Transferring Old DV Tapes to Digital

[Scott65]

It appears I am not the only one with this issue; however, I still have no idea how to solve it.

I have an old JVC (model: DVL-505) DV Camcorder. I am trying to transfer old DV files to iMovie on my 13" 2017 Macbook Pro with two Thunderbolt/USB-C ports. I have an external EUASOO adapter (model ES-HB003C) that will enable me to connect USB 3.0 (and below) devices to this Macbook.

After plugging in one end of the Sima (model SUO-200) IEEE 1394 cable into the camcorder DV IN/OUT port and the other end into the USB port of my adapter I cannot get my MacBook Pro to recognize the camcorder. I have tried all permutations of powering things off and on still no luck.

I am running Catalina 10.15.2 on my Macbook Pro.

Does anyone have any suggestions on what I may be doing wrong or how I can fix this? I'm willing to pay for your expertise, although not a lot, as I don't have a lot of money. Hopefully there are some really smart people out there who can help.

Thanks,
Scott

 

[fhturner]

You are probably going to need a couple of new adapters and a cable to make this happen. You need to be connecting via FireWire for the raw DV stream to be able to be imported into iMovie (I'm actually assuming the latest iMovie on Catalina will still perform tape import). So, the USB-C hub will not be of use to you— you'll want to use Thunderbolt instead. You'll need a Thunderbolt 3-to-Thunderbolt 2 adapter first, then a TB2-to-FireWire 800 adapter, and finally a FW800-to-FW400/4-pin cable. There may be other options out there, but I know these 3 items at least exist. The first 2 are sold by Apple; the last, just do a little searching and you should be able to locate. Unlikely that you'll be able to use that SUO-200 cable you got, because it has FW400 at both ends (6-pin and 4-pin). Your mistake in your present setup, BTW, is plugging in via USB...gotta go FW to FW the whole way.

Good luck!

 

[ColdCase]

So you are trying to use the SUO-200 to convert camcorder DV signaling to USB. Its not going to work for iMovie DV type signaling. You will have to do something like fhturner suggests, putting the DV data on the thunderbolt interface. Thats how I bring DV video in from Canon camcorders. Instead of converting to USB, you need to adapt the camera to thunderbolt, either via a TB dock that has a FW interface or the apple adapter.

 

[iluvmacs99]

It appears I am not the only one with this issue; however, I still have no idea how to solve it.

I have an old JVC (model: DVL-505) DV Camcorder. I am trying to transfer old DV files to iMovie on my 13" 2017 Macbook Pro with two Thunderbolt/USB-C ports. I have an external EUASOO adapter (model ES-HB003C) that will enable me to connect USB 3.0 (and below) devices to this Macbook.

After plugging in one end of the Sima (model SUO-200) IEEE 1394 cable into the camcorder DV IN/OUT port and the other end into the USB port of my adapter I cannot get my MacBook Pro to recognize the camcorder. I have tried all permutations of powering things off and on still no luck.

I am running Catalina 10.15.2 on my Macbook Pro.

Does anyone have any suggestions on what I may be doing wrong or how I can fix this? I'm willing to pay for your expertise, although not a lot, as I don't have a lot of money. Hopefully there are some really smart people out there who can help.

Thanks,
Scott

What you need is this plus 2 adapters from Apple. Look at below of what people frequently bought with along with this cable to get the 2 Apple product adapters (Apple Thunderbolt 2 to Firewire 800 + Apple Thunderbolt 3 USB-C to Thunderbolt 2 adapter). You need Thunderbolt to Firewire, not Thunderbolt to USB to Firewire. It won't work.

Bizlander Firewire High Speed Premium DV to Firewire Cable 800 1394B 800-400 IEEE 9 Pin Male to 4 Pin Male Cable 6FT for Mac Pro, MacBook Pro, Mac Mini, iMac PC,Digital Cameras, SLR

www.amazon.com

 

[ColdCase]

Just to be clear, these cameras have a firewire interface, not USB. USB was too slow at the time and did not support FDX well enough. iMovie is looking for a firewire device, not a USB device. A firewire-USB converter looks like a USB device to iMovie. A firewire-Thunderbolt addapter looks like a firewire device

The recent Mac USB-C connector handles both USB and Thunderbolt3 protocols and data. You need a thunderbolt cable to make thunderbolt3 work (one with a lightning bolt on the cable connector) and TB3 devices, not a USB cable or USB devices. Thunderbolt is a bus architecture where USB is a serial architecture, so they don't necessarily play well together with adapters, especially for older cameras and high speed disk data where latency can be a compatibility issue.

As others here, I use either

1) a 4 to 9 pin firewire cable to connect the camera to my Thunderbolt3 dock (which has a 9 pin firewire port)

or

2) a 4 to 9 pin firewire cable to connect the camera to my apple firewire to Thunderbolt2 - Thunderbolt2 to Thunderbolt3 (USB-C type connector) adapter combo.

Both work fine for me.

