Importing Video from a FireWire Camcorder to an Aluminum MacBook

Yeah, I never said it was a *great* solution. :-)

Would a converter take video out of HD? It's just passing the signal
along, I think, not doing a size conversion.

I'm sure I'd know if I had one of these devices to test directly, but
then the article wouldn't have appeared for weeks probably.

I wouldn't hold my breath about ExpressCard appearing on a MacBook.
It's just not a consumer technology in Apple's eyes. The only
realistic thing that's going to happen is: people are going to
grumble, Apple will ignore it, and over time people will either buy a
MacBook Pro, buy a new camcorder, or just stick with what they have.

Jeff

On Oct 23, 2008, at 11:07 PM, Warren Shaw wrote:

> Personally, I appreciate the information regarding the flexibility,
> but the conversion of the video is a non-starter for me. I use my DV
> camera exclusively to shoot HD video. Your suggestion takes the video
> format out of HD and would result in a substantial reduction in image
> quality. Perhaps the best intermediate term solution is for Apple to
> consider adding an express card slot. Then you would be able to add
> firewire capability.
>
> Regards,

On Oct 24, 2008, at 02:07, Warren Shaw wrote:

> Personally, I appreciate the information regarding the flexibility,
> but the conversion of the video is a non-starter for me. I use my DV
> camera exclusively to shoot HD video. Your suggestion takes the video
> format out of HD and would result in a substantial reduction in image
> quality. Perhaps the best intermediate term solution is for Apple to
> consider adding an express card slot. Then you would be able to add
> firewire capability.

That's an idea . . . but from looking at the take apart drawings on (I
think) ifixit.com . . . and looking at the motherboard, it's pretty
clear to me that the primary reason for removing the firewire port is
probably space related. There just isn't enough space on the edge of
the board to add another connector. With the way the redesign was
done; the board dimensions (and the space available for ports) was a
fixed amount, and something had to go.

For video downloading and editing, considering the large amount of disk space needed, I always use an external drive and the one I use has both firewire & USB 2 ports.

If the Macintosh did not have a firewire port, I could connect the camcorder to the external drive via firewire and the computer to the external drive via USB 2. Then iMovie should be able to be used to control the camcorder and the downloading. However it is important to save the iMovie file on the external drive.

Keith Payne, South Australia

Jeff,

I'm not in the market for a new Macbook, but I read your article with interest. We use a lot of miniDV video at work, so your subject line caught my eye. I'm learning every day a little more about the vast world of digital video, but am pretty sure most folks won't want to take the digital - analog - digital path for their footage. The problem prompted me to do a quick search, and I came up with this related discussion from 2005...

<http://forums.macrumors.com/archive/index.php/t-161917.html>

...that pointed me to this Firewire 400-to-USB 2.0 adapter:

<http://www.pixela-1.com/captycable/system.htm>

It comes bundled with some Windows compatible editing software, but the hardware/adapter might be platform neutral (a call/email to tech support might resolve this question). The price is up to $119 (apparently sold for $90 back in '05), but maybe it would fit the bill for someone looking to extend the useful life of their FW-equipped camcorder.

Maybe someone should go knock on Pixela's door and suggest a possible new marketing angle...

Joel in VA

Indeed, D-to-A-to-D conversion is a non-starter. Firewire->USB adapter would be much more feasible and with likely no quality loss.

This would be like recording CDs on Cassette only to re-import them then burn to a CD-R.

-Ed

Digital-analog-digital would definitely lose image size -- even a regular DV camcorder captures video at a higher resolution than a composite cable can carry. HD is far beyond that.

Another solution - why not "recycle" an older mac as a video capture machine. I thought to look on ebay for pricing for suitable mac minis, but they seem to hold their value remarkably well. Suitable G4 or G5 towers (dual 1.25ghz, for example) sometimes sell in the $200 range. Or maybe you already have a machine in the closet. Capture from the DV camera to an external HD on the old machine, then move to your new machine for editing.

Perhaps not the ideal solution for professionals, but I suspect anybody doing hard-core video editing isn't using a laptop...

--On May 3, 2009 2:32:47 PM -0700 Lee Krevat <theimprovmanyahoo.com> wrote:

> In reference to the following article:
>
> <http://db.tidbits.com/article/9827>
>
> I know I'm stupid for even asking, but why can't I buy one of these (a
> firewire to USB converter)? Ebay has a ton of them for a cheap price:
>
> <http://cgi.ebay.com/USB-to-IEEE-1394-4-PIN-FIREWIRE-TRAVEL-CABLE-5-feet
> _W0QQitemZ170322588784QQcmdZViewItemQQptZPCA_Cables_Adapters?hash=item27a
> 8047470&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=66:2|65:15|39:1|240:1308|301:1|293
> :1|294:50>
>
> It would be great if you could give me some advice on this.

I would be amazed if that cable could do anything except maybe provide
power to a device. That looks like a cable where the wires are just
crossed to the other adapter, I don't think that's works with USB/Firewire.

Think of the cable like the phone. I can pick up my phone and call France,
but the chances of me being able to talk to someone are slim. I need a
translator in the middle to be able to communicate. That's the problem
here. USB is a language and Firewire is a language (very different
languages actually) and just wiring them together with a cable won't make
them actually communicate properly. I'd expect some sort of translating
device in between the two connectors for this to be able to work.

I'd love to be wrong but that cable just doesn't look like it would work.

> That looks like a cable where the wires are just crossed to the
> other adapter, I don't think that's works with USB/Firewire.
>
> I'd expect some sort of translating device in between the two
> connectors for this to be able to work.

Spot on!

At least for most serial ports, a cable that simply connects the pins
between two different types of plugs won't do anything if what is sent
via that cable's leads isn't "translated" properly. There do seem to
be some working adapters available, however, like this one (the result
of a quick search, and not a personal recommendation):

<http://www.usbfirewire.com/Parts/rr-527950.html>

Note that, in this case, there is a pretty chunky "translater" built
into the cable, and the price tag also is considerably higher than
that of the just-a-cable "converter".


Regards,

Jochen.


--
Jochen Wolters | jochenpolytropia.com | http://polytropia.com