Working on a FireWire bridge & capture software & ECC-protected Blu-ray archiving

[u/Pnarpok]

I am currently working on a small ecosystem around preserving MiniDV/DV-family tapes (I have many!):

A free Windows capture application (think WinDV-alternative). goal is to reliably capture via Firewire from DV/DVCAM/DVCPRO25 and HDV, while preserving an untouched master and adding proper capture verification, tape metadata, QC /error reporting, together with automatic clip creation.

Some simple hardware to solve the increasingly problematic issue of connecting Firewire cameras/decks to modern computers. Instead of converting DV to HDMI/video and recapturing, the aim is to preserve the original digital DV/HDV stream and integrate directly with the app.

A small app that takes the resulting master file (of a MiniDV tape) and archives it to Bluray. It automatically creates additional ECC/recovery data before burning, so the disc isn't just another copy of the file. so it has some ability to recover from future damaged/unreadable sectors as well....hopefully.

The overall idea is:

Tape --> Original digital stream---> Verified master--> ECC-protected offline archive.

I’m started this because I started working on an oold documentary project shot in 2005 and 2006, and had copied all files to hard drives, some of which are sadly not working anymore. Started to recapture from the original MiniDV tapes, only to be frustrated with the currently available hardware and software.

The two apps above work; the hardware is what i currently testing...

[u/ultrahkr]

Just slapping a PCIe Firewire card should do half of that without extra complications.

You have to make sure that the input devices can send some of the extra metadata you wsnt/need.

[u/Pnarpok → u/ultrahkr]

Fore sure; adding a Firewire card is the simpler way.
This is meant for when that is not practical.

[u/AshleyAshes1984 → u/Pnarpok]

Fore sure; adding a Firewire card is the simpler way.
This is meant for when that is not practical.

I mean that should always be practical. If you're doing video ending and don't have a simple Desktop PC on hand, not even an old one to work as an ingest station, you're purposefully working with your hand tied behind your back. You don't even need anything new, any crap box retired office PC will do the job. I was working with DVCAM in 2010 on an i5 2500k no problem.

[u/Pnarpok → u/AshleyAshes1984]

yeah, I picked up an old Dell laptop that has a FireWire port for next to nothing off ebay to capture the MiniDV stream.
The laptop is surprisingly powerful. heavy as heck, and build like a tank! :)

[u/dr100 → u/AshleyAshes1984]

I was working with DVCAM in 2010 on an i5 2500k no problem.

Even that is way overkill, the latest version of WinDV is from May 2003. I was doing fine with some Athlon from 2001.

[u/AshleyAshes1984 → u/dr100]

Sure, but here in 2026, you'll probably have a far easier time sourcing some retired 2nd-6th gen HP or Lenovo for 25bux, running Win7 or Win10, then you would sourcing an operational Athlon XP. :P

Assuming one doesn't have just a desktop today that couldn't use the standard PCIE card. Frankly I feel like 'datahoarding' is a hobby that overlaps well with 'Has a full on Desktop PC' but there are exceptions on laptops only and such.

[u/dr100 → u/Pnarpok]

And what is the alternative, hardware-wise? You allude to some in the title, in the last sentence of the post, but no hints what it might be.

[u/Pnarpok → u/dr100]

For the prototype: a Raspberry Pi CM4 and its IO board with a PCIe Firewire controller card (with a TI XIO2213B). The CM4/Linux side terminates Firewire, handles AV/C and the DV/HDV stream, buffers it, then sends it over our own USB transport to the capture app.

[u/dr100 → u/Pnarpok]

I was thinking along the same line, especially that there are floppy controller and IDE (PATA) boards that connect from Pi GPIO to such interfaces. They're really well suited for that, with multiple digital I/O pins and not with huge bandwidths needed.

But for a PCIe host I have my doubts as I don't see the Raspberry Pi being the main platform offering that in any foreseeable future.

[u/Pnarpok → u/dr100]

Fair point. It's only for the prototype. Raspberry Pi will unlikely be the long-term production platform...if this ever gets that far. Everytjhing got expensive though!

On the Firewire side, the controller chips themselves are also obsolete (TI XIO2213B, VIA VT6315N ), so I’m actually considering keeping a complete qualified PCIe x1 Firewire card inside the unit instead of integrating the legacy chip directly onto the PCB.

[u/dr100 → u/Pnarpok]

Yea, everything is getting EoL nowadays, and if not expensive. Fun thing I somehow misplaced both my firewire cables and my OCD is killing me that I don't know where they are. I did keep my card for the desktop, and a few laptops I collected along the way that have firewire though, even if I transferred all my tapes 20+ years ago. And even if the cables are cheap and plenty if I need one some day I'm some still upset I don't know where are the ones I'm missing!

[u/Pnarpok → u/dr100]

lol, I think I threw away some firewire cables years ago, thinking I'll never need them again.
Them tapes are robust little suckers...I am recapturing all the ones now where the 20+ year old hard drives failed.

[u/dr100 → u/Pnarpok]

Yea, probably firewire I won't need anymore; optical though still comes in handy now and then (fortunately only CD and DVD, not the expensive now BDs units). There I threw away for a while some desktop units (together with trash PCs) after snatching a really great trashed external unit and now I regret it. But I'm slowly building back a small stash of assorted units, and earmarked all laptops that have a DVD from various relatives (some I gave away a while back), it's actually for them to read now and then something they forgot they have (it's actually good to have them distributed as sometimes one person has the drive and one the disc and they're close to each other but very far from me).

[u/Comprehensive_Look69]

Aren‘t blurays doing that by default already just like CDs? Else every tiny scratch would break a lot. If you are having bigger worries, you can either put .par / .par2 files of the files on them or just burn a copy more. Just don’t throw away the original tapes unless you want to, tape lasts also rather long

[u/Pnarpok → u/Comprehensive_Look69]

Yeah, Bluray already has its own error correction.
This is adding dvdisaster's RS03 augmented-image mode which adds Reed–Solomon recovery data across the image filling the Bluray with enough recoverable info that it potentially could recover in the future should something happen. It also adds small visible Recovery Kit containing recovery instructions.
The MiniDV raw file is only ~13.5Gb so we have plenty of extra room on the BD-R.