mini-dv out to firewire 800 port

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Level 1

128 points

mini-dv out to firewire 800 port

After days of wasted time and 3 calls to Apple, I found a solution to my problem so I wanted to post it in case someone else needs the info:

I bought a new MacPro (mid 2010) and in 2012 tried to connect a mini-dv player to it. Then I tried to connect a Canon GL-1 camera (mini-dv out) to it. This MacPro has only 800 ports. It would not recognize that there was a device connected to the computer.

I bought a mini-dv (firewire 400) to firewire 800 cable but still there was no communication.

Took the two devices to an older MacPro that had firewire 400 ports and the devices were recognized.

Called Belkin to investigate adding a pci card with firewire 400 ports and the techs there did not recommend it.

Finally I looked again at the choices at the Apple store and saw the Moshi Firewire 800 to 400 adapter there ($15). Without expecting it to work, I ordered it. IT WORKS! I plugged the cable from the camera into the adapter and the 800 end into my 800 port and Final Cut Pro X (under Lion) recognized the devices and import proceeded normally just as under the older operating systems and older macs.

Posted on Mar 20, 2012 1:03 PM

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Answer 1

salty777

Level 3

543 points

Mar 20, 2012 5:04 PM in response to Diane T

Thanks for the advice, DT and SF.

I still have a DV camera too, and if I ever upgrade my old MacPro 1.1 to a unit with FW 800 only, I'll remember this if things go pear shaped!

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Answer 2

Mar 20, 2012 2:19 PM in response to Diane T

Yes, feeding a Firewire 400 device to a Firewire 800 port on your computer should always work.

It's just that your first cable was bad.

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Answer 3

Diane T Author

Level 1

128 points

Mar 20, 2012 4:17 PM in response to Diane T

Well... I took that first cable back and they gave me another cable--it also didn't work. Then I took camera and that 2nd cable into BestBuy where they attempted to find some way to have one of their Macs recognize the mini-dv camera (firewire 400 out) device. They could not. At that time I was still trying to prove that my MacPro had good firewire 800 ports. Definitely the Moshi adapter does something to the signal that the cable did not do.

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Answer 4

Diane T Author

Level 1

128 points

Mar 20, 2012 4:30 PM in response to Diane T

I should add that when I went through the process of searching the discussion groups here and the internet in general for solutions to the problem, there were MANY unhappy reviews from people who bought cables -- many different manufacturers of cables being represented. That is why I began to think that I would have to add a port via a pci card. And remember those 3 calls to Apple? one of them trasferred me to an Apple guy who said he had the same problem and had not been able to solve it. He continued to use his older machine with 400 port to import.

Yes, it is commonly said that 800 is backward compatible to 400 but I don't think that is true. My son is an electronics engineer and when I asked him if he had expertise with 1394 signals, he said the specs specified some points on which compatibility had to be maintained but other points that were optional. Guess we would need the actual circuit designer guys at Apple to explain why the MacPro was desgned the way it is.

Also the compatibility list that Apple has posted is amazingly short. If the cable worked, surely so many cameras would not be excluded. I sure am not happy to have spent so much time on a problem that should not have happened.

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Answer 5

Mar 20, 2012 4:47 PM in response to Diane T

Sorry, I didn't notice you are using a Canon GL-1. They have a history of being finicky with Firewire connections. General advice for a GL-1 is connect the camera to the computer with the power off, then powering up. It would make sense that maybe some cables might have a bit more capacitance and load the Canon's flakey chip inappropriately. Shorter cables are therefore better.

The reverse compatibility claim comes directly from the 1394 Trade Association:

http://www.1394ta.org/consumers/FAQ.html

"FireWire 800 is completely compatible with older FireWire devices."

It's good to hear the Moshi adapter works for you. I've had mixed results with their other adapters. Sonnet makes an excellent 400-800 adapter:

http://store1.sonnettech.com/product_info.php?products_id=87

but it's more expensive.

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Answer 6

Regan V

Level 1

0 points

Feb 18, 2013 8:03 AM in response to Diane T

Can you please tell me what kind of cable you have that connects your camera to the 400-800 adapter?

Thanks!

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