Yep, it'll be just like USB/USB2 and all its port shapes.
Either use adapters for your cables or simply buying a 9-pin to a 4-or-6-pin cable to make things easier.
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New Macbook - no Firewire!
- Thread starter Voodoophone
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Yep, it'll be just like USB/USB2 and all its port shapes.
Either use adapters for your cables or simply buying a 9-pin to a 4-or-6-pin cable to make things easier.
Yes. You are very correct.
The real problem rests in capturing footage through FW while also needing to capture to an external drive.
Keep in mind that the new MacBook is in the same price range as Refurb MBP, which has Firewire 800.
However, if I were in the market for a MacBook, I would write to
apple.com/feedback
about the lack of firewire.
However, if I were in the market for a MacBook, I would write to
apple.com/feedback
about the lack of firewire.
This is easily fixed.
Use a firewire 800 Based External Drive which includes a firewire400 port on the drive. and daisy-chain the the camera from the drive itself? I have done this before.
with regard to the macbooks lack of firewire, I am going to try one of these cables:
Ebay Item
I'll test it out as soon as I get it and be back on this thread with the results.
(keep in mind I am only able to test 4 pin devices)
I just spoke with apple, and they told me to connect a camera via firewire to an external drive and capture through the external via usb. I just tried it though, and it isn't working on my current mac. Not sure I want to risk buying a macbook and it not working.
color and motion worked perfectly fine on my white macbook with the x3100 gfx card in
If you mean the sub-$1000 price range, then I'm calling bollocks here.
There are a bunch of great tapeless camcorders that are fully compatible with the Mac, with pictures comparable if not superior to the HV30.
I'm just so sick of hearing this sh*t. If you like tape, great. Just don't expect everyone else to.
Jeez.
But back on topic: NO FIREWIRE? F*** ME!
Oh for the love of all things holy! You guys have really worked yourselves up into a lather! Lets put this into perspective.
1) If you already have a Macbook the firewire will STILL WORK! (Some of you seem to have forgotten that)
2) If you really must have a new Macbook with Firewire the White one is still available. (Again you're all just bitching for the sake of it)
3) If you are really that pissed with new Macbook and just *have* to have a shiny new one because secretly you're all just gadget lovers anyway, why not buy a Macbook Pro? I mean after all you are all such super users with all this wonderful FW stuff you just *can't* do without. Suck up the pain and spend just a few bucks more.
Why is everyone making such a issue out of this? Wow I've not posted for ages but bloody hell you guys need to chill out.
1) If you already have a Macbook the firewire will STILL WORK! (Some of you seem to have forgotten that)
2) If you really must have a new Macbook with Firewire the White one is still available. (Again you're all just bitching for the sake of it)
3) If you are really that pissed with new Macbook and just *have* to have a shiny new one because secretly you're all just gadget lovers anyway, why not buy a Macbook Pro? I mean after all you are all such super users with all this wonderful FW stuff you just *can't* do without. Suck up the pain and spend just a few bucks more.
Why is everyone making such a issue out of this? Wow I've not posted for ages but bloody hell you guys need to chill out.
Yes, let's put it into perspective.
Don't be a **** and just moan about moaning.
the *old* macbook has crap integrated graphics compared to not only the new macbook but other notebooks on the market.
How dare you tell people to spend more money! And while being a patronising condescending fool about it too.
I want to get a new notebook so I can work onsite in the schools that I work with as I would like to show the edit process 'live'.
Now, of course I can get the 'old' macbook so I can use firewire (my ONLY choice of connection) but why should I when I can get up-to-date technology in my notebook for the same price I was wanting to pay? Oh, of course - no firewire in the 'new' models.
So please tell me, in your infinite wisdom (assuming of course that have have some and you're not on here simply to whine about reading complaint posts - which would be childish in the extreme) why should I pay £400+ more, simply to have the connection I need?
Because Apple didn't have to do this?
Remove legacy connections that some iLife apps actually require? Thought that "It just works... maybe..." was Microsoft's bailiwick.
Abandon a standard that it initiated and encouraged users to take advantage of only to prematurely age their hardware compatibility?
I'm very interested in that cable, but very very skeptical that it will work properly. I imagine it will have no advantage whatsoever over using the USB connection.
i.e. it will work sort of fine for HDDs where the macbook can say 'soz i missed that bit of data, can you back up a bit?' but for importing video, that will be a different story.
Well I for one would be happy to junk tape, IF the new hdd cameras were as good as the DV cameras. So far, I'm hearing they're not.
Could you please name some of these tapeless camcorders you regard as so great?
(sorry for doublepost)
I think the most important question to ask is, "Why?"
At some point during their development/design process, they must have had a lengthy discussion about whether or not to include FW on the new machines. What good arguments did the anti-FW group have?
Is Apple thinking that FireWire is a thing of the past? Are they aiming for USB 3?
At some point during their development/design process, they must have had a lengthy discussion about whether or not to include FW on the new machines. What good arguments did the anti-FW group have?
Is Apple thinking that FireWire is a thing of the past? Are they aiming for USB 3?
Simply put, if we want firewire then Apple want us to buy a MBP.
I've ordered a MBP for myself, but for my current employer (a college) this is going to present a very big problem. We don't have the budget to buy MBPs for our teaching needs, which were/are served very well by a MB with FCS running on it.
Because some of us are paid to think about our employer's future needs and it's pretty clear that the MacBook "Classic" will go the way of the dinosaur with the next refresh or two as Apple figure out how to reduce their current manufacturing costs?
