Does a Sony Handycam have a USB port?

Is it possible to get a firewire port to plug into a USB port?

• I've got a video camera (Sony Handycam DCR-HC27E) and a firewire lead to plug into a computer, but unfortunately my laptop doesn't have a firewire socket. Is it possible to get a sort of firewire port which I can plug into a USB port so I can connect my camera to the computer. The connection would look like this: Video camera -> firewire lead -> firewire/USB converter -> computer.

• Answer:

  This is not a good idea, adapting Firewire to USB. It might be possible if you're willing to basically turn over your whole computer to the job, but it's likely to be wrought with problems. Read on. The problem is based on the architecture of Firewire vs. USB. Firewire is a multi-mastered bus... like a computer network or a PCI bus. This means that, at just about any time, any device on a Firewire bus can just start sending data to another, without any need to start and stop on command. Because of this, Firewire on the camcorder works exactly like video-out: it just sends data, just digital rather than analog. There's no need to behave like a computer device, which typically starts and stops under direction of a host computer. If you overload your computer, an ongoing Firewire transfer from camcorder can fail. USB is a master/slave protocol, like the old sort of PC keyboard, or an internal hard disc drive. No USB device can just start sending data... your PC has to start it, tell it how much to send an where to send it, check on it periodically, etc. This works great for devices designed to be used in computer situations (and it's why your USB devices pretty much always work, no matter how bogged down the PC gets... Firewire can work in this mode too, but camcorders can't), but it doesn't support simpler devices, like camcorders. You'll note that many modern camcorders use USB for video transfer, but they're all based on computer-style media: HDD, DVD, or memory card. So anyway, technically, such a device may exist (I found a few sites promising them, but they're not yet shipping). But it's a kludge. The idea is, if you run custom software, they can try to keep your PC constantly checking their interface device for data incomimg from a camcorder. If it's fast enough, ok, but if not, you drop frames. In theory, it could work, but in practice, you're asking for trouble... particularly when you can add in a Firewire device to just about any computer: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=40000073&Description=firewire&name=Add-On%20Cards