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New Macbook - no Firewire!
- Thread starter Voodoophone
- Start date
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I don't know. It's a shame, I wonder if the new GPU will work with Color and Motion (I think those were the FCP apps that required discrete graphics card.)
EDIT- In all these discussions about lack of Firewire, I think I remember reading about an ethernet to firewire adapter. But I'm not sure...
EDIT- In all these discussions about lack of Firewire, I think I remember reading about an ethernet to firewire adapter. But I'm not sure...
Yeah you can go the adapter way but really? I think apple is trying to take away the updated graphics cards from the pro app users, forcing them to go with the macbook pro. they giveth and taketh away. What BS. 
Yeah, but at least you can get the adapter.
With the old MB, there was no way to upgrade or otherwise improve the Intel graphics.
The new MB is very interesting, but to be honest a used MBP can probably give you more bang for the buck (and of course including Firewire.)
With the old MB, there was no way to upgrade or otherwise improve the Intel graphics.
The new MB is very interesting, but to be honest a used MBP can probably give you more bang for the buck (and of course including Firewire.)
Yeah you can go the adapter way but really? I think apple is trying to take away the updated graphics cards from the pro app users, forcing them to go with the macbook pro. they giveth and taketh away. What BS.
Officially, Apple never supported running FCP/FCS on the MacBook: http://support.apple.com/kb/TA24148
-DH
Here's that ethernet-firewire adapter. I've never heard of them before, hopefully they work on macs.
http://www.buy.com/retail/product.a...52397&Type=PE&Category=Comp&Gad=0&dcaid=15891
EDIT/UPDATE: - It turns out this product is a network cable tester and not an actual ethernet->firewire adaptor. Back to complaining.
http://www.buy.com/retail/product.a...52397&Type=PE&Category=Comp&Gad=0&dcaid=15891
EDIT/UPDATE: - It turns out this product is a network cable tester and not an actual ethernet->firewire adaptor. Back to complaining.
What about FCE and iMovie? (I'm running FCE right now on my MB. Popped up a little note on installation, then a reboot later, it was fine.)
How are we supposed to capture in iMovie? Will the FW-to-ethernet adaptor work with the new MB? (I seem to recall it needs a specially built Ethernet port).
Might as well dump iMovie. And with that gone, chuck iDVD too. That's half of iLife gone.
How are we supposed to capture in iMovie? Will the FW-to-ethernet adaptor work with the new MB? (I seem to recall it needs a specially built Ethernet port).
Might as well dump iMovie. And with that gone, chuck iDVD too. That's half of iLife gone.
that adapter is too big for me, I have all my ports filled on my macbook now. I bet apple comes out with there own adapter
wah-wa-wa-waaah. That was ONE example. They have slim and simple Ethernet to Firewire 800.
I was thinking the exact same thing... How are we going to capture with iMovie and withOUT firewire if it only receives video feed trough firewire....??? Why did they have to take firewire from the macbooks....???? Then I started suspecting this: it seems this no longer will be a requisite, since the iMovie info at apple now kind of implies it, and I quote: "Expanded device support.
iMovie 08 supports SD and HD video from tape-based and tapeless camcorders, including Flash-memory, hard disk drives and DVD cams. Even the latest AVCHD cams!"
And I say it implies it because most of the cameras mentioned do not come with firewire connections.
Could someone confirm this?, I mean, that somehow, iMovie will be able to use video feed to it by USB ports, please?
Thanks...
_____________
Unfortunately it looks like Apple thinks traditional, Firewire-based miniDV cameras are on their way out.
A lot of people are using hard-drive based camcorders, or solid state media (e.g. the video recording mode of your digital camera). Perhaps more people are using those than are using miniDV.
Perhaps they're trying to be ahead of the curve and declare that DV over Firewire is obsolete technology. Just like they eliminated floppy drives, and said "soon nobody will use them" -- true, but in the meantime everyone who had data on floppies complained, before ultimately buying into other formats.
