Technology Hates Me or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Camera

A couple years ago I was wandering thru the Bowie WalMart and found several video cameras in the discount bin marked down to nearly nothing. Being the sucker for a bargain that I am (keyword: sucker) I fished thru them and found a little gem. It was a JVC Mini DV camera for under $100 with 3 different video connections, a large lcd screen and it took digital video.

What a deal! JVC makes professional video cameras for TV production so it had a great pedigree. The only thing it didn't have was a flash drive for still photos. No big deal, I had another camera for still photos. So I bought it and mocked the fools at WallyWorld all the way home for selling it so cheap.

I really had no use for a video camera, but it just couldn't pass up a deal like that. I think I used it once while on vacation at Lake Texoma chronicling my near death experience on Littlesister's boat when we hit a rogue wave . (I've still got that tape by the way.)  I never got around to transferring the video to my computer and put it in the closet.

Last month on my trip to Texas Motor Speedway I decided to take it along and get some video of the "scenery" at the campground parties. You all know what happened that weekend, a torrential downpour  turned the place into a swamp. But I managed to show off the 4 wheel drive capability of my Suzuki Carry towing several stuck trucks and campers out of the muck. Don't judge a book by it's cover.

I was anxious to post my minitruck glory on YouTube for all the world to see, but when I tried to connect the camera to my computer I discovered none of the ports (RCA/ S-Video/ IEEE 1394) would connect to my system. All I had were USB ports. OK, no problem I'll just get an IEEE 1394 to USB cable and do it that way. I found one on Amazon for under $10 and had it shipped.

Man, will people be impressed when they see this video...

The cable arrived in a few days and I anxiously connected it to my computer. This is where the fun starts. As soon as I plugged it into my USB port I get an error message saying Windows can not recognize the USB device. I click on the message for a solution and it tells me to unplug the device and reinstall the drivers.

Uhh, there are no drivers. It's a digital camera. Windows Movie Maker can't find it, Media Player can't find it, nothing can find it. CRAP! I search online for an IEEE 1394 to USB driver and discover that there is no such thing. They are two different technologies and are not compatible even tho I have a conversion cable.

OK, I'll go to Plan B and get an IEEE 1394 PCI card for my computer. They are cheap and easy to install. Problem, it won't fit. I only have 2 PCI slots on my motherboard. One has my modem, the other is covered by my video card cooling fan in the PCI Express slot.

I'm not giving up that easy. I'll get this to work if it harelips everybody on Bear Creek! Plan C, I have a DVD recorder in my living room and I'll just record the video to that and then take the DVD and transfer the video to my computer from that. No worky. I can watch the video, but when I open the DVD in Windows to copy it there is a plethora of files, none of which are readable by Movie Maker.

So if anyone wants to see the amazing video of my tiny Suzuki Carry towing full size trucks and campers out of the mud you're invited to come over to The South 40 and watch it in big screen glory in my living room. Just don't look for it on YouTube anytime soon.

Can I interest anyone in a very slightly used digital video camera?