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> Connecting Mini FireWire to a modern MacBook with only USB-C ports takes a few adapters to achieve: > Thunderbolt 3 -> Thunderbolt 2 > Thunderbolt 2 -

> Connecting Mini FireWire to a modern MacBook with only USB-C ports takes a few adapters to achieve: > Thunderbolt 3 -> Thunderbolt 2 > Thunderbolt 2 -> FireWire 800 > FireWire 800 -> FireWire 400 > FireWire 400 -> Mini FireWire Ummm... Lol yeah I suppose you could do that. I just used my old 2010 MBP which has a firewire port :) But indeed older Macs are pretty ideal for this as FireWire is an integrated part of the ecosystem. What was actually quite difficult is obtaining old versions of iMovie and QuickTime. I still had the old OS images, but Apple makes it impossible to get old versions from the app store. If you look for iMovie it just shows the latest version which is no longer supported for my old macOS (the latest my MBP could run) so it's a dead end. Eventually I found a link on Apple's site with a ZIP file of the iMovie files, and I needed to do something else to actually make it work (extracting and moving to /Applications wasn't enough). I don't remember exactly. It was a bit of a PITA but in the end I got it.

bestouff 5y ago
I'm just using a cheap USB2-to-firewire cable on my Linux laptop. Works well.
- GekkePrutser 5y ago
  Oh does that work ok? I'd have thought it might cause issues with overhead, as USB2 is only 80 Mbit more than Firewire 1. But the protocol for USB has more overhead. But of course a MiniDV stream doesn't use the whole 400 mbit. I'll look into that as I don't think my 2010 MBP will live forever and it's the last thing I have with firewire.
  - Aloha 5y ago
    DV ISTR is something like 25 megabits a second, 50 if its one of the pro varieties.
- jeffdubin 5y ago
  Can you provide an example of such a device? I have yet to see any adapter other than those with a firewire jack on one end and USB plug on the other, but no protocol conversion/bridging/etc going on (and likely to ruin your day, given FW power runs at 12V and USB at 5V)

bestouff 5y ago

I'm just using a cheap USB2-to-firewire cable on my Linux laptop. Works well.

GekkePrutser 5y ago
Oh does that work ok? I'd have thought it might cause issues with overhead, as USB2 is only 80 Mbit more than Firewire 1. But the protocol for USB has more overhead. But of course a MiniDV stream doesn't use the whole 400 mbit. I'll look into that as I don't think my 2010 MBP will live forever and it's the last thing I have with firewire.
- Aloha 5y ago
  DV ISTR is something like 25 megabits a second, 50 if its one of the pro varieties.
jeffdubin 5y ago
Can you provide an example of such a device? I have yet to see any adapter other than those with a firewire jack on one end and USB plug on the other, but no protocol conversion/bridging/etc going on (and likely to ruin your day, given FW power runs at 12V and USB at 5V)