Review on Enhance Your Connectivity with the Vantec 🔌 2+1 FireWire 800/400 PCIe Combo Host Card (UGT-FW210) by Harry Ashcraft

The card was physically installed without any problems and was recognized by Windows 10 without additional drivers. But I couldn't get it to transfer data from a Panasonic DV camcorder. Years ago I successfully dubbed tapes from this camcorder to a standalone DVD recorder via a FireWire cable, so I expected it to work the same way. In fact, I was able to control the camcorder's play/stop functions, etc. But every time I tried to start video recording, either no signal was sent or the computer freezes completely and causes a cold boot to recover. I found out early on that Premiere Elements 2020 wouldn't capture video except from a webcam, which sucks. After spending some time with it, I tried Corel VideoStudio 2019. no Decided to use older open source technology or free software but failed with STOIK and then Virtualdub. Virtualdub didn't see the video, but at least it didn't crash. The other two broke while recording. Yes, I tried installing older, outdated drivers that Vantec says are required for Windows 10. That didn't work either. transmit your digital video signal - uncompressed and undistorted - via USB. I tried this and was able to record normally in Virtualdub and also control camera movement. Had I known that, I probably would never have tried Firewire. Many readers won't have the USB fallback option I found, so I'm not sure what to suggest. I tried this with two different adapter cables, so I also tried two different connectors on the card. Without change. Two different drivers, no change. Three different software, no change. Probably the main reason I tried FireWire in the first place was that that old DVD burner I used years ago couldn't accept video over USB. And back then I didn't have a computer that could record, so I stuck with that idea. Some of you may have audio devices or other devices that do not support the digital USB option. Anyone who has read this far can imagine options. The camcorder can actually output composite video through the familiar yellow/red/white connectors. But if you know your video, you know that the composite is an analog signal, which in this case is sent twice, adding noise and losing the signal before it gets to disk. First of all, this is my reason for buying a DV camcorder. was to capture lossless, low-noise digital video. So transmission via traditional video cables and adapters (like the Dazzle I tried) is not desirable, although it would work. Again, physical installation was easy, and I can't say with certainty that the postcard is to blame. It could be related to my software or some other aspect of the setup. But given my testing it's probably too generous to give it 2 stars as it didn't work for me so I can't recommend it.