Question about USB 2.0 to Firewire Adapters.

[CBGFilms]

Hey everyone,
Just thinking of buying a new camcorder soon, the Sanyo Xacti HD1000 (http://www.sanyodigital.com/hd1000.aspx) infact and it features a USB 2.0. Now, my iMac actually has built in Firewire 400 and 800 ports, so I was wondering if I buy a USB 2.0 to Firewire adapter, will I still receive the same data speed or will it boost it to Firewires speed? Also bare in mind that I know nothing about Firewire as this would of been the first time I've ever used it.
Thanks.

[Chaos123x]

USB and Firewire are 2 different formats a adapter will not work.

[natebookpro]

There actually is a converter available for $120. It only works in Windows XP and I'd be curious to know how well. Worth it? I doubt it. Google usbfirewire and take the first link and you can decide for yourself.

[Courtaj]

Just use USB, as per the spec. On camcorders like the one you're considering, USB is for transferring files, where a constant bitrate like that offered by firewire is of no real advantage (except for - perhaps - faster transfer speeds), unlike firewire-based camcorders which transfer video frame-by-frame and rely on a consistent flow of data in order to avoid dropped frames. Even should a boost in bitrate be possible by using an adapter (which I seriously doubt given the completely different chipsets used by firewire and USB - though I'm happy to be proven wrong), is it really worth throwing money at when it's not mission critical? I wouldn't.

Andrew.

[natebookpro]

Even should a boost in bitrate be possible by using an adapter (which I seriously doubt given the completely different chipsets used by firewire and USB - though I'm happy to be proven wrong), is it really worth throwing money at when it's not mission critical? I wouldn't.

Andrew.

No your not wrong. From what I understand this is a very makeshift solution. I think its basically for someone with a windows laptop and a firewire camcorder. Obviously $120 is less than a new camcorder or laptop. But from what I understand it does not work all that great. But I just threw that out there since someone mentioned an adaptor would not work.

[chilipie]

No your not wrong. From what I understand this is a very makeshift solution. I think its basically for someone with a windows laptop and a firewire camcorder. Obviously $120 is less than a new camcorder or laptop. But from what I understand it does not work all that great. But I just threw that out there since someone mentioned an adaptor would not work.

It works only on Windows XP after plugging a Firewire camera into a USB port and if I recall correctly, converts DV to lossy MPEG files. Pretty crap even as a last resource, and is of absolutely no use to the OP, who's using a Mac and a USB camera. Even if there was an adaptor that was USB -> Firewire, CBGFilms, the bottleneck will still be the USB and the transfer will not be any faster. As Courtaj said, it's not really worth throwing money at.

[barefeats]

Today I posted an article entitled, "STORAGE INTERFACE SHOOTOUT: USB 2.0 vs FireWire 400 vs FireWire 800 vs Serial ATA on the 'Late 2008' MacBook Pro"
http://www.barefeats.com/mbpp10.html

This article documents the improvement in USB 2.0 transfer speed on the 'late 08' MBP and discusses the relative merits of USB vs FireWire vs SATA on the MBP.

[localoid]

Today I posted an article entitled, "STORAGE INTERFACE SHOOTOUT: USB 2.0 vs FireWire 400 vs FireWire 800 vs Serial ATA on the 'Late 2008' MacBook Pro"
http://www.barefeats.com/mbpp10.html

This article documents the improvement in USB 2.0 transfer speed on the 'late 08' MBP and discusses the relative merits of USB vs FireWire vs SATA on the MBP.

Good for you, but this article about storage has nothing to do with the OP's question about how to transfer video.

[CBGFilms]

Thanks for all of the helpful replies guys, its not worth spending £60 on a silly adapter, I'll just stick with the USB.
Thanks Guys :)

[fxstb2002]

For what its worth, I use a card reader. It feels faster to me.