Perhaps Apple is willing to risk lost sales on the prediction that soon all of us who use DV/Firewire will soon be purchasing solid-state or disk-based HD cameras.
A lot of people are using hard-drive based camcorders, or solid state media (e.g. the video recording mode of your digital camera). Perhaps more people are using those than are using miniDV.
Perhaps they're trying to be ahead of the curve and declare that DV over Firewire is obsolete technology. Just like they eliminated floppy drives, and said "soon nobody will use them" -- true, but in the meantime everyone who had data on floppies complained, before ultimately buying into other formats.
Perhaps Apple is willing to risk lost sales on the prediction that soon all of us who use DV/Firewire will soon be purchasing solid-state or disk-based HD cameras.
Not to mention the people who used their Macbooks to record digital audio via the Firewire port. The Macbook was the _only_ 13" sized solution on the market that was able to provide bus power via Firewire. Everything else was either 4-pin or 6-pin _without_ bus power. The Macbook, with its small, 13" screen plus the (bus powered) Firewire made it the perfect solution for mobile audio recording.
The new Macbook certainly isn't geared toward the creative types of people that Apple used to appeal to. It's geared toward the people that consume content and not to people that create content.
Kind of off topic but I did not notice a firewire400 port on the new Macbook Pro. Is it still there or not?
Not exactly true at all
One would think on casual observation that USB 2 and tapleless or hard drive based video cameras are the norm these days.
A person buys this camera, goes home and sticks it on iMovie or FCP (Express) etc, only to find out, uh oh, this sucks, I have to copy the freakin' MPEG-2 file manually, no log and capture, no controlling the camera.
Trust me this sucks and is actually a loss of great functionality that we have had in any FW camera for years now, this is the way it is and always should be.
- Now one can indeed get this media transfered from the camera to the Mac running iMovie or FCP, but it is just one giant file
In order to do true Log and Capture in FCP or FCP Express, you need Firewire, I have not seen one camera do this via USB.
And then there is the whole deal with these cameras recording in MPEG-2, what?
MPEG-2 is a playback format and uh it basically sucks and is on its way out, one can not edit MPEG-2 in FCP, why would one.
Hence you have AVCHD (H.264 based)
So here's the deal, a person wants to buy a camera, what to buy.
I never tell a person to buy these consumer disk based, MPEG-2, USB deal, what pieces of crap.
I'll tell you what, it's still a tape based world for video, its cheap and accessible storage, Mini DV
For the price of DV, one can now get HDV
HDV is the choice in this price range, period, the Canon HV30, or the Sony's, uses Mini DV tape and uses Firewire 400
So I am not sure what Apple is thinking, FW is not just for pro audio video guys, it is also for consumer and prosumer.
One would think the industry is going USB and tapeless, but as I said above this is crap. If you have a lot of footage (tapes) you want to Log and Capture only what you need, trust me this saves hours even days of time.
Firewire must be present, hopefully one can do Firewire over ethernet as mentioned earlier.
One would think on casual observation that USB 2 and tapleless or hard drive based video cameras are the norm these days.
A person buys this camera, goes home and sticks it on iMovie or FCP (Express) etc, only to find out, uh oh, this sucks, I have to copy the freakin' MPEG-2 file manually, no log and capture, no controlling the camera.
Trust me this sucks and is actually a loss of great functionality that we have had in any FW camera for years now, this is the way it is and always should be.
- Now one can indeed get this media transfered from the camera to the Mac running iMovie or FCP, but it is just one giant file
In order to do true Log and Capture in FCP or FCP Express, you need Firewire, I have not seen one camera do this via USB.
And then there is the whole deal with these cameras recording in MPEG-2, what?
MPEG-2 is a playback format and uh it basically sucks and is on its way out, one can not edit MPEG-2 in FCP, why would one.