 

[Rydawg96]

Don’t even bother using a USB to Firewire cable. Use Thunderbolt instead. Just take a 4-pin to 9-pin firewire cable (or whatever firewire connector you’re DV camcorder uses), plug the 9-pin end into a FireWire 800 to Thunderbolt adapter, plug that adapter into a Thunderbolt 3 to Thunderbolt 2 adapter, and there you go. You have a FireWire to Thunderbolt 3 cable for your camera. Definitely a lot of cables and adapters, but it should get the job done.

 

[dandeco]

Yeah, any FireWire-to-USB cables or adapters are just a trick or a sham; I think they are only for charging older devices that would charge via FireWire, like the early iPods. FireWire streamed differently than USB does. For DV import, the FireWire-to-Thunderbolt adapter is your best (and only) option. FireWire works in a manner very much like Thunderbolt does, albeit not as fast. (Heck, the Target Disk Mode feature of MacOS can be used by either FireWire or Thunderbolt!)

 

[PracticalMac]

(EXPLETIVE!), why doesn't anyone produce a USB-C port (not USB) to FW600 port!?!?!

This dongle dangle dance is beyond ludicrous!

And since USB-C is really the connector, not USB, it is supremely idiotic to call it USB!
It is harder to use computers, not easier....

Idiots, brain dead idiots.
rant, rant, rant....

 

[fhturner]

(EXPLETIVE!), why doesn't anyone produce a USB-C port (not USB) to FW600 port!?!?!

This dongle dangle dance is beyond ludicrous!

And since USB-C is really the connector, not USB, it is supremely idiotic to call it USB!
It is harder to use computers, not easier....

Idiots, brain dead idiots.
rant, rant, rant....

I hear ya, but it's not so much the connection in this case, it's the protocol. The camcorder transmits its recorded DV stream over FireWire, and the computer expects to receive that DV stream over FireWire. Regardless of the physical connection, you can't switch protocols midstream from FW from the camera to USB on the computer end. But you CAN encapsulate FireWire inside Thunderbolt, so using Thunderbolt adapters (which, TB3 uses the same connector as USB-C, of course), you can transmit that protocol all the way from camcorder to computer.

 

[ColdCase]

(EXPLETIVE!), why doesn't anyone produce a USB-C port (not USB) to FW600 port!?!?!

Not a market for it, no money in it, firewire in consumer toys is old technology not well supported.

Putting the three pieces together mentioned above gets you there and is simple enough. The TB3 to TB2 adapter gets you the USB-C connector on one end, the firewire cable gets you the camera connector on the other end. The firewire to TB2 adapter conects between them. Can't compete with that, price wise.

 

[sevoneone]

USB4 and TB4 are supposed to be merged into one definitive standard, when that happens hopefully things get a little easier... and cheaper.

 

[ColdCase]

Yeah, perhaps easier if the vendors actually build compliant devices, without cheap shortcuts. USB has been a wild west as one vendor's implementation is not compatible with another. You look into the details and you find neither is completely compliant, but it works OK for some. Sometimes two wrongs make a right TB has ben more predictable.

 

[dandeco]

Putting the three pieces together mentioned above gets you there and is simple enough. The TB3 to TB2 adapter gets you the USB-C connector on one end, the firewire cable gets you the camera connector on the other end. The TB3 to TB2 adapter conects between them. Can't compete with that, price wise.

Yep, I have read of people doing that and having decent luck with that. It's just another example of how Thunderbolt and FireWire can be daisy-chained. Once I get a new MacBook Air if I have to import DV footage somehow onto it, I will definitely go with that approach.

 

[Anonymous Freak]

+1

I have used the TB3->TB2 -> TB2->FW800 -> FW800->FW400/4-pin daisy-chain successfully multiple times. I have successfully imported a Video8 tape in to my Thunderbolt 3-only MacBook Pro this way. (Through a Sony Digital8 camcorder that can read Video8 tapes and send the video as a DV signal over FireWire.)

 

[Lucky667]

Hi all,

I had the same problem, got myself a old MBP 2006 with firewire port for 90 euro..

After the job was done I sold it

cheers, Lucky

 

[MacGuy1221]

Hi everyone,

I have all the necessary adapters mentioned above to connect my old Sony camcorder to my new 16" MacBook Pro. I have done this before BUT on my old computer, not this new one with OS Catalina. And as it turns out, iMovie isn't compatible with this camera anymore. It recognizes the device, but when I click to Import or just control/playback the video, the Play/RW/FF buttons are grayed out and iMovie can't talk to my camcorder.

I've tried several other apps over the last few hours that haven't worked for one of a variety of reasons, including Wondershare's Filmora9, Adobe, and ShotCut. Now I'm starting to lose my mind... I even hacked my laptop to install an older version of iMovie 9.0.9, but that version isn't compatible with OS Catalina. PLEASE HELP.

 

[ColdCase]

I keep an old computer with old OS and Apps around that I use in case things like this breaks. I know, no help. Once I get the DV video extracted, I share it to the newer machine.

