Firewire Solution for DV/HDV cameras and Macbook

applepi

I use firewire mostly for importing my DV or HDV footage from a camera. I was curious if any of you have tried any of these firewire to USB adapters and if they work well for this task in conjunction with the new macbook?



Like this one:

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

uncoolfish

Quote:

Originally Posted by ApplePi


I use firewire mostly for importing my DV or HDV footage from a camera. I was curious if any of you have tried any of these firewire to USB adapters and if they work well for this task in conjunction with the new macbook?



Like this one:

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

It says it's not Mac compatible...

marvin

Sad to have to say it but I think the best and most cost-effective solution might be to buy a cheap PC tower. Most have PCI so even if it doesn't already have firewire, you can buy a card very cheap. Also get a Gig-E card. Then get some basic capture software and hook it up to your MB via ethernet and transfer the capture files over.



http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/BLUE-AMD-ATHLO...d=p3286.c0.m14



£30 including delivery, maybe £10 each for FW and Gig-E cards = £50 ($75). You likely wouldn't even get an adaptor for that price if one was available.



You could even get an old Mac - the Macbook and the Air are the only Macs without firewire for over a decade. A little G4 Mini might be a good buy if you can pick one up cheap and you might be able to use it as some sort of server or media center. It will run a lot quieter and take up less room. If you plug it into your TV, you don't have to get an extra screen either.

ecking

None of the usb to firewire converters I have used have been able to keep the consistent data rate needed to transfer camcorder footage.