I have a Canon Optura 200MC on which the Firewire port is blown.  The Canon
website has an online service repair estimator that tells me regardless of
the problem with my camera, the repairs will be $157 (unless the camera is
really botched, then it could be more!).

Since the camera is perfect except for the Firewire port, I do not want to
sell it and get a new one.  Nor do I wish to buy a second camcorder to use
solely as a transfer deck.  Also, paying $157 seems to me to be a bit much.

Instead, I want to take a stab at replacing the Firewire port myself.
Perhaps it is more difficult than I anticipate, but what's the worst that
could happen, that I'd ruin the already dead port?  I figure that if I sent
the camera to an authorized service repair technician, he would have to
order the replacement part from *someone* and it would have to have a part
number of some sort.  But I cannot find this info on the Canon website and
I've spent lots of time in fruitless Google searches.

Anyhow, I'd like to know if anyone knows of a source for the replacement
part and if there are technical documents on the Internet that show the
step-by-step replacement procedure.

Thanks in advance.
Alan

Do you have a more precise idea what is wrong?  Is the Firewire *jack*
mechanically damaged?  Or is it the Firewire port *electronics* that are
dead?

Replacing the jack is plausible - you just have to figure out how to
dismantle the camera enough to get at it.  The solder connections to the
jack itself are likely to be fairly large and relatively easy to work
on.

On the other hand, if a chip is blown, replacing a tiny surface-mount
chip on a circuit board is likely far beyond your abilities, given that
you're asking this question.  Even Canon's repair people won't do that;
they will replace the entire board.  You could do the board replacement
as well, if you could get the board, but it isn't necessarily going to
save you any money.

The worst that could happen is you could turn a camcorder that currently
functions perfectly for recording into a pile of junk.  Then you will
have to buy another camcorder.  But if you just bought another camcorder
and left this one alone, you would have two working camcorders (only one
of which can be used for computer transfers).  Is a second camera
useful?

    Dave

Show quote Hide quote Mechanically, the jack is find.  It is the Firewire electronics that are
gone.

Ah, ok.  I did not realize than an entire circuit board was involved.  But I
found a post from somebody who had their Firewire port & underlying circuit
board on a Canon replaced
"It cost $78 labor and the part, which consists of a circuit board with the
three connectors on one edge and presumably some kind of ribbon connector on
the other edge, cost $65 and it took a couple of weeks to arrive from
Canon."

So the guy spent $143, $65 of which was for the board.  Looks like I could
save some money, but I would need a source for the board.  Canon's website
is not helpful in that regard.

That only happens when I engage in plumbing projects  :)
You are correct, if that circuit board has functionality beyond making the
Firewire port operational.

I do not see a second camera as being useful, the Canon was pricey and I
like it quite a bit so if I had a second camera and wanted to use it for
anything worthwhile, I'd probably want one just as good and that would be a
lot of money.  But if that is my best option, I'll take it.

Are there any inexpensive transfer decks or is that going to be more
expensive than buying a camcorder?
What is the least expensive camcorder that would get the job done for
transferring video from a Mini DV via Firewire?

Probably, since it's a smaller market for MiniDV decks than camcorders.

Any MiniDV camcorder at all should do this.  It just has to have a
Firewire port.  This includes a used camcorder with a broken lens or
broken LCD, so you may be able to get one cheaply.

    Dave

On 12/13/2006, Dave Martindale posted this:
Show quoteHide quoteI have heard (well, to be honest, I *think* I have heard) that not all
DV camcorders have passthrough, so the OP would be advised to verify
that the recorder has that feature before sending his money to the
seller.

BTW, "passthrough" is the usual term for this function, if anyone is
planning to Google or otherwise search for it. You can search on
"analog passthrough" or even "digital passthrough" as well.

hamburger@NOT_SPAM.invalid writes:

He doesn't need passthrough.  All he needs is a MiniDV camcorder that will play a tape
and send the data stream out its Firewire port.  That allows him to shoot video with his good
existing camcorder (which has a broken Firewire port), then move the tape to the camcorder
with the working Firewire port and tape transport.

There's no reason he would want to play the tape in camcorder #1, produce an analog video
output, then have that digitized by camcorder #2.  The extra decompress+D/A+A/D+compress
steps would inevitably reduce quality compared to just moving the data in digital form
between the two camcorders.

    Dave

On 12/13/2006, Dave Martindale posted this:
Show quoteHide quoteIt sort of looks like I didn't read[1] the subject...

Thanks for catching my error.

[1] Or perhaps I just didn't understand it :-)

Show quote Hide quote Thanks for the info.
Alan

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