Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Bricky

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 15, 2010
2
0
Hello, I am wondering if I would need a capture card to capture still frames from an HDV camcorder with my macbook. I have read that you would probably need one with a pc but I haven't read about or found anything about Macs. I also don't understand much about live video feeds and firewire connections. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 

spinnerlys

Guest
Sep 7, 2008
14,328
7
forlod bygningen
What specific MacBook do you have?

Find out by looking up the Model Identifier here and then post it in your reply:

4707069290_6547e29211_b.jpg


If it is the Unibody MacBook (late 2008 and late 2009 - Aluminium and White)), then you don't have Firewire, otherwise you can use a Firewire 4-pin to 6-pin cable to capture the video digitally in iMovie.
If you don't have Firewire, you need to have a capture card for the USB port.
 

Bricky

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 15, 2010
2
0
What specific MacBook do you have?

Find out by looking up the Model Identifier here and then post it in your reply:

-IMAGE-

If it is the Unibody MacBook (late 2008 and late 2009 - Aluminium and White)), then you don't have Firewire, otherwise you can use a Firewire 4-pin to 6-pin cable to capture the video digitally in iMovie.
If you don't have Firewire, you need to have a capture card for the USB port.

Sorry I didn't make this clear, the model is MacBook2,1 and I am running Snow Leopard if that has anything to with it.
 

spinnerlys

Guest
Sep 7, 2008
14,328
7
forlod bygningen
Sorry I didn't make this clear, the model is MacBook2,1 and I am running Snow Leopard if that has anything to with it.

Then that MacBook has a Firewire 400 port (6-pin) and your camera most probably (99%) has a 4-in Firewire port.
Therefore you have to get a 6-pin to 4-pin Firewire cable (http://www.monoprice.com or here for example) and connect the camera and MacBook with it. Set the camera to VCR/PLAY and open iMovie and click on the camcorder icon to remotely se the camera and capture its video.

iMovie's help will you tell more in detail about the proper setup of iMovie.

Firewire 6-pin to 4-pin cable example image
firewire4-6.jpg


MacBook ports
apple-macbook-laptop-ports-all.jpg


DV camera DV IN/OUT port (IEEE 1394 or i.Link or Firewire 4-pin)
dvcam.jpg
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.