Hence you have AVCHD (H.264 based)
So here's the deal, a person wants to buy a camera, what to buy.
I never tell a person to buy these consumer disk based, MPEG-2, USB deal, what pieces of crap.
I'll tell you what, it's still a tape based world for video, its cheap and accessible storage, Mini DV
For the price of DV, one can now get HDV
HDV is the choice in this price range, period, the Canon HV30, or the Sony's, uses Mini DV tape and uses Firewire 400
So I am not sure what Apple is thinking, FW is not just for pro audio video guys, it is also for consumer and prosumer.
One would think the industry is going USB and tapeless, but as I said above this is crap. If you have a lot of footage (tapes) you want to Log and Capture only what you need, trust me this saves hours even days of time.
Firewire must be present, hopefully one can do Firewire over ethernet as mentioned earlier.
As I mentioned earlier in another area perhaps,
FW 800 includes the FW 400 spec,
IOW, if one has a FW 800 port only (the new MBP), this is not an issue at all.
FW 400 devices can plug into FW 800 ports, with the right cables
FW 800 to FW 400 6 pin
FW 800 to FW 400 4 pin (video capture)
Wwtt
What Were They Thinking?????
Removing FireWire from the MacBook is major bad decision for Apple.
I and the folks and organization I work with have many FireWire devices - external HD, external optical burners, video cams, and of course, we use FireWire Target Disk mode often for the great speed and direct data access it provides.
And we did all this on variety of Macs, including many previous versions of MacBook models. No More. I will not be getting or recommending MacBook to any of the folks I work with because of this.
It is very sad.
One step forward, and one step backward.
There is space on the machine for a Firewire port - so what compelling reason was there to remove it?
I just don't comprehend what kind of thinking (if any now) goes on at Apple design. Look at the world of PC Notebooks and you will find a wider range of connectors, including many legacy connectors. The point being, that PC vendors have found the space on those machine and circuit boards for the many connectors, and they do it for lower price. Now I am not suggesting that anyone abandon apple, but it shows that there was no physical technical reason to drop Firewire.
Oh, and the suggestion that you get yet another dongle converter, to add ethernet-to-firewire - more insanity at Apple. With that adapter you then loose the ethernet, so it means Either FW, OR wired ethernet, but not both at same time. sigh.
More dongle adapters, more end-user cost and cable mess, less over all capability.
(now that I see my tag quote, i must say, ok ... the universe is intelligent and friendly, but apple seems no longer that)
What Were They Thinking?????
Removing FireWire from the MacBook is major bad decision for Apple.
I and the folks and organization I work with have many FireWire devices - external HD, external optical burners, video cams, and of course, we use FireWire Target Disk mode often for the great speed and direct data access it provides.
And we did all this on variety of Macs, including many previous versions of MacBook models. No More. I will not be getting or recommending MacBook to any of the folks I work with because of this.
It is very sad.
One step forward, and one step backward.
There is space on the machine for a Firewire port - so what compelling reason was there to remove it?
I just don't comprehend what kind of thinking (if any now) goes on at Apple design. Look at the world of PC Notebooks and you will find a wider range of connectors, including many legacy connectors. The point being, that PC vendors have found the space on those machine and circuit boards for the many connectors, and they do it for lower price. Now I am not suggesting that anyone abandon apple, but it shows that there was no physical technical reason to drop Firewire.
Oh, and the suggestion that you get yet another dongle converter, to add ethernet-to-firewire - more insanity at Apple. With that adapter you then loose the ethernet, so it means Either FW, OR wired ethernet, but not both at same time. sigh.
More dongle adapters, more end-user cost and cable mess, less over all capability.
(now that I see my tag quote, i must say, ok ... the universe is intelligent and friendly, but apple seems no longer that)
There seems to be expresscard Firewire adapters... Belkin makes one..
http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatProductPage.process?Product_Id=278329
Expensive but this would seem to be the best option I guess....