I need to capture footage from My Sony A1U Camcorder to Final Cut Pro X

Are you trying to capture and having a problem? Please provide some details including what the connection between the camera and the computer is.

Russ

Can be done easily over firewire.

As Russ suggest s we need specific info regarding your computer and it's ports.

Newer mMacs have no firewire ports.

All is not lost as there is a Firewire to Thunderbolt adapter that will fill the space and get you going.

Al

Is the camera turned on and in the VTR mode?

MtD

It could be one of a long list of things. For example, the cable, the adapter, the camera port, the MBP port (unlikely, but I fried a FW port last week). Any other Tb and/or FW devices connected? If so, disconnect them.

So if you have iMovie, try it. Also try QuickTime Player. Do you still have your old system with FC Express? Try that. If none of those see it and work with it, start swapping cables etc. If you have access to a deck or another cam, try capturing from that.

Good luck.

Russ

Are you using a 9 pin to 4 pin firewire cable? What brand?

There are anecdotal reports that not all of these cables work correctly.

MtD

I own a Sony HVR-A1U camcorder as referenced in the original post. I have not experienced any difficulty capturing data in Final Cut Pro X. I think Meg The Dog is spot on with the cable. The A1U is a FW400 device, using a 4-pin to 6-pin cable. In order to connect the A1U to the new iMac, which does not have a FW port, it is necessary to use a Thunderbolt to FW adapter. The adapter sold by Apple is TB to FW800, not FW400. Thus, an additional adapter (FW400 to FW800) or a 4-pin to 9-pin cable (as suggested by Meg The Dog) is required.

An expedient method to see what might be the problem is to do a Spotlight search for System Information. In System Information observe the Thunderbolt ports and see what, if anything, is attached. In my case, one of my TB ports has a TB to FW adapter attached, and it shows that there is a device connected. That signifies that the Mac is recognizing the connection. If the port does not indicate that a TB to FW adapter is present, or if the adapter is present but there is no device connected, that would suggest the source of the difficulty with capturing video from the A1U

Lastly, I have a much older Sony Digital 8 camcorder in which the FW port went bad several years ago. So it is not outside the realm of possibility that the A1U FW port is bad. Even though the A1U is a very high quality device and it is unlikely that the FW port has failed, it still represents another potential source of the problem. If it turns out to be the A1U, it is possible to use the component output cable that came with the camcorder to capture to an external device like a BlackMagic Design Intensity Shuttle for Thunderbolt http://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/intensity/models/.

Good luck.

John

I agree the cable and/or adapter are high on the list of suspects, but before you start buying stuff I suggest you do the tests I recommended with iiMovie and QuickTime.

Russ

Gnarlyraider wrote:

the cable is a 9 to 4 pin FW rocketfish is the brand and i have the thunderbolt to 9 pin adaptor.... you think if i got a 6 pin to thunderbolt adaptor and use the the monster cable 4 to 6 pin that I was using when I had my MacBook it might fix the problem? I do think its a cable issue.

Oh and to jfb1946 I do not have the component cables anymore they got lost through out time. know a place I could buy some?

Get another quality firewire cable, 9 to 4 pin.

Rocketfish brand working with FCP has a history of not working.

Al

As Alchroma has pointed out, there have been many reports of problems capturing material through Rocketfish brand cables.

MtD