Been meaning to post this tidbit for quite a while as I found this particular information hard to find when I was looking for it some months back. 😉

This past Spring I was researching and searching for a video camera that had a Firewire (IEEE 1394) connection and would work with Ustream for streaming workshops and meetings for my workplace.

Along the way,  a friend who works for A/V services at UMass-Lowell, told about their beloved Canon Vixia HV-30’s that have a Firewire port.  Unfortunately that model is no longer made by Canon and the used ones were going for a premium at the time.   But on the Canon website I discovered that the Canon ZR960 does sport a Firewire connection, listed as IEEE1394 in the specs.  And I noticed that Canon’s successor to the HV-30, the HV-40 had a ton of inputs so maybe a Firewire too???

A thorough review and great photos of all the features of the HV-40 are at Camcorderinfo.com.  This was the one place that actually talked about and showed a picture of the HV-40’s Firewire port (next to it’s HDMI port).   For some strange reason Canon does NOT mention the  HV-40 FireWire/IEEE1394 port in it’s own specs online … I guess HDMI and USB are the selling points, although neither helps you stream with a service like Ustream.

I have successfully used the HV-40 on Ustream with two different models of MacBook Pro and a Lenovo ThinkPad.  All three of which took a different pin-sized Firewire cable of course!  But, essentially the HV-40 works fine with computers that have either Firewire 400 or 800 (or on older MacBook Pros, both!).  You do not need to be recording with tape when you are streaming, the Ustream Producers software sees the HV-4o immediately and you are good to go.

Hope this post helps folks, like me, trying to figure out what camcorders will work with Ustream.