does anyone have any experience with the Canon ZR600? I’m thinking I might get it. And for some general questions,
1: how easy is it to install the firewire chip?
2: how much is firewire
I think thats all
-Reed
this is for the chip, http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?logon=&langid=EN&sku_id=0665000FS10049747&catid=11287
i am not sure if your Camera come with the firewire cord, so you might need to get this too, http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?logon=&langid=EN&sku_id=0665000FS10052004&catid=10445
And to install it, wouldnt be too hard
why not just use a usb
will a usb work as well as firewire?
i have an almost ideentical, if not exactly the same, camera.
works well,
love it.
its a little slower on my comp atleast but i dont think it would efact you unless your uplodeing like 4584357 hours of video
I am like 89% sure you can not use usb. it just wont work… and you need to have a large hard drive or a dvd burner or someting, cuz each time you record it will take a lot of Gigibytes.
o my bad your rite you cant use a usb with that cam
Okaaaaay, I guess we don’t want to listen to computer advice from irvinegr. 
(for Irvinegr: Firewire and USB are just methods of connecting to transfer data. they have nothing to do with the amount of data)
Firewire and USB 2.0 are close to the same speed, in theory. This is useful to know when you by an external hard drive and you have a choice. It’s not very important if you buy a video camera that only has firewire, like most do. Only now are they starting to have USB on some cameras.
I don’t know about your camera specifically, but I recommend you read online reviews to find out how that one compares to others in its price range. I was just reading an article comparing several MiniDV cameras, and their favorite was one from Panasonic that had 3 CCDs and sold for about $1000. They had a cheaper version of that camera also, but it wasn’t the winner in their comparison.
there was 2 different point in that post, first Cant use usb, Second point is that movies take a lot of space so be prepaired for that. i seperated the 2 points by my “…”. i know what usb and firewire do.
Ok, Firewire is faster than USB2.0, but not by much. This is why things like external audio cards use firewire. If you buy that camera, which looks nice, you will need to buy a firewire card (not chip). The firewire card is not hard to install. Just open the case, pop out one of the metal sheets in the back of the case and pop in the firewire card. You will also want a large hard drive. Pick one up for around $100
Also, you will want a DVD burner. Like this one.
I have the zr-500. Pretty much the same but no still photo feature. Use it to make all my vids.
Ok, this is REALLY important.
Most cameras will NOT let you transfer DV over USB. If you want raw, unscrewed up full quality files you NEED to use firewire. The crap you get over USB is a lower quality poop version of your videos. That’s why firewire is often refered to as DV OUT.
Also, look at this site: http://www.camcorderinfo.com/ratings.php
And http://www.camcorderinfo.com/content/CamInfo-Select-2005.htm
And other links on that page. Don’t overlook buying a panasonic, like maybe a GS300. I have one 'o those, and it’s amazing. For the price I think panasonics kick canon ass at any range.
//edit, I should mention that firewire may be only a little bit faster, but it doesn’t put nearly the load on your processor like USB does- which allows for faster and higher quality capturing because your capture device isn’t bogged down.
Aargh! My bad. Okay, change my advice to “read irvinegr’s stuff carefully.” :o
a new IEEE 1394 aka firwire card that is PCI will cost about $15.00 US
And the firewire cable will cost you another $15. Not a bad investment.