Question 1

I have a firewire connection from my camera.  My panasonic pv-gs65 camcorder is not recognized by Windows 7 when I connect it.  There is no windows 7 driver for it.   Will this product  work to allow my camcorder to upload video even though the camera will not have a windows 7 driver?  My expectation is that bc this card is recognized, that it will interface my camera with my computer.

Accepted Answer

a possible solution from Microsoft...

Windows 7 Compatibility Center says that Panasonic PV-GS65 is not compatible with Windows 7

As a workaround, you may try downloading the Vista or XP USB driver and software and run it in compatibility mode.

After the download completes, you can change the compatibility settings by running Program Compatibility troubleshooter.

Steps to Open Program Compatibility troubleshooter:

1. Open the Program Compatibility troubleshooter by clicking the Start button, and then clicking Control Panel. In the search box, type troubleshooter, and then click Troubleshooting. Under Programs, click Run programs made for previous versions of Windows.

2. Follow the instructions in the troubleshooter.

Tip
You can also open the Program Compatibility troubleshooter by right-clicking a program's icon or shortcut and then clicking Troubleshoot compatibility.

Question 2

Is this compatible with Windows 8.1?

Accepted Answer

Working fine on Win8. Have not yet updated to Win8.1

Question 3

Will this card work in an Acer (desktop) Predator UR20?

Accepted Answer

Since the standard configuration of the Predator UR20 has two open PCI Express slots, as long as you have not already filled both of those with other add-on cards, this firewire card should work just fine.   I used two of these in two much less powerful systems than your Core I7 Predator, and both were easy to install and work flawlessly.

Question 4

Whose Chipset is used? Is it TI? Thanks

Accepted Answer

Yes, I bought two of this since I have two microscopes from Carl Zeiss connected to the boards, and during the configuration it actually installs the Texas Instrumment driver.

Question 5

Will this card read a mac formatted external HD that also have and supports firewire 800???

Accepted Answer

Yes, I have had it read those drives.  If you are putting this in a Windows box (which I am guessing you are), you will likely have to load some type of software to read the HFS or HFS+ file system.   Paragon Software (out of Germany) is by far the best solution I have seen.

Question 6

I just bought a new motherboard, Gigabyte GA-990fxa-ud5.  The chipset heat pipe/heat sink interferes with the first pcie=1x slot, I need a card that is under three inches long in order to fit in next to the heatpipe.  Can somebody please measure for me?  I'd appreciate it.  They should put that information in the device information.

Accepted Answer

Sorry, I don't have the time to crack open my case but I can tell you this card is uber short. Not much longer than the PCI-1X slot itself. The photo is accurate. Maybe 1/3rd an inch (or less) past the backend of the PCI-1x slot. I remember thinking it was quite a small card. Hope that helps.

Question 7

Does anyone else having issues with this card? I get lots of blue screens, having connection issues, OS freezing when trying to copy files over this firewire, and so on... Completely disappointed with this product. And, yes, I'm absolutely sure the problem is with this card, the OS runs perfectly without it. I took the time to test it and re-test it; now I regret it, because it is too late to return it. Don't waste your time with it, don't even bother to buy it.

Windows 7 64-bit, Dual Xeon 3.30GHz, 64Gb RAM, Dual nVidia 2Gb, SSD boot.

Accepted Answer

All I can say is that I just purchased 2 of these cards, and they installed easily and have worked flawlessly in two different machines.
Have you tried the card in another computer to confirm the same symptoms since there could be some sort of resource clash going on?  If so, then perhaps you got 'a lemon'.

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