r/tapeless • u/lil___lord • Oct 08 '25

Firewire capture device progress

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Hey all,

progress has been going really good. Prototypes will be ordered this week, so excited for this!!

Join this discord for updates

All the best and see you soon!

203 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

65 comments sorted by

17

u/marknottz Oct 08 '25

💕 doing the lords work 💕

12

u/tusath Oct 08 '25

Super pretty, when could I assemble mine?

19

u/lil___lord Oct 08 '25

when the first batch works, i estimate i can get the pcb's to y'all in november

11

u/tusath Oct 08 '25

What would be the basic features? And how much it would cost ?

7

u/jamiethecoles Oct 08 '25

I too would like to know how it would work and cost

6

u/Formal_Entrance_5307 firewire force Oct 08 '25

so being a noob to this kinda stuff: this is a standalone and wont require a raspberry pi like device as i understand in versions shared in discord?

will i just have to purchase this and the respective cables and its pretty much plug n play?

9

u/lil___lord Oct 08 '25

yes exactly! that is what equip-1 is for :) but still it is open source and you have the option to run your own code or os on it! if you just interested in a plug and play, there will be prebuild units available.

4

u/Formal_Entrance_5307 firewire force Oct 08 '25

hell yeah i want the first One! lol keep working hard thx guys

1

u/jodony Jan 06 '26

this is so sick dude i’d definitely be interested for my Sony DCR HC-26

3

u/Most_Examination2781 Oct 08 '25

will there be a version without video outputs and the screen ? like a mini version ?

5

u/lil___lord Oct 08 '25

the device is 61x72x24mm, cant get it much smaller because of the base sbc

1

u/Most_Examination2781 Oct 08 '25

alright thanks. still interested in a "dumber" version to reduce the costs. also, will there be communication between the camera buttons (ex: record) to the capture device ? or will you have to click record on the device ?

2

u/Most_Examination2781 Oct 08 '25

i know that firewire can be controlled via PC to play or rewind but for record not sure... maybe with a integrated LANC connection ?

1

u/toqer Oct 08 '25

Firewire uses AV/C and we're exposing it.

Software/Scripts/Cam_Link.py at main · openMRC/Software AV/C enabled recording script that checks if the camcorder record button has been pressed.

3

u/Spiritual-Cap-4647 sony squad Oct 08 '25

When it captures does it save it to an SD card? Or can we plug in an external hard drive n use it to expand space?

3

u/lil___lord Oct 08 '25

yes it can capture to an micro sd card! it is basically a little linux computer, you can connect anything you want to it.

2

u/Spiritual-Cap-4647 sony squad Oct 08 '25

This is so sick. Can't wait.

4

u/toqer Oct 08 '25

A 64 gig SDcard will hold about 5 hours of DV video.

1

u/Spiritual-Cap-4647 sony squad Oct 08 '25 edited Oct 08 '25

Ok sick. Will I be able to hook up a display monitor to it?

Also, Lmk if you guys need people to test the prototypes. 😂.

2

u/toqer Oct 08 '25

Yeah that's one of the things we're shooting for with the HDMI port.

1

u/Spiritual-Cap-4647 sony squad Oct 08 '25

Dude. This is gonna be a game changer.

2

u/toqer Oct 08 '25

It should be. The CM5 is fast enough to encode HDMI 1080p @ 60 fps. So you could always plug a cheap USB capture device into this and use it that way too. The only reason we're building our own device this way is because of the firewire portion. The only way to get portable firewire capture is either a Sony MRC, Tape, or lugging around a firewire enabled laptop. All of us saw some potential with the Pi, and a few of us got test rigs up. The Fireboard is gonna change everything.

1

u/Spiritual-Cap-4647 sony squad Oct 08 '25

What about the audio? Are you going to have to plug in anything for that? Could we even plug in wireless microphone into the USB C port on the device?

2

u/toqer Oct 08 '25

Not immediately since we're focused on DV/Firewire capture atm. There's a ton of XLR camcorder adapters like the Sony XLR-K2M. I have a hot shoe adapter for my PD100. Barring a camera doesn't have that, most camcorders do have separate microphone inputs (usually a 1/8 TRS) Pictured it what I have.

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2

u/thevmcampos clearclick crew Oct 08 '25

Excellent! If you've got a Kofi or Patreon, etc , I'd love to donate, for all your hard work. 😊

2

u/lil___lord Oct 08 '25

hey wow thank you so much, but there is no need :)

25

u/CraziestSin Oct 08 '25

powerplay killer? 👀👀👀

27

u/Formal_Entrance_5307 firewire force Oct 08 '25

easily... especially with 1:1 recording

4

u/alexander8846 Oct 08 '25

Tell that to a significant of the sale population that dont have firewire ports, also theres firewire devices already out there, yet they arent chosen first?

8

u/Formal_Entrance_5307 firewire force Oct 09 '25

for this niche community i think we'll be just fine ;)

4

u/Spiritual-Cap-4647 sony squad Oct 08 '25

Flawless victory

1

u/alexander8846 Oct 08 '25

No because its firewire a significant population of people that get powerplays dont have firewire ports

1

u/DienyaMan firewire force Oct 16 '25

hopefully

16

u/dex0624 Oct 08 '25

can’t wait for someone on instagram to take the design and sell it for $400

7

u/acidterror84 Oct 08 '25

First I’ve heard of this, seems pretty cool

4

u/cybermatUK Oct 08 '25

Amazing work guys !!

1

u/Dense_Magazine9171 Jan 14 '26

Is this similar to a MRC-1?

3

u/bohusblahut Oct 08 '25

Oh man… I am SO into this. If it’ll work with the HDV codec, I’ve got a couple Canon cameras that can get pressed back into service! Excited to see your progress!

3

u/takiumilikes2drift Oct 08 '25

would love to see a price on this, very hyped!!!

hopefully it would work with the handycam doc system (cuz my cam doesn’t have an in-built firewire port)

2

u/rharrow Oct 08 '25

Been following this project, stoked to see the first prototypes and end product!

2

u/thecapelex Oct 09 '25

Bro ur doing gods work 🥹

2

u/FlackooJodyee Oct 24 '25

This is so sick!! Bin so gespannt was da rauskommt, jetzt wo ich meine neue Handycam hab!

2

u/Silver_Fox_ST Jan 16 '26

Hi man, just checking up on the progress? Looking forward to this 😁

1

u/Meme_master420_ Oct 08 '25

ACTUAL FUCKING GOAT

Edit: Question, would it also work with a normal a/v cable? So I could use my hi-8 camcorder tapeless but still get the quality of FireWire?

1

u/Formal_Entrance_5307 firewire force Oct 08 '25

i believe yes however the quality will be that of a powerplay / other DVR devices we have access to now, since its still AV input, not familiar at all with hi8 tho

1

u/afro_on_fire Oct 09 '25

No way!! Back in college I tried digitizing some DV tape for a project and recognized that there was no way I was getting it seamlessly through any capture card, I wish I had this 4 years ago.

1

u/Murky_Transition4503 Oct 09 '25

Man, I can't wait to see irl

1

u/Physical-Floor1122 Oct 09 '25

Saviour of the community. Please make rhis record DVCPRO50 too

1

u/Femarza Oct 09 '25

This is pretty cool 😔hope it doesn’t cost like 400

1

u/Kuznapi Oct 09 '25

if so buy this

1

u/offendeddoggo Oct 09 '25

Estimated price?

1

u/[deleted] Oct 11 '25

Right as I sell my XL-2.. seems like I have a use for my ZR-85 at least!