MAC Mini Late 2012 Firewire to Canon HV30 macOS Catalina 10.15.7

WilsonB80 wrote:

Odd thing is it see my Panasonic PV-GS15 without any issues.

So i at least know its not the cable or MAC port.

Then it would seem there is a problem with your Canon HV30.

Since both of your cams are miniDV, you should be able to use your Panasonic to capture tapes that were originally shot on your HV30.

And although these settings should not affect the connectivity, check these settings anyway in your HV-30 menus (see pp. 40-42 of the manual):

• Playback Std Setting = Auto
• DV Output Setting = DV/HDV

That problem used to be reported from time to time back in the day when FW cameras were popular. Very often the cure was to reset the SMC & NVRAM. Try the following:

Reset the SMC (system management controller):

• Shutdown your Mac
• Disconnect power cable
• Wait 1-2 minutes
• Reconnect the power cable
• Wait 10-15 seconds
• Start your Mac

Reset ("zap") the NVRAM (nonvolatile RAM):

• Connect a wired keyboard to your Mac
• Shut down your Mac
• Unplug all external devices except your keyboard & mouse
• Power on while holding down the Cmd+Opt+P+R keys (all 4 keys)
• Keep holding down all 4 keys until you hear the startup chime a second time
• Release the keys and let your Mac reboot

Note: there is nothing risky about resetting the SMC & NVRAM and it does not delete anything from your Mac.

I have been succesful with these transfer, same macbook, same OS, same camera, using a third party app called Lifeflix.

https://lifeflix.myshopify.com/

This is why i suggest : see if you can rather transfer the data (external disk if you lack space), and afterward, just use the data.

I’ve never tried to pull data from the camera in Final Cut Pro with this, or any other camera.

When you say you have tried everything, have you also tried with that app I suggested above? (See if you can first have trial version). I insist i was able to do that with that same setup: catalina, firewire, and the canon HV30. I’ve transferred like 60 miniDV tapes in 2020, macbook pro mid 2012.

What about iMovie?