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But how is adding Firewire back to the MacBook going to help with the
"USB not mounting issue" you mention above when 6 out of 7 of the most recent consumer camcorders reviewed (and all of the most popular ones) on camcorderinfo.com don't even have Firewire?

Because then you can choose from wide range of cams that use FW. If for some reason I would want to shoot for fun I would probably go with some small HDV with XLR's so at least I could use decent mic.
 
I'm not saying that you're making this stuff up.

What I am saying is that your specific use case is so NOT even close to being typical for a MacBook owner that most of the points that you're trying to make seem utterly ridiculous.

Is it really hard to believe that when Steve Jobs said 'Actually, all of the new HD camcorders of the past few years use USB 2', he was referring to CONSUMER cameras, and NOT the $5,000+ rigs that you professionals use?

It's not even true with consumer camcorders. What he said was a bald-faced lie. We just purchased Canon ZR model camcorders (firewire only) for my video classes at the high school where I teach. Thousands of high schools around the country have done the same thing. Many of my students use MB's for editing. Obviously, SJ eliminated that option for them and my recommendation of an Apple laptop for them.
 
It's not even true with consumer camcorders. What he said was a bald-faced lie. We just purchased Canon ZR model camcorders (firewire only) for my video classes at the high school where I teach. Thousands of high schools around the country have done the same thing. Many of my students use MB's for editing. Obviously, SJ eliminated that option for them and my recommendation of an Apple laptop for them.
I really think that Apple forgot about certain segments of the market when they decided to piss on FireWire.
 
From what I understand, several have their own proprietary software encoding

They ALL use proprietary software. No NLE (FCE, FCP, Premiere Pro, Aid, etc.) has the capability of capture from USB. Then the video has to be transcoded for use in those editing programs. No one serious about editing will choose a USB camcorder. Flash is a different story, because it will provide the ability to use card readers.
 
I really think that Apple forgot about certain segments of the market when they decided to piss on FireWire.

Absolutely. They forgot (or chose to forget) the education market that is heavily invested in firewire technologies (and they encouraged us top do it), the wedding and event videographer/producer and the serious hobbiest. That's just on the video side of things. This was a really bad decision.
 
From what I understand, several have their own proprietary software encoding

Actually I think you're spot on with your comment. When you think about the tape formats the manufacturers are forced to use standards (DV, HDV, Beta SP, DigitalBeta etc.) but with HDD etc. recording they can use what ever format and software package they like. Even in pro stuff like on Red you have Red Raw format but Red Cinema is coding their own software for Mac (QT plugs for FCP and several programs). In other words they are coding infrastructure around the format to support it on Mac.
 
They ALL use proprietary software. No NLE (FCE, FCP, Premiere Pro, Aid, etc.) has the capability of capture from USB. Then the video has to be transcoded for use in those editing programs. No one serious about editing will choose a USB camcorder. Flash is a different story, because it will provide the ability to use card readers.

Seems like it except when I tried to mount a flash card recorded on some Samsung or Panasonic (don't remember) it didn't mount on Mac. On PC it worked fine but used its own software. Anyway, I'm far from being an expert on cams like these so I guess there might have been a work around although not mounting seems one of those things you don't work around that easily.
 
It's not even true with consumer camcorders. What he said was a bald-faced lie. We just purchased Canon ZR model camcorders (firewire only) for my video classes at the high school where I teach. Thousands of high schools around the country have done the same thing. Many of my students use MB's for editing. Obviously, SJ eliminated that option for them and my recommendation of an Apple laptop for them.
Thousands of high schools just now invested in miniDV?! Wow.

So quick question. Of the students that end up buying their own camcorder, do you think they'll invest in a SD miniDV like they get to use at school, or will they invest in one of the more popular HD models, virtually none of which are being made with firewire?
 
Seems like it except when I tried to mount a flash card recorded on some Samsung or Panasonic (don't remember) it didn't mount on Mac. On PC it worked fine but used its own software. Anyway, I'm far from being an expert on cams like these so I guess there might have been a work around although not mounting seems one of those things you don't work around that easily.

You're right, I really didn't finish my thought there. What I meant to say was at some point in the future it will be a viable option. I don't think all the NLE's support it natively yet. That why firewire is still so necessary, along with all it's other uses..
 
Because then you can choose from wide range of cams that use FW. If for some reason I would want to shoot for fun I would probably go with some small HDV with XLR's so at least I could use decent mic.
When I look at recently made/reviewed consumer-level camcorders, I'm not seeing a wide range of those that use FW. Where are they? :confused:
 
When I look at recently made/reviewed consumer-level camcorders, I'm not seeing a wide range of those that use FW. Where are they? :confused:
Finding anything with FireWire among the USB infestation is the "Where's Waldo" of peripheral connectivity types. However, if you know where to look and are patient enough, you can find them. I just bought a FireWire camera a month ago.
 
You're right, I really didn't finish my thought there. What I meant to say was at some point in the future it will be a viable option. I don't think all the NLE's support it natively yet. That why firewire is still so necessary, along with all it's other uses..

I think it will be fine on Windows side but I honestly don't believe that cam manufacturers will be writing codecs, transcoding or editing software for Mac... Pro and prosumer cams are different since FCP is very popular.
 
So he thinks it is OK to expect people to throw away their perfectly fine FireWire camcorders and spend money on a USB 2 one for no advantage of theirs, in this economy?

