Can't you migrate data between two macs with either an Ethernet Cable or 802.11? I know I have done the later.
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New Macbook - no Firewire!
- Thread starter Voodoophone
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Can't you migrate data between two macs with either an Ethernet Cable or 802.11? I know I have done the later.
Big call considering pretty much every good quality video camera uses mini-dv. This is a really disappointing decision by mac and again it seems like they're desperately trying to widen the gap between home user and pro user like they did by dumbing down iMovie HD to its current (useless) form. (And I agree with you that we might as well throw away imovie. You can do better editing in Quicktime!) I have a copy of FCP that I can only use on my desktop mac. When I saw that the new macbook had a proper graphics card I thought "finally! I can use FCP on a macbook" but alas I will not be able to capture! In term of value for money, at the moment I'm more tempted to go for a second hand, previous model MacBook pro than a new model Macbook.
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.
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.
Yes I agree completely. I use target disk mode ALL THE TIME. I use Final Cut Pro at my uni and at home and I use my macbook in target disk mode as the scratch disk so I can take work around with me and edit anywhere. How will I do that with a mac book. Ok, so I have to get an external hard. Sure I can do that but the point is I shouldn't have to! In the past my macbook was all I needed. In any case how do I connect my external hard drive to my macbook? They don't seriously expect me to send a 2 GB movie file over USB do they??? The suggestion is laughable, but sad in that I don't see another solution!
You are so right about there always being more and more and more converters/dongles required in computer technology. Apple has/had a great technology that was an extremely versatile, fast and more importantly, widely accepted as an industry standard. More and more technology manufacturers were building it into their products because it was GOOD and everyone used it! Taking that away from the macbook is like undoing all their hard work in developing a technology like firewire.
How are all decent cameras only using firewire? So tape is the past and present of all cameras? Forget about flash memory and hard disks? BTW I just edited HD video on a new MacBook this afternoon
For good results, miniDV is still best at this class. And if you are in need to connect external devices such as a helmet cam, you need an AV-IN interface which NONE of the HDD or card camcorders have.
So it's a must to get an e.g. brand new Canon HV30, which has AV-IN plus A/D converter, but is still [a brand new] miniDV cam - what makes the FireWire interface a prerequisite to use it.
As mountain biker doing a lot of actions shots, I wished there is one like the HF-10 from Canon - but WITH an AV-IN plus an Analog Digital Converter.
But there is not.
Ergo: Need for FireWire interface is still an absolutely given reason.
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)
i had to register just to agree with this. WHAT are they doing??? WHAT are they thinking? losing the majority of audio and video users which makes up probably MOST of their user base!!!! plus i'm constantly having usb bus power problems with portable usb hard drives whereas there's none of that with firewire, the port on the left side of my last two macbook pro's wouldn't even RUN a usb hard drive leaving only one to be connected at once.
All i can think of is disadvantages and no advantages at all apart from getting more money out of us when they bring out an express card adaptor.... AGGHHHH all the hardware interface's that are damn right useless right now!!!! sorry but it makes me mad.
ever sine the ipod took over the world apple has increasingly become too big for their boots. i have bought and used mainly apple products for over 10 prob like most of the apple users and i'm beggining to become tiresome. Suggested to a friend to buy a pc the other day for purely for the value for money they provide. it was a lenovo n500. it was well specced. cheap and provided just about any connector you could wish for. even had 4xusb ports... builtin webcam and audio... HDMI for new tv's... [sigh]
"N Series models offer four side-accessible, high-speed USB 2.0 ports; a 5-in-1 card reader and a PCMCIA slot, as well as S-Video, VGA, RJ11, RJ45 and 1394 FireWire (4-pin) connections. Together, these provide broad compatibility with many consumer devices such as digital cameras, digital camcorders, USB storage devices, game controllers, MP3 players and more. N200 models offer a standard ExpressCard/54 slot instead of a PCMCIA slot to support the latest high performance, high-bandwidth peripherals."
but it only runs windows....
