New Macbook video import problem.

Question

Hi all,
I have just gone and bought myself a new Macbook Pro and I am very pleased with it. From a video standpoint I plan to use it to import and edit HD video from my Canon HV20. The new Macbook only has a Firewire 800 port and so the cable that I would normally use to connect computer and camcorder will not work as it is 'mini' Firewire to Firewire 400. I am assuming that there is/will be a 'mini' to FW800 cable available, but in the interim I am using a Firewire hub that is connected to the Macbook by a 400-800 cable. And herein lies my problem ! Although iMovie8 detects my HV20, it will not display or play or import any footage from the tape ! It just remains on the blue import screen and although the camcorder is merrily 'playing', no footage is actually making it across to the computer. I think the issue is the Firewire hub part of the connection but I thought it best to garner an opinion from users of this forum. Help !!
Many thanks in advance, kroguk
PS
I will also post this on the Macbook forum, so apologies if you see this post twice

Answer 1

Well, I can't find my Belkin FW800-to-4-pin (9-pin-to-4-pin) cable right now ..I'm doing some "tidying up" ..which is always hopeless for finding things afterwards!.. but I DID buy the other day - in the German Mac specialists, erm, can't remember the name - a Sonnet Fast-something (..which I've just put down, and now can't find..) teeny 9-pin-to-6-pin adapter (..so small that I can't find it!..) and I've just tested that with a Sony HC1 HDV camcorder.
Using the Sonnet adaptor..
..which is mentioned on their website at top-left here: http://www.sonnettech.com/product/adapters/index.html ..on a normal 6-pin-to-4-pin FireWire cable.. I just connected my camcorder and successfully imported HDV from the Sony.
I tested it twice with iMovie HD 6, in the most adverse conditions: 1; connecting to the 9-pin FW800 socket on a G4 17" laptop (..which is generally too slow to import HDV in real-time..) and 2; looped ("daisy-chained") through the 9-pin FW800 sockets (..one socket from the drive to my Mac, the other socket from the drive to the camcorder..) of an external iOmega FireWire drive connected to my Quad G5 Mac, also with iMovie HD 6. Both imports worked perfectly.
I'm also trying it as I write this - I just found the adapter again! - to import into iMovie '08 on the G5, daisy-chained through the external disc (..the G4 is too old or underpowered to run iMovie '08..) and that works as well ..though I did have to "kick" the program into starting a new Event; at first the camera transport ran, but no video imported, so I just Stopped and re-imported.
I bought this adaptor "on spec", as no previous device or adapter had worked properly for me (..converting between 4-pin on a camcorder and 9-pin on a Mac..) and this is the first to have worked, for me. But I have great faith in Sonnet, as they make the extra S-ATA driver card and other bits and bobs which I put in my floorstander G5, and that all "just works".
Ah; the shop where I bought it is ..hold on a moment.. the "m store" in Munich. (Karsten may know them: when Gravis moved from Lindwurmstrasse to Im Tal, the m store opened up right next door to where Gravis had been before) and they're at Lindwurmstrasse 5a, their phone number - they speak English, too - is 0049 89 24 22 35 24 and their website is ..aaaarggh; they don't seem to have one.
Anyway; the Sonnet SimplyFast FireWire 400-to-800 Adapter works perfectly - for me - on the end of a normal 4-pin-to-6-pin FireWire 400 cable, and importing works flawlessly every way I've tried it ..even daisy-chained through an external drive.
I can heartily recommend it.
But - as always - "your mileage may vary" ..meaning that it might not work so smoothly for you.