I call that being out of touch. Not a good sign at all.

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Yup, toss it away right along with your floppy disks, serial, parallel, and applelink devices too! Out with the old and in with the new. It helps to settle on one standard instead of two. Firewire is right there with HD-DVD. Sure it may be superior to the people that like it, but the other format just has more support. :)
 
To update, the online petition stands at over 9000 signatures as of this morning. Not an insignificant number by any calculation.

But I still believe Apple will ignore it.
 
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Yup, toss it away right along with your floppy disks, serial, parallel, and applelink devices too! Out with the old and in with the new. It helps to settle on one standard instead of two. Firewire is right there with HD-DVD. Sure it may be superior to the people that like it, but the other format just has more support. :)

Build me a recorder with USB that is just as good as the SD722 or the Cantar X, and while you're at it, build me some proper audio interfaces with USB which can do 192kHz/24bit without hiccups and close to zero latency.

Anyway, you touched upon [edit: it] yourself: Yes, USB is certainly much more widespread, but so will any consumer tech be. You're asking pros and semi-pros to use the lowest common denominator products, simply BECAUSE they're the lowest common denominator products.
No, you know what, it's just a computer – luckily, there are many competitors who will be glad to have the business of pros and semi-pros, sp that's where I'll be at.
Yes, I know, they don't run OS X, but the clients don't care about what OS I used to create the product, no, they only care about the end product. And in the end, so do I. The computer is just an intermediate step and as such it will not be able to dictate the rest of the production chain. I'll find a link that works better, thank you very much.
 
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Yup, toss it away right along with your floppy disks, serial, parallel, and applelink devices too! Out with the old and in with the new. It helps to settle on one standard instead of two. Firewire is right there with HD-DVD. Sure it may be superior to the people that like it, but the other format just has more support. :)

No, it absolutely does not have more support. Apple doesn't even support it with FCE or FCP. Neither does Avid, Premire Pro, Edius, etc. So it doesn't ahve more support. It's just junk that's being foisted on an unsuspecting public.
 
No, it absolutely does not have more support. Apple doesn't even support it with FCE or FCP. Neither does Avid, Premire Pro, Edius, etc. So it doesn't ahve more support. It's just junk that's being foisted on an unsuspecting public.

I think he means "widespread" as in "consumer garbage" sold to the cafe latte sipping iPhone Crowd.
 
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Yup, toss it away right along with your floppy disks, serial, parallel, and applelink devices too! Out with the old and in with the new. It helps to settle on one standard instead of two. Firewire is right there with HD-DVD. Sure it may be superior to the people that like it, but the other format just has more support. :)
When floppy drives and the others you mentioned were dumped, there were equivalent or better alternatives on the market. There are no suitable alternatives for FireWire.
 
Thousands of high schools just now invested in miniDV?! Wow.

So quick question. Of the students that end up buying their own camcorder, do you think they'll invest in a SD miniDV like they get to use at school, or will they invest in one of the more popular HD models, virtually none of which are being made with firewire?

1 of the most popular HD cams is the Canon HV30 (tape-based). It has a USB port so many may think it can do video over USB, but the USB is for still photos only. Video transfer still has to be through Firewire.

And with today's economy, it's not like all these schools have money to invest in HD equipment. I just donated our old DVD player to my daughter's class because they don't have money to buy stuff like that, and those are only 20 bucks. And it's a good school too.

Regular mini-DV and tape-based HDV is going to be around for awhile. It's Apple's choice to do what they want with their new products, but cutting out Firewire is going to exclude a certain percentage of their target market for a consumer notebook. It's not the end of the world, but it's not irrelevant either- it's going to be somewhere in between and hopefully Apple has made the decision with both eyes open. They often choose esthetics over functionality, in this case I am very doubtful the tradeoff was the right one.

With the original iMac, cutting out a floppy drive made a big difference in the form factor of the computer. But cutting out a single Firewire port? Hmmm....heck, they could've used one of those mini Firewire 400 ports to save space, that's what the typical Firewire-based video camera uses. You might need an adapter to connect a Firewire hard drive, but at least you have the option.
 
To update, the online petition stands at over 9000 signatures as of this morning. Not an insignificant number by any calculation.

But I still believe Apple will ignore it.

With millions of macbooks being sold every year I think 9000 seems VERY insignificant
 
Thousands of high schools just now invested in miniDV?! Wow.

So quick question. Of the students that end up buying their own camcorder, do you think they'll invest in a SD miniDV like they get to use at school, or will they invest in one of the more popular HD models, virtually none of which are being made with firewire?

Sure, because the workarounds for USB cams are too time consuming. Some schools have purchased them and regret the decision. But in education we have to live with our mistakes because you can't arbitrarily decide to go buy something else because what you purchased doesn't work well.

And, yes, if they buy their own cams they look for firewire so they can easilty edit. Canon makes a great quality firewire HD cam for the consumer market that is firewire.

And, as I said in a previous post, Apple was the biggest promoter of firewire systems for educational purposes. They got us hooked and are now beginning to cut off the suppley when there is no viable alternative. This is not like the floppy drive issue.
 
With millions of macbooks being sold every year I think 9000 seems VERY insignificant
Plus, when Steve Jobs will supposedly see the petition, can't you picture him pissing all over it? The only way to get Apple to budge on anything is to give it bad press.
 
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