 

[iluvmacs99]

Hi everyone,

I have all the necessary adapters mentioned above to connect my old Sony camcorder to my new 16" MacBook Pro. I have done this before BUT on my old computer, not this new one with OS Catalina. And as it turns out, iMovie isn't compatible with this camera anymore. It recognizes the device, but when I click to Import or just control/playback the video, the Play/RW/FF buttons are grayed out and iMovie can't talk to my camcorder.

I've tried several other apps over the last few hours that haven't worked for one of a variety of reasons, including Wondershare's Filmora9, Adobe, and ShotCut. Now I'm starting to lose my mind... I even hacked my laptop to install an older version of iMovie 9.0.9, but that version isn't compatible with OS Catalina. PLEASE HELP.

I actually kept my PowerMac G5 and PowerBook G4 just for this particular reason so I can still capture old VHS, Beta and MiniDV footages. Do you still have your old computer? If you do, use that to import your legacy videos and then share them with your Macbook Pro. I'm sorry that I couldn't be more help to you on this.

 

[MacGuy1221]

@iluvmacs99 and @ColdCase -- thanks for your responses, and I want to provide an update. Thankfully I have solved the problem. For anyone else reading this with the same issue - you need to download Final Cut Pro from apple.com. They offer you the full software for either 30 or 90s as a trial, and you have access to all of its features. I'm still not sure why iMovie 10 recognizes my camcorder but can't control it. However, I've been importing tapes in the background all day long today with Final Cut Pro and it's working perfectly.

And FYI - a single Hi8 digital tape is 1 hour long in time and takes up almost 14 GB. If you have lots of tapes to capture to your hard drive, plan accordingly!

Peace out.

 

[iluvmacs99]

@iluvmacs99 and @ColdCase -- thanks for your responses, and I want to provide an update. Thankfully I have solved the problem. For anyone else reading this with the same issue - you need to download Final Cut Pro from apple.com. They offer you the full software for either 30 or 90s as a trial, and you have access to all of its features. I'm still not sure why iMovie 10 recognizes my camcorder but can't control it. However, I've been importing tapes in the background all day long today with Final Cut Pro and it's working perfectly.

And FYI - a single Hi8 digital tape is 1 hour long in time and takes up almost 14 GB. If you have lots of tapes to capture to your hard drive, plan accordingly!

Peace out.

A happy ending indeed and thank you for sharing this! I have Final Cut Pro for my G5 which is what I use to capture the video because it provides more control than iMovie does, but it's good to know that it still works in the new version!

 

[curtwilliams]

@iluvmacs99 and @ColdCase -- thanks for your responses, and I want to provide an update. Thankfully I have solved the problem. For anyone else reading this with the same issue - you need to download Final Cut Pro from apple.com. They offer you the full software for either 30 or 90s as a trial, and you have access to all of its features. I'm still not sure why iMovie 10 recognizes my camcorder but can't control it. However, I've been importing tapes in the background all day long today with Final Cut Pro and it's working perfectly.

And FYI - a single Hi8 digital tape is 1 hour long in time and takes up almost 14 GB. If you have lots of tapes to capture to your hard drive, plan accordingly!

Peace out.

Using Final Cut Pro trial works for me too. iMovie failed to recognize my Panasonic DV camcorder. But it works with Final Cut Pro. Connected and working with M1 Mac using two dongles and firewire cable to the camcorder.

 

[r.hagell]

Don’t even bother using a USB to Firewire cable. Use Thunderbolt instead. Just take a 4-pin to 9-pin firewire cable (or whatever firewire connector you’re DV camcorder uses), plug the 9-pin end into a FireWire 800 to Thunderbolt adapter, plug that adapter into a Thunderbolt 3 to Thunderbolt 2 adapter, and there you go. You have a FireWire to Thunderbolt 3 cable for your camera. Definitely a lot of cables and adapters, but it should get the job done.

Trying to Xfer Mini DV tapes to iMac using the 4pin DV output from the tape player to a Firewire 400/800 then to a Thunderbolt 2 adapter. I can see no input onto the iMac? What else do I need to do this job?

 

[Anonymous Freak]

Trying to Xfer Mini DV tapes to iMac using the 4pin DV output from the tape player to a Firewire 400/800 then to a Thunderbolt 2 adapter. I can see no input onto the iMac? What else do I need to do this job?

To quote my own message from earlier in the thread:

+1

I have used the TB3->TB2 -> TB2->FW800 -> FW800->FW400/4-pin daisy-chain successfully multiple times. I have successfully imported a Video8 tape in to my Thunderbolt 3-only MacBook Pro this way. (Through a Sony Digital8 camcorder that can read Video8 tapes and send the video as a DV signal over FireWire.)

You need the Thunderbolt 3 to Thunderbolt 2 adapter for that final link.

 

[Dave Braine]

As per my reply to your other post, you will need an application like iMovie or FCP to import the footage from your DV tapes.

 

[dadders6]

A happy ending indeed and thank you for sharing this! I have Final Cut Pro for my G5 which is what I use to capture the video because it provides more control than iMovie does, but it's good to know that it still works in the new version!

"Download FCP" meaning, pay $300 for it?