Page 1 of Mini DV to Laptop without Firewire?

Hi,
I have a Sony Mini DV camcorder, from which I transfer movies to my Dell Laptop, using a Firewire cable connected to the laptop`s PCI slot.

I`ll be buying a new laptop soon, and am currently shopping around. I find, to my dismay, that none of the new crop of laptops seem to have a PCI slot! Or, for that matter, a Firewire port. The salespeople are not of much help either.

What are my options - is there any device that converts Firewire to Usb 2? I don`t want to buy a new camcorder - this one works fine.

Is there a socket to connect it to a TV? If so get one of these or similar.

You can buy firewire to USB hubs for not much money.
I would assume that would work?

hub

This item was edited on Tuesday, 8th June 2010, 15:13

If the new computers don`t have Firewire 400, do they have 800? You could get a 400 to 800 adapter and transfer that way.

Appreciate the quick response, guys.
The hub looks like the perfect solution.
The USB cap also looks viable, but would the quality be lower than that via Firewire?

It` been a while since I`ve done this as I always go via firewire at the very least, because experience with USB previously is that it doesn`t send a digital video signal. USB2 might be a different story, but I really couldn`t say whether it will or won`t work.

Is it possible for you to show us the computers you are looking at? That might be an easier way to find a solution.

Interesting product Bowf...when I looked a few years ago I`m sure no-one made such a device.

I`d also be a little hesitant about relying on USB2 for video transfer. Firewire may be technically slower on paper (400Mb/s) but the transfer speed is far more consistent than USB2 (480Mb/s).

Ben,
I`m looking at buying either the Sony EB1E0E or the HP G62. Similar specs and price, but no Firewire or PCIMCIA slot on either.