Have a little problem/question
hey there,
I have read the whole thread aswell, and I think I lack some braincapacity or something.
I really don't get the firewire 800 - 400 thingy.
I'm a filmstudent, so I need firewire to capture anything, no prob there since I saved money for a pro and I prefer the bigger screen aswell.
But as some have questioned before what if you need to capture anything on an extern hdd? I've read stuff about linking ect, but will it work?
I don't really understand the difference between the two connections either, basicly because I've had tons of problems with them.
I have a small firewire connector for my camera (canon xm2), guess thats 800?
Anyway, I tried to connect it to a "big" connection on various pc's, and it won't work :/.
I've got an hdd with two big connectors (400 i guess?) as input, I tried to connect it with a cable that has a "big to small connector" and it won't work either.
So i've no idea what I'm doing wrong, and have serious doubts that i'll be able to connect my camera and hdd on that firewire connector from the macbook pro.
I hope I'm clear and that someone can help me
thank ya' alot
hey there,
I have read the whole thread aswell, and I think I lack some braincapacity or something.
I really don't get the firewire 800 - 400 thingy.
I'm a filmstudent, so I need firewire to capture anything, no prob there since I saved money for a pro and I prefer the bigger screen aswell.
But as some have questioned before what if you need to capture anything on an extern hdd? I've read stuff about linking ect, but will it work?
I don't really understand the difference between the two connections either, basicly because I've had tons of problems with them.
I have a small firewire connector for my camera (canon xm2), guess thats 800?
Anyway, I tried to connect it to a "big" connection on various pc's, and it won't work :/.
I've got an hdd with two big connectors (400 i guess?) as input, I tried to connect it with a cable that has a "big to small connector" and it won't work either.
So i've no idea what I'm doing wrong, and have serious doubts that i'll be able to connect my camera and hdd on that firewire connector from the macbook pro.
I hope I'm clear and that someone can help me
thank ya' alot
^^ You're a film student and you don't know the difference between FW400 and FW800
(all of your devices sound like FW400 both 6-pin and 4-pin jacks)
(all of your devices sound like FW400 both 6-pin and 4-pin jacks)
^^ You're a film student and you don't know the difference between FW400 and FW800
I suspected a reply like that, oh well its pretty anonimous
I know the idea that they are compa, because the 400 has the same pins as the 800 but less ect ect or.?
Well its all a bit too confusing and I hope someone could make it clear for once and always, (we haven't even seen in it school actually, not that that should be an excuse)
Well, still don't understand anything, except that I know that I can connect 63 devices and make a cable from 500 metres in lenght and still have a good connection with firewire 800.
And even if I don't fully understand it - I might as well do- do you have any idea what might be wrong with what I tried to do?
To sum it up: that small connector I have is most likely also firewire 400 and the big one is certainly firewire 400, but they are not compatible?
And even if I don't fully understand it - I might as well do- do you have any idea what might be wrong with what I tried to do?
To sum it up: that small connector I have is most likely also firewire 400 and the big one is certainly firewire 400, but they are not compatible?
I suspected a reply like that, oh well its pretty anonimous
I know the idea that they are compa, because the 400 has the same pins as the 800 but less ect ect or.?
Well its all a bit too confusing and I hope someone could make it clear for once and always, (we haven't even seen in it school actually, not that that should be an excuse)
There are currently 3 different FW connections... 4 pin, 6 pin, and 9 pin.
4 and 6 pin are both FW400.
9 pin is FW800.
the port on your camera is a 4pin FW400 connection.
Which MBP do you have? The new unibody with only FW800? or an older with with a 6pin FW400 and a 9pin FW800?
Well I'am planning to buy the new macbook pro, but I'm a bit scared that i won't get it working since I have had trouble with firewire in the past.
thanks for the short explination btw, starting to understand it now
So basicly my main question is, how do I link my camcorder (small connector) and hdd (big one) up and connect them with the firewire on the macbookpro?
I have like small to big 'convertor-pieces' and vice versa.