I bit the bullet and ordered that cable. I'll report back how it works with video importing and hard drive transfer after it arrives. I would expect it to take a long time to ship from Hong Kong to the US.
Not "great," that was probably a poor choice of words, but certainly on par with the HV20s/HV30s of this world, except tapeless.
The general consensus on Canon's HF100 / HF10 is that in terms of picture quality and feature set, you have a machine that equals the HV30 in performance. Early rumblings about the new HF11 are that it's even better.
Sony's SR11 / SR12 are meant to churn out pretty good looking pictures, too.
These are the camcorders I was referring to.
Of course, they record AVCHD video and some just don't like the AVCHD workflow, but workflow aside it's getting pretty damn hard to call between HDV and AVCHD now.
Standing by to be flamed.
Andrew.
The problem with forums, just not this one, is that everyone is an expert. You are in the digital video section buddy and if you don't know what you're talking about please don't add fuel to the fire.
Hey Hobbs please let us know how the cable turns out.
Now that the the 1066 front side bus has been confirmed on top of the graphics card. I may have to bite the bullet and get one so please let us know how the cable turns out. I would test but I'm super swamped right now.
Thanks.
Ok, lets get a couple of things straight.
Lets cut out the abuse Voodoophone. Perhaps we can have a adult conversation. Rather than throw mud.
Secondly I've been using macs for over 15 years have been using DV for about 5 of those, so I believe that gives me an opinion.
Perhaps I was a little blunt before but really you have to understand that things move on. CRTs-->LCD's, Floppy --> Memory sticks, System 7/8/9 --> OS X. We've all coped up to now and I'm sure that Apple have a good reason for removing the Firewire from the Macbook. Perhaps they believe (as perhaps I do) that if you are a "Pro"sumer as someone mentioned earlier then you would be better off with the MBP. Perhaps thats why they've added 2 graphics cards to these machines. I bet they can render transitions and encode DV->which ever format you'd like faster than you'd ever need.
So whilst I understand that there are some people who still use tape and of those they *have* to have the ability copy sections of the DV rather than the whole file, those people can do three things.
1) Buy a new camera
2) Buy a MBP
3) Buy another companys offering.
Of which I'd bet Apple had hoped you'd do the 1 or 2 but if you did 3 then great for them because (again as someone mentioned earlier) their overall manufacturing costs are probably reduced and their margins are therefore probably better without the firewire and so they are making more money from the units they sell rather than the one they don't.
So surely you'd agree that a thread bitching about something you can't fix is probably a waste of time? Thats all I wanted to say. No offence meant to anyone concerned.
Lets cut out the abuse Voodoophone. Perhaps we can have a adult conversation. Rather than throw mud.
Secondly I've been using macs for over 15 years have been using DV for about 5 of those, so I believe that gives me an opinion.
Perhaps I was a little blunt before but really you have to understand that things move on. CRTs-->LCD's, Floppy --> Memory sticks, System 7/8/9 --> OS X. We've all coped up to now and I'm sure that Apple have a good reason for removing the Firewire from the Macbook. Perhaps they believe (as perhaps I do) that if you are a "Pro"sumer as someone mentioned earlier then you would be better off with the MBP. Perhaps thats why they've added 2 graphics cards to these machines. I bet they can render transitions and encode DV->which ever format you'd like faster than you'd ever need.
So whilst I understand that there are some people who still use tape and of those they *have* to have the ability copy sections of the DV rather than the whole file, those people can do three things.
1) Buy a new camera
2) Buy a MBP
3) Buy another companys offering.
Of which I'd bet Apple had hoped you'd do the 1 or 2 but if you did 3 then great for them because (again as someone mentioned earlier) their overall manufacturing costs are probably reduced and their margins are therefore probably better without the firewire and so they are making more money from the units they sell rather than the one they don't.
So surely you'd agree that a thread bitching about something you can't fix is probably a waste of time? Thats all I wanted to say. No offence meant to anyone concerned.
Apple could have chosen to share that information.
If it's a case of them thinking "FW is dead, USB is teh wave of teh future!" then why did they simply drop the FW connection instead of replacing it with an additional USB port?
I hope you either work at Apple or own a ton of stock, because I have never heard a more "Apple apologist" response ever.
1. Even if margins are increased (which is pure speculation on your part), they will not make more money by selling less machines.
2. Apple dropped firewire for 1 reason: money. They probably took the risk that the people that use Firewire on their Macs are loyal enough to fork over the extra cash to get a MBP. I would guess that they did a study and found that most consumers don't use Firewire and that by removing the port, they would not lose many sales as most Apple users that need it would reluctantly get a MBP. Apple is protecting the MBP price point and trying to make more money. Period.
3. The fact is that lack of the port is not the problem. The problem is the total lack of a workaround, either paid for or free. As I have stated in other threads, this is like if, when they dropped the floppy drive, an external floppy drive did not exist. All Apple needs to do to calm people down is provide an alternative solution to the problem. And the solution cannot be "Buy a new camera".
Completely agree with these posts. I have to buy 4 new macbooks for work very soon, and as we sometimes use DV video, I'm in a sticky spot.
Apple seems to be saying 'Use USB'. Has anyone (recently) tried capturing DV via USB just to see how it works on modern systems?
Like everyone here, I;ve been told how FW is so much better, and it's what I myself use, but I've never actually tried capture via USB. Perhaps it's better now than in the old days of single core and USB 1.1?
I'm not in the office again till tomorrow, then I'll try capturing a few clips with my C2D MB and miniDV camcorder and USB.