HP Pavilion and Firewire

[DLWilson1]

I want to download mini DV video from my camcorder using Firewire (in order to preserve "native", best quality video).  What software and connectors are necessary?

[Huffer]

The motherboard has PCI-e 1x expansion slots.

http://h20564.www2.hp.com/hpsc/doc/public/display?docId=c03500805

You need to add in a pci-e 1x firewire card.

https://www.amazon.com/HP-HI349-2-Firewire-Cable-631333-001/dp/B00TEHUT1A/ref=sr_1_9?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qi...

You add this into the case, boot up and Windows XP and higher should have a driver for it. To download and edit video I use a program called Corel Video Studio but there are lots of them on the market. They will recognize a camcorder connected by a firewire port. You actually control the video (fast forward/rewind) from the computer software interface. 

You might even be able to get Free Windows Movie Maker installed on Windows 10:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bUWqM3jqKI

If this is "the Answer" please click "Accept as Solution" to help others find it.  

[DLWilson1]

This is very helpful.  I did install Windows Movie Maker, but it doesn't run right on Windows 10 and evidently Microsoft isn't supporting there.  You can't complete a download, at  least of mini DV, because it can't access the Photo side of the sofware, and there appears to be no way to install or fix that.  (I'm probably not stating that completely accurately, but that's basically what I ran into yesterday,)

I have a Firewire cable and a SIIG Firewire ExpressCard.  Does the latter plug into the pci-e 1x firewire card, or does the Firewire cable plug directly into the pci-e 1x?  I'm guessing the latter.

[Huffer]

Expresscard is for a laptop. You need a desktop expansion card just like the one in the amazon site I linked. You need to open the computer case and install the card. Then there will be a firewire port on the back of the desktop you can plug the firewire cable into.