So what I think that would work is: connect the camera with a small to big firewire piece, connect it to one of the two on the hdd, and then an other cable from big to ..firewire 800? to the macbook pro.
thanks for the short explination btw, starting to understand it now
So basicly my main question is, how do I link my camcorder (small connector) and hdd (big one) up and connect them with the firewire on the macbookpro?
I have like small to big 'convertor-pieces' and vice versa.
So what I think that would work is: connect the camera with a small to big firewire piece, connect it to one of the two on the hdd, and then an other cable from big to ..firewire 800? to the macbook pro.
Since the MBP only has one FW800 port, the camcorder would have to be the last item on the chain.
Depending on your external HDD, you'd have to go from MBP>HDD>Camcorder
As for the cables/adapters, you can use either. They make all sorts of things.
Here's a link for a 4-pin to 9-pin cable. This would be used for connecting a camcorder directly to the MBP. If you have an HDD in between, you could use a 6-pin to 9-pin, or a 9-pin to 9-pin cable depending on the ports on the HDD.
There's so many options here ... and it all depends on the gear you have.
If you haven't bought the gear yet, buy FW800 when possible since it's faster.
Others may want to chime in on the drop-out issue when importing video from a FW camcorder daisy-chained through the HDD. I've never had issues, but then again, I'm still on SD-miniDV.
ft
oh well its pretty anonimous
It's anonymous dude.
Anyway, think of FW400 as you do USB, the same cable has two specs. Just as USB has a larger end (the kind on the macbook) and a smaller end (the kind on printers and hard drives, or even on digital cameras.) The cable is still the same speed, just different ends. Same with FW400, the 4pin and 6pin are both the same, just like USB. FW800 is relatively new, showing up on Macs in 2003, it is fully backwards compatible needing only an adapter.
You say you will be buying a Macbook Pro, nothing to worry about, you can purchase an ExpressCard/34 with either FW400, FW800, or both.
Just to pick nits ... there is a difference between 4-pin and 6-pin. 4-pin FW ports/cables are not capable of supplying power.
yeah, the process that ftaok described is called 'daisy chaining' and it is not recommended for video capture.
if you get a MBP, then get an Expresscard adapter for FW and connect the camera to that and the drive to the FW port on the side of the computer.
if you get a MBP, then get an Expresscard adapter for FW and connect the camera to that and the drive to the FW port on the side of the computer.
Bigboss,
I'm not nearly as informed about DV as you are. Can you explain to me how one should import DV or HDV when using a Macbook with only one Firewire port?
What would be best?
1. Capture to a FW external drive via daisy-chaining ...
2. Capture to a USB2 external drive with camcorder using FW ...
or
3. Capture to the internal HDD with camcorder using FW
Thanks man.
ft
I'm obviously not bigbossbmb, but IMO all those options are about equal. None of them are recommended, but hopefully one of them will work.
Lethal
So what exactly is the issue? Is it drop-out during import or is it errors when you edit?
Right now, we import our miniDV to an external USB2 drive using a Macbook and iMovie'08 (although I've never had a problem with previous version of iMovie either). I've never noticed drop-outs or other issues.
Kinda related, what would MBP owners do now with just the one FW800 port? At least previous MBP owners had 2 FW ports.
ft
Nevermind, MBPs can add a FW port using Express Card ... just like what bigbossbmb said.
Have you actually tried this? I have read of others that have and it doesn't work. It should, but it doesn't. Reports say that it causes the new MBP to lock up.
I've heard that the new MBPs do have problems, but the old MBPs work w/eXpress cards just fine.
Lethal
If you wait until the next update to the MacBooks to buy Apple will probably put the FireWire port back. This happened before when the introduced the first MacBook Pro without a FireWire 800 port (that was reserved for the 17 inch model that came out a few months later), but enough people were pissed off about it (clearly there are enough people pissed off about this) that Apple put the port back on the next revision of the product. Yes it totally sucks that the MacBook doesn't include FireWire, but I'm willing to bet that it will come back soon.