Forgive an abject newbie query, but I just bought my first ever camcorder
(believe it) off ebay and it came with no cables or conectors...what do I
need to connect it to my tv and pc? (For the tele I'd rather use the front
din-type sockets than scart, just for ease - the scarts are round the back,
hard to get to, and otherwise occupied.) Are there 'one size fits all'
cables, or do they vary? (It's a Canon MV-700, if that's important.) Any
advice very much appreciated.

On Mon, 18 Jun 2007 00:30:03 +0100, "spokes"
wrote:

Forgive an abject newbie query, but I just bought my first ever camcorder
(believe it) off ebay and it came with no cables or conectors...what do I
need to connect it to my tv and pc? (For the tele I'd rather use the front
din-type sockets than scart, just for ease - the scarts are round the back,
hard to get to, and otherwise occupied.) Are there 'one size fits all'
cables, or do they vary? (It's a Canon MV-700, if that's important.) Any
advice very much appreciated.


Get a "camcorder lead" from Maplins etc. This is a sort of elongated
jack plug leading to three phono plugs which enable simple playback on
your TV.

(I'm assuming the Canon uses this standard connector. Take the camera
to the shop when buying the lead. There are also slight variants of
the plug - two main types. The shop will know which you need.)


To transfer to computer for editing, DVD burning etc. use the Firewire
connection.

Thanks very much - much appreciated.

Alan
"Mark" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 18 Jun 2007 00:30:03 +0100, "spokes"
wrote:

Forgive an abject newbie query, but I just bought my first ever camcorder
(believe it) off ebay and it came with no cables or conectors...what do I
need to connect it to my tv and pc? (For the tele I'd rather use the front
din-type sockets than scart, just for ease - the scarts are round the
back,
hard to get to, and otherwise occupied.) Are there 'one size fits all'
cables, or do they vary? (It's a Canon MV-700, if that's important.) Any
advice very much appreciated.


1. For TV the minimum is something like one of these:

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Search.aspx?...source=15&SD=Y

If your TV supports it you may get a slightly improved picture if you
use a S-Video connector in place of the cable with the yellow plug;
something like this:

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Search.aspx?...source=15&SD=Y

(N.B. Using the above you still need the red and white on the first
cable for the audio connections).

Something like one of these:

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Search.aspx?...WN30H&DOY=18m6

...is a useful kit to have and can save on buying the cables
separately.

2. For the PC you need to tell us what input sockets you have. For
best flexibility and picture quality ideally you should use a
i-Link/Firewire/IEEE1394 cable, but you need the relevant hardware
support in your PC. And notebook PC can have a different Firewire
socket size to desktops.

Canon, in their infinite generosity, don't have PDF manuals online,
but you can buy them. It's probably worth you getting one:

http://www.canon.co.uk/Support/User_Manuals/index.asp

Or you can maybe get-by using a graphic-less online version of the
similar MV500i model from:

http://www.fixya.com/support/p394779...r/manual-10142

Finally, you ought to be aware that numerous MV700 and various other
Canon products had a serious CCD defect a couple of years ago:

http://www.dpreview.com/news/0510/05...ccdproblem.asp

I hope yours is trouble-free or has been fixed by Canon. Have fun.

HTH

--
Mark