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Review on LinksTek FireWire PCs IEEE Port Include PCI 1394A by Francisco Holmes

Revainrating 5 out of 5

Great add-on card to use the old MiniDV tape camera

Many years ago I bought a Sony Handycam DCR-HC90. At that time I had a computer with a Firewire connection and everything worked perfectly. About a month ago I discovered that I had a few tapes that I hadn't imported onto my computer, but I've already gotten rid of the old computer and didn't have a Firewire port available anymore. After reading many reviews I decided to buy this card. It was easy to install on a Windows 7 computer a few years ago and I was able to import the tape quickly. However, I only installed it as a test on this computer. I really wanted to install this card on my Windows 10 PC as a more permanent solution. Again, the card was easy to install, but Windows 10 lacked some of the features of Windows 7, so I couldn't import the tapes. I downloaded Sony's PlayMemories Home software because the support page said it would work to import my tapes via i.Link, but that didn't work. My computer recognized the card and the camera even showed up on my devices, but the software wasn't communicating with the camera. I have submitted 3 requests to Sony support and all 3 have been closed with either vague or incorrect information despite their website stating that my camera is supported by this software. In the latter case I was told that the latest software no longer supported i.Link and there were no other options as none of their older software was available anymore. I knew I had version 6 of their software installed, so I looked for an older version. Of course, I found version 5.5.01 (32-bit) on Sony's website, so I uninstalled version 6 and installed the older version. I launched the program and connected the camera to see what would happen. I was prompted to download and install the feed import plugin and after that I was able to import all my feeds without any problems. I haven't used Sony's software to create home movies from imported footage, so I can't say if that works or not, but at least I have the imported tapes. -bit) will only be available for download until the end of March 2020. I recommend you buy it if you think you will need it.

Pros
  • 4. The LED indicators on the board help user to check the working status of GPUs and troubleshoot connection problems easily.
Cons
  • Appearance