Edited: duplicate post - and I am receiving multiple notifications of single postings.

"A quick look at the top 10 best selling Camcorders on Amazon shows that only 1 camcorder out of 10 supports Firewire."

This is unsurprising since firewire has been dropped by 99% of the dv industry. Now answer me this please, if usb2 is a parallel interface to firewire - and just as good - then why are there no usb2 cables capable of streaming high quality dv cam footage to hard drive please - streamed live, direct from the cam's sensor?

Any video file captured to SD card will already be compressed because cards cannot cope with the size of megabyte file created by a firewire direct capture to hard drive. Try it, and compare the file sizes of two identical shoots - one direct to hard drive by way of firewire and the other captured to SD card which is then plugged into the computer. You will find the firewire AVI file is much bigger than the SD card mpeg file.

This is another reason why I want to keep using firewire - for quality.

Many thanks.

Dell supported questions have been answered.

There was a company that specifically made a USB to FIrewire Active Cable for Video Cameras.

It stopped making them after being sued by texas instruments over the Firewire Patent.

Anything further is Not Dell Supported or A Dell product.

Thank you - you would need to qualify "there was a company that specifically made a USB to FIrewire Active Cable for Video Cameras" because it is not common knowledge and you provide no links.

My original question was which Dell computers - desktop or laptop - were issued with firewire ports as standard please? I received a list kindly. However there appears to be no definitive answer to this question. I have checked out Precision Workstaions credited with firewire for example, and discovered that some models were issued with and some without firewire, so firewire was not a standard fitting to this model at least. I would imagine in that case that firewire might have been an optional extra which some cutomers requested and others didn't?

I also asked if there were any reason a firewire port on a computer might not function, with specific reference to the Dell Inspiron 531. I am willing to purchase a Dell supported PCI firewire card for this computer (531) if I can be refunded in the event of it not functioning - no firewire cards on the 531 have ever worked, I still don't know why - I plug my cam into the firewire port and nothing happens, the port is to all intents and purposes dead even though the card has been properly, firmly connected to the PCI slot in the motherboard.

If you're still using XP, I suggest updating to 7, as it has better support and your problem might be solved. (Microsoft will be discontinuing support for XP in less than a year.)

Firewire is not an exotic technology and there's no reason a budget Firewire card should not work. However, unless you have some strong reason for using an older version of Windows, I'd suggest at least trying 7, which can be downloaded for free and used for up to 30 days.

XP is the most reliable o/s I have encountered. However, the computer in question is a Del lInspiron  531 desktop - this one - that one I am typing on now. Originally it was Vista now it is upgraded to Windows 7 Home Premium.

OK thanks, I'm going to go for a Dell recommended Firewire PCI Card. The owner's manual tells me I have a PCI 2.3 card slot/s so I can proceed.

You might try a 1394 of a different manufacturer, like VIA. I think the $15 Rosewill cards use the VIA chipset.

This is what happens when I connect my cam to the Windows 7 Upgrade, Inspiron 531 - it is a profound mystery - please help me to solve it. I had the same trouble with Roxio 10 I think it was.

Device Manager shows both Firewire and cam recognised and functioning, so far so good.

http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p32/r_i_c_2007/firewiredevicemanager_zps7f71ffc3.jpg

But Movie Maker does not recognise cam.

http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p32/r_i_c_2007/firewire_moviemaker_zps121fe356.jpg

And Serif video editor does not recognise cam either - the blue window should show a preview of what is in the camera’s viewer - all you see is a solid blue.

http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p32/r_i_c_2007/firewireserif_zps3b7206d7.jpg

When I connect this cam to my Dell D-3000 [XP] I instantly get a message telling me a cam has been connected to the computer and asking me which program I would like to open it with. The 531 just remains inert, even though Device Manager clearly recognises both Firewire port and camcorder.

Absolutely baffled.

AFAIK Dell didn't test any Firewire cards with the 531/Windows  7 configuration.

If you try the Rosewill card and it doesn't work, you can RMA it to Newegg for a partial refund.

Thanks but I've gone for the Dell card now - second hand of course - I cannot face going under the bonnet tonite but when the replacement card arrives I will pull the other one and try and work out exactly what it is - it's been in that tower desktop for years and has never connected any cam to the computer, even though the 531 can see it and see the camcorder connected to it, which is weird.

Ps. I am over the pond so I can't use the traders you are kindly suggesting - not very easily anyway.

Thank you - you would need to qualify "there was a company that specifically made a USB to FIrewire Active Cable for Video Cameras" because it is not common knowledge and you provide no links.

There is no point in Qualifying a "Pixela PIX-UVCD/U1W FireWire to USB 2.0 Bridge Cable" because they are barred by injunction from

selling them due to a patent dispute with Texas Instruments."  This is also why TI Chipset is recommended because Windows comes with Drivers.

The card you have is an NEC chipset.  That card is Not a Dell Product nor is the video editing software. 

http://www.pixela.co.jp/en/products/tv_capture/pix_uvcd_u1w/index.html

Am still getting multiple reply notifications, I don't know why - but thank you. Are you telling me Dell author a video editing program? As for the card, which I have now ordered, I sincerely hope it is of the 'plug and play' variety because there is no mention of drivers for it. As this is a 'Dell card' I would presume the drivers are already on board? I hope so. Concerning the mythical usb-to-firewire cable, did anyone ever try it out please, was it approved by Dell? I don't understand the Texas injunction, was it over the name "Firewire"? If so there are dozens if not hundreds (thousands? more?) of vendors using this name now. Here's a converter - 'converts USB 'A' female to IEEE 1394 FIREWIRE 6 pin male'  - quite cheap - a bargain? Should I go for it?  www.ebay.co.uk/.../140969038066

Texas Instruments is not DELL.

www.ti.com/.../sllt199.pdf

The quite cheap adapters will blow up your dell frying everything or do nothing at all.

USB Signals are 5v and Firewire are 12v.  Plugging 12v into a 5v device will not end well.

The dell community forum is not for support of 3rd party software or hardware.

Other than the Pixela Device there are no USB to firewire Devices in existence.