How to connect an external Mini DV camcorder to Ubuntu Laptop

Support and Help
1

I have a Panasonic Mini DV910 with lots of old family videos on it.

I want to connect this Mini DV camcorder to my laptop, but my laptop is very new, and does not have a firewire port.

I purchased a firewire to USB cable, that allows me to connect the camcorder directly to the laptop. But, Ubuntu does not see the device.

I do not believe there is a Linux driver specific to this Mini DV camcorder.

lsusb does not appear to see the device.

“v4l2-ctl --list-devices” does not see the device.

I found an article online that showed using “dvgrab” and “ffmpeg” to download and capture the videos. According to the person who posted the article, “dvgrab” is actually supposed to be able to remotely start and stop the tape playback, if the device is recognized. Having said that, he was using a Firewire port on his computer.

I installed dvgrab and ffmpeg, as shown in the article:

apt install dvgrab ffmpeg

But, if the OS does not see the device, I must assume that dvgrab can’t access what it can’t see.

If anyone else has had a similar issue, or if they’ve been able to connect a digital camcorder to Ubuntu, using USB connections, I would greatly appreciate any help that you can offer.

Ubuntu Version:

Ubuntu 24.04.2 LTS (Noble Numbat)

Desktop Environment (if applicable):

GNOME

Relevant System Information:

Dell Precision 7760
12Tb internal storage: (2 x 4Tb, 2 x 2Tb)
128Gb RAM
CPU(s): 16
On-line CPU(s) list: 0-15
BIOS Model name: Intel(R) Xeon(R) W-11955M CPU @ 2.60GHz CPU @ 2.5GHz
BIOS CPU family: 179
CPU family: 6
Model: 141
Thread(s) per core: 2
Core(s) per socket: 8
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I searched for camcorder, Mini DV, video conversion, but did not find anything in Discourse, or did not find anything relevant to my issue. I did find similar topics in a general Google search, but none of the results helped with my specific issue.

2

Welcome to Ubuntu Discourse :slight_smile:

Please add relevant information that will help us assist you.

At a minimum, we need to know which Ubuntu version (for example, 24.04), the desktop environment (GNOME, KDE etc.), and make/model of laptop with RAM and graphics card.

A very simple way to gather the information is to install the inxi package from the official repositories.

sudo apt install inxi

Then run inxi -Fxz

Post the output here between code tags (highlight the text and click on </> on the ribbon.

Thanks.

1 Like
3

Hi Rubi,

I actually did post all of that in my original post, but right after posting it, I could not see any content.

I was ready to give up for the night, until I received your message.

But, to my surprise, when I logged back in, all of my original message had been posted.

I must assume that the moderators did not allow the initial post, until they had a chance to read it.

1 Like
4

The original template includes some instructions hidden within COMMENT tags

The template includes

**Desktop Environment** (if applicable):
<!-- E.g., GNOME, KDE Plasma, XFCE, etc. -->

where you’d removed what didn’t apply (eg. in this case leaving the GNOME), but as it was still inside <!-- --> comment tags, it remained invisible.

I mostly just removed the comment tags; but if you want to see the edits done, you’ll see a PEN top right of your post, which will allow you to view the changes that were made after initial post (made in attempts to help your post be readable; viewing it in RAW mode will show the most)

1 Like
5

Just get one of these: https://www.dictaphones.co.uk/USB-2-0-S-Video-Composite-video-Capture-Cable-p/speusbcpd.htm
Linux plays much nicer with USB than firewire.

Tony

6

Thanks Vidtek,

Unfortunately, there is only one connection from my Mini-DV camcorder.

Coming from the camcorder, there is just a Firewire IEEE 1394 connection.

I would happily use a IEEE 1394 to USB, RCA, or S-Video converter, if I could find one.

I found lots of USB to RCA and S-Video converters, and cables.

I already purchased a IEEE 1394 Firewire to USB cable, but the laptop doesn’t see the incoming connection. (At least not in Ubuntu - Maybe that would work if my OS was Windows)

Coming from the camcorder, the only option I have is an IEEE 1394 Firewire connection.

I found a very nice, reasonably priced video converter, but the IEEE 1394 Firewire connection is one of the ONLY connections that it does not support.

Now, if I could find an IEEE 1394 Firewire to S-Video or RCA converter, I would happily purchase the converter on Amazon.

7

When I looked up your model number and found the manual for it, the manual states it has s-video and ordinary RCA video and audio out sockets. Maybe they are located under a flap or cover, perhaps have another look.