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Apple should get rid of iLife on new MacBooks
- Thread starter Chaos123x
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I don't really know much about consumer HDV Camcorders so I started googling around, and it appears that virtually every single one supports USB.
Of the following 11 HDV Camcorders reviewed below, 10 support USB.
http://www.camcorderinfo.com/d/Reviews&level_b=Camcorder&level_c=Sony&level_d=HDV.htm
http://www.camcorderinfo.com/content/Canon-HV10-Camcorder-Review.htm
Why do reviews for those two units state that you can use USB to transfer video?
http://www.amazon.com/Panasonic-PV-GS250-MiniDV-Camcorder-Optical/dp/B0007QN87Y
http://www.ces-show.com/2006/review/panasonic_camcorders/panasonic_pvgs180_camcorder.html
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You have to be careful! If you frequent video forums, you'll find a LOT of complaints on this. They list "USB" support, but often that is only for transferring the stills that you can take on an SD card. Any DVtape camera CANNOT use USB to download video. The data rates are too high. They MUST use FW. The newer (hard drive and SD card) video cams can use USB, but the video compression they use is sub-optimal.
FW could die in the future, but it's premature of Apple to kill it (there own child, by the way). They are about 2 years too soon. At least kill it, and not have some replacement with the same data rate capacity.
I just feel bad for the people who don't know any better. For years now, anyone could buy an Apple computer and be virtually guaranteed that it could do just about anything out of the box, including editing digital video and making your own DVD's. Heck, that was the MAIN reason that many of us switched! Apple itself has advertised this capability to no end!
Now, when someone like my mother goes and purchases a new $1599 Macbook, takes it home, and after a few months decides to import some video into iMovie... she's sh*t out of luck!
I am one of the people who thought it was a good idea when Apple got rid of floppy disks, but c'mon! One of Apple's main programs in iLife (2 really if you count iDVD) is now completely worthless for the majority of the population who only have Firewire compatible video cams!
ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS!
Now, when someone like my mother goes and purchases a new $1599 Macbook, takes it home, and after a few months decides to import some video into iMovie... she's sh*t out of luck!
I am one of the people who thought it was a good idea when Apple got rid of floppy disks, but c'mon! One of Apple's main programs in iLife (2 really if you count iDVD) is now completely worthless for the majority of the population who only have Firewire compatible video cams!
ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS!
But isn't it obvious guys?
First the macbooks had integrated graphics, and now they have better graphics, like the pro. So how can apple get you to buy the macbook pro? easy, make them the only ones with a firewire connector.
First the macbooks had integrated graphics, and now they have better graphics, like the pro. So how can apple get you to buy the macbook pro? easy, make them the only ones with a firewire connector.
As I said: You missed the point entirely and utterly.
The camera was shown as a response to someone claiming that no consumer cameras had FW. That only pros used firewire, the rest used USB.
But I'm glad you "saw it, but didn't felt it had merit"
While I'm not disagreeing that the omission of FW was a bad idea, I really disagree with a lot of your post.
I can use all of them, so can a lot of other people.
A lot of the "crappy" hard disk based cameras are getting very good reviews, and I personally really like mine. Whether you agree with me and the others that like them, is entirely up to you. No, they're not professional level. But then again neither is the MacBook.
There are several USB2.0 interfaces that are very good quality from Digidesign, M-Audio, Edirol, and MOTU. They work quite well.
Agreed. The external hard drive factor is a limiting one. I would have liked to have seen e-sata as a FW replacement.
That would be leaving out a lot of people like myself that can function perfectly fine without a FW port.
Well that is a problem, isn't it? I think ultimately it'll drive Apple to put it back on, just as they did with FW800 in the previous gen MBP's.
Clearly that'd be a silly thing to say. Of course a lot of consumer grade cameras have FW. That would be all Mini DV-based cams. Only the HD and DVD-R based units are USB.
I can use all of them, so can a lot of other people.
A lot of the "crappy" hard disk based cameras are getting very good reviews, and I personally really like mine. Whether you agree with me and the others that like them, is entirely up to you. No, they're not professional level. But then again neither is the MacBook.
There are several USB2.0 interfaces that are very good quality from Digidesign, M-Audio, Edirol, and MOTU. They work quite well.
Agreed. The external hard drive factor is a limiting one. I would have liked to have seen e-sata as a FW replacement.
That would be leaving out a lot of people like myself that can function perfectly fine without a FW port.
Well that is a problem, isn't it? I think ultimately it'll drive Apple to put it back on, just as they did with FW800 in the previous gen MBP's.
As I said: You missed the point entirely and utterly.
The camera was shown as a response to someone claiming that no consumer cameras had FW. That only pros used firewire, the rest used USB.
