dvconnect is a small utility to send / capture raw data from / to the camcorder over an OHCI complient IEEE 1394 firewire adapter. It has to be an OHCI adapter since we use the video1394 interface. (It could be done for receiving without it, but for sending it's the only way to go!) You should also install the latest Linux Kernel version (> 2.4.12 I think) since otherwise the necessary patches for DV _sending_ are not included. dvconnect was written to be simple and fast. If it doesn't work for you, you might want to check out dvgrab from Arne Schirmacher... (http://www.schirmacher.de) Since the video1394 interface is not fully developed, you have to do some parameter twiddling to make it work. First, do modprobe ohci1394 modprobe video1394 Then try to catch some test-video data using: dvconnect >test.dv Verify, using playdv if you are in doubt. If that worked, try dvconnect -s --syt-offset=OFFSET