the data stream and the result is junk. They might as well remove the interface it is useless. So in this case firewire is MUCH faster.

Another thing to note is I believe that the mcia buss is around 100mhz about 1/5 of firewire so I would think that a firewire card hooked up this way may not be too good either. I had one and had no luckat all though the computer was also junk so I am not sure.

 

that still doesn't answer my question tho

 

Sorry I was reading at the top. I have a Sony camcorder without the camera and they seem to have purposly screwed up the usb. I would use the firewire. I have used the one in the 9300 with no problems. As far as the resolution, you get the full resolution through the firewire not the usb (It's the junk Sony camera)

The firewire works better if I remember right, you get camera control too.

Go on eBay and get a cable (I bought a couple of lengths) on there they are only a couple of bucks each not $30 like BestBuy.

I just looked at your signature if you still have performance problems get more ram you may be having page fault problems.

 

ok..thanks ..i'll look into getting the firewire cable

 

Just wanted to follow up on this.

I bought a firewire card for *very* cheap on newegg.com, and also Adobe Premiere Elements.

It works *great*. When I capture video, the quality is much better than before.

I do wish the D810 had firewire built in and/or that the advanced port replicator had it, but this is a pretty good solution.