Please advise: I want to pull my Sony HDV V1U camcorder tapes into my MacMini 2018.
The Sony HDV camcorder has two outputs: DV/HDV and HDMI.
The MacMini has these inputs: USB C with Thunderbolt technology and HDMI.
The Apple.com site says that I need DV out to Firewire in.
Can anyone tell me what this looks like?
Thank you!
Two things to be aware of ...
1 - You will need a Thunderbolt-to-Firewire 800 adapter. Apple used to make one but it was discontinued sa few years ago (even the product page is gone.) But it is possible to find them on eBay and other online sellers. I believe the Apple part number was MD464LL/A.
This is what it looks like:
There may be 3rd-party adapters like this but I am not aware of any.
2 - Most miniDV/HDV camcorders have a 4-pin Firewire plug on the camera body. You will need a 4-pin Firewire to FW800 cable like this one. Or, alternatively, if you have the Sony iLink cable (4-pin FW to FW400 6 pin) you would also need a FW400 (6pin)-to-FW800 (9pin) cable.
Aside of the physical connection, I personally made about 100 like this using an app called LifeFlix which has been instrumental for this transfer. I understand it is feasible with FCP, but LifeFlix is a dedicated app for this. Just my two-cents as a user. No promotion here.
woodmeister50 wrote:
What year MacMini and what version of macOS is installed. Reason is that macOS 26 Tahoe no longer supports Firewire so the previously mentioned adapters will not work.
The 2018 Mac mini is not on the Tahoe compatibility list, so officially Tahoe is not supported on it.
But since the 2018 mini was still being sold as late as 2023 and the Tahoe list includes a "Mac mini (M1, 2020)" there is confusion as to whether or not the "2020" means the the M1 model that was released in 2020 or the 2018 minis that were still being sold then. It may depend on when the OP purchased the mini and whether or not Tahoe was preinstalled.
If the OP's mini is running Sequoia or earlier, I'd encourage her to use FW to capture the video if at all possible because it's a direct digital capture from the DV/HDV tapes, not a conversion of any kind.
Everyone, Thank you for your suggestions. How do I get from FW 800 into MacMini 2018 ports? https://duckduckgo.com/?q=macmini+ports+2018&kbg=-1&ia=images&iax=images&iai=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.macrumors.com%2Farticle-new%2F2018%2F11%2F2018macminiports.jpg%3Fretina.
How to get Sony HDV tapes into MacMini?
