MiniDV does not store video as files.
That is why the tape is read (or written to) in real time.
My guess, is that the camcorders you are using are set to record to the internal flash memory that stores the video in MPEG4 format. That is what you are seeing via USB.
To get the footage from a MiniDV tape, you transfer the data at the tape read speed from the camera to the computer.
I love it when people on forums have the nerve to tell you that you DIDN'T use something that you did.
That you DIDN'T do what you know you did.
I guess all those miniDV tapes in the bag with the camera she had meant nothing, eh?
Or the MiniDV logo?
Real world file transfers over FW400 are almost twice as fast as USB 2.0.
USB and FW use different file transfer protocols/hardware. That is why FW is faster in sustained file transfer. With FW400, you will see around 360-380 Mbps sustained transfer speeds. With USB 2.0, you will see around about half that depending on the controller.
Again, you're wrong.
Go look at benchmarks.
USB 2.0's real world speed is THE SAME as Firewire.
I have USB 2.0 drives and they CAN move data around 45MB/sec (360Mbps). Benchmarks will prove it as well.
Firewire, again, is no longer relevant. It is no faster than USB 2.0 in the real world and eSATA is the wave of the future until USB 3.0 comes along.
Just too a quick look at HP's web site and found some desktops with FW.
Too lazy to go through the whole lineup.
As I said, some, not all, have Firewire.
But none of their consumer notebooks have Firewire. It was dropped in favor of eSATA.
Also, HP/Compaq, Dell and Gateway are not the only computer manufacturers out there. Don't forget Sony, Toshiba, IBM, and Panasonic to name a few. Plus you have the homebuilt market which is growing these days.
HP and Dell alone account for more than half of all computers in the world, with HP generally making more than Dell on an annual basis but Dell sometimes outpacing them in a quarter or two.
Sony and Toshiba account for less marketshare than Apple worldwide.
IBM doesn't even make consumer products any more and their notebook line was sold off to Lenovo.
Panasonic only makes the "toughbook" line which probably doesn't even account for a full single digit of marketshare.
And look how many of those Toughbooks don't have Firewire.
Have you seen the MacBook tear downs? The motherboard for the MacBook is smaller than the motherboard for the Apple TV.
Looks like someone here needs a lesson in how motherboards work
You see, theres something interesting about that big giant 9400M on the MacBook motherboard.
Not only is it the GPU, but the chip itself is larger thanks to the fact that it brings all of the other controller chips into it as well.
If you've ever built modern PCs, you know just how small those other controller chips are.
Theres absolutely no reason Apple couldn't have separate controller chips on the motherboard (seeing as how small they are) and use that space taken up by the 9400M for a dedicated GPU.
"Size" is not a reason. It's just an excuse to keep the low end 9600M GT in a $2,000 computer.
My Canon HV 20 which first shipped less than 3 years ago is USB capable... only to pull stills off the MiniSD card. If you want your DV or HDV video, you need FireWire, since there are no video "files" that can transfer via USB. So we've already shown your "everything in the last half decade works with USB" is wrong.
It's not my fault you bought a camera designed to operate that way.
You haven't proven anything.
You canNOT tell me that the 4 year old cameras I've used that DID allow me to pull video off via USB, and were MiniDV based, do not exist. I've used them. I know this for a fact.
You haven't proven ANYTHING.
I have a Mac Mini with FireWire, a MacBook Pro with FireWire (400 & 800), a Dell Inspiron HackBook with FireWire, two Asus Pundits with FireWire, and a very old Compaq Presario without. The Inspiron is the only one that has an unpowered 4 pin FireWire, all the others have 6 pin powered FireWire. So now we see that "the majority of machines will never have FireWire" isn't looking good, either.
Why is that? Because you've specifically chosen to buy computers with Firewire?
Go into Walmart or Best Buy or Fry's and show me all of the computers in there that have Firewire. Go ahead.
And the Pundits were purchased around 2002 and come with both a 4 pin and 6 pin FireWire port on the motherboard, so its not just a new thing for other companies to include FireWire. And at the time that I bought them, I didn't even know what FireWire was, so I didn't seek out machines that specifically had it.
Sure you didn't.
And 2002 was before USB 2.0 so that doesn't matter anyway.
Who cares if HP doesn't put FireWire on their desktops.
It means something when the largest manufacturer of computers in the world drops Firewire from its entire consumer notebook line and most of its desktops.
You can add a PCI card with FireWire ports on just about any desktop other than Apple's consumer line.
Because someone who goes into Best Buy and buys a desktop without Firewire and buys a camera along with it that is USB 2.0 capable needs to?
You can add FireWire to just about any laptop other than the MacBook, too, by using an ExpressCard.
And that kills battery life.
Why would I waste ExpressCard on a useless port when I could use it for an HDTV tuner, sound card, or to add more eSATA ports?
The official name is "MacBook White" according to the Apple site. "Whitebook" sounds stupid
"Hey, I just bought a Dell Inspiron 1525 (available at Best Buy) and it runs Leopard.
We're all well aware of the fact that Apple's machines generally cost twice as much as PCs. I've been one of the people on this forum to argue that point over and over again. If I had to buy again I most certainly would NOT be buying a Mac based on that. Why would I buy a $1299 MacBook (again) when I could get a $1299 HP that has a better GPU than the MacBook Pro, more RAM and HDD than the MacBook Pro, a higher resolution screen, HDMI, blu-ray, etc?
Actually I see BluRay as legacy technology, physical media is already yesterday.
Spoken like someone who has never used or watched a blu-ray movie.
How is physical media "yesterday"? Please tell me. With many of the major internet providers in the US putting in bandwidth caps, as well as most internet access around the world being capped, how in the world will digital distribution replace blu-ray?
Even uncapped access that we still have for the time being here in the US, how does that compare to blu-ray?
How can a 4Mbps 720p H.264 movie from iTunes even begin to compete with blu-ray? You're talking about Not only does blu-ray display twice as many pixels per frame as iTunes or other online "HD" movie services, but you're talking about 4-6Mbps versus upwards of 45Mbps H.264 on blu-ray.
One day digital distribution will take over. But that day is a LONG way off thanks to blu-ray and even DVDs. Even On Demand and PPV from satellite and cable companies blow away iTunes and other online "HD" services. With satellite you get 1080i (or p) running around 20Mbps using H.264 encoding. Cable is the same but MPEG-2. Still looks better than iTunes stuff though.
Later in your post you're assuming that Apple took Firewire out of the MacBook to drive sales towards the MacBook Pro.
Now, the MacBook could easily be re-engineered to have dedicated graphics on the motherboard without an increase in size.
But can you please tell me where the Firewire port would actually go without an increase in size? Theres no place for Firewire. Simply put. It wasn't left out to drive sales to the higher end product. It was left out because it's both useless and theres no place for it, literally. You'd have to drop a far more valuable USB port or ethernet. Both Ethernet and USB are more valuable to Apple's target market than Firewire ever was or ever will be.
If Apple wants to drop ethernet they would be better dropping it and DisplayPort and finally supporting HDMI.