But I'm glad you "saw it, but didn't felt it had merit"
Clearly that'd be a silly thing to say. Of course a lot of consumer grade cameras have FW. That would be all Mini DV-based cams. Only the HD and DVD-R based units are USB.
i have a camera kinda like this, its very consumer based, and it only has fw
leaving fw out of the MB is the only reason i didn't buy it
leaving fw out of the MB is the only reason i didn't buy it
It was really cheesy to leave out Firewire. A lot of consumer vid cams need Firewire for video transfer.
You're talking about a pretty cheap port here. If the new MB was $1099, okay then I can understand the need to cut costs as much as possible. But these new MB's have higher price points than before, cutting out a very common port is really stupid.
If they had also introduced or mentioned some sort of ethernet-Firewire adapter, then that would have eased a LOT of the heartache. But we don't know if anything like that is ever coming.
You're talking about a pretty cheap port here. If the new MB was $1099, okay then I can understand the need to cut costs as much as possible. But these new MB's have higher price points than before, cutting out a very common port is really stupid.
If they had also introduced or mentioned some sort of ethernet-Firewire adapter, then that would have eased a LOT of the heartache. But we don't know if anything like that is ever coming.
No it is not. This was the first camera I looked up. I looked at a few more and all of them support USB 2.0.
edit: Oops -- how did I not see all the other posts that say the same thing?
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There are lots of consumer cameras that use USB, my Panasonic HDC-SD5 high def camera does. So does my sisters new canon HF-100 high def camera.
So have you imported video directly from the camera through iMovie with RAW DV without compression?
I think this guy has knocked the nail on the head. A few people have said that with the new graphics etc on the new MacBook, the new MacBook Pro would suffer. So Apple obviously needed something to keep us buying the MBP.
I have never owned a video recorder and have never wanted one, but I can see why people who do are annoyed that the firewire port is missing. However, like many have said, if you're a pro, you'll but the MBP anyway. And if you're not, just keep you're old MacBook or buy the old one whilst it's still available.
Things change, in a few years I'm sure firewire will be like the serial port - now pretty much obsolete.
It definitely seems that way. And why not? If the new MacBook has excellent graphics and all the other gizmos, I know a lot of people would prefer the smaller, cheaper 13.3" than the 15" notebook. So Apple need to give us a reason to keep buying the Pro.
uhh, do you know how much data raw High Def DV would take up? They are both AVCHD cameras. And they are fully supported by iMovie 08.
iPhoto - Most digital camera's use USB 2.0 connectors, for those with CF Cards they use a hub, most hubs i've connect via USB
iDVD - Doesn't require firewire
iWeb - Doesn't require firewire
Garageband - Not really intended for serious musicians is it? Some have used it and probably with tools that require firewire so I see your point
iMovie - Most decent camcorders use firewire yes, but then again pro's don't use iMovie
I'm not bashing your post, firewire shouldn't of been removed, but iLife isn't dependent on firewire.
MBA comes with it and it has one usb,
you could buy an ACD and use its firewire ports, not a cost effective solution, but a solution none the less
iDVD - Doesn't require firewire
iWeb - Doesn't require firewire
Garageband - Not really intended for serious musicians is it? Some have used it and probably with tools that require firewire so I see your point
iMovie - Most decent camcorders use firewire yes, but then again pro's don't use iMovie
I'm not bashing your post, firewire shouldn't of been removed, but iLife isn't dependent on firewire.
MBA comes with it and it has one usb,
you could buy an ACD and use its firewire ports, not a cost effective solution, but a solution none the less
I'm not seriously suggesting that they remove iLife.
The point of the post is to show how ridiculous removing firewire is.
Like this
"It's like saying hey the new Macbooks come with iWork but no keyboard and there is no way to hook a keyboard up to it, unless you can hack it to work with the ethernet port."
Why would anyone argue that taking it off firewire is a good thing?
I'm gonna laugh when Apple Ditches USB, cause I have never used it on a laptop. I connect my camcorder, hard Drives with firewire, and my external mouse with blue tooth, WOW maybe they should just kill USB too, I never use it.
The point of the post is to show how ridiculous removing firewire is.
Like this
"It's like saying hey the new Macbooks come with iWork but no keyboard and there is no way to hook a keyboard up to it, unless you can hack it to work with the ethernet port."
Why would anyone argue that taking it off firewire is a good thing?
I'm gonna laugh when Apple Ditches USB, cause I have never used it on a laptop. I connect my camcorder, hard Drives with firewire, and my external mouse with blue tooth, WOW maybe they should just kill USB too, I never use it.
With fw1600 and fw3200 on the horizon, i don't think fw will be going away anytime soon. Its a much more reliable protocol than usb.