where to go from here...

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Level 1

35 points

where to go from here...

Back in 2004 I started trying to transfer our home movies (VHS, 8mm, & MiniDV) to DVD with iMovie & iDVD, but hard drives were really small back then so I had to pick which parts of what VHS tapes I wanted to include in certain DVDs, import just those parts, edit them, author the DVD, create a label, burn the DVD, and then delete the footage so I could start on another one.

Awhile later I realized the labels were messing up the DVDs, and then I got married and life got in the way and I was kind of just waiting until storage capacity advanced to the point where I could just keep everything on hard disk. That time has arrived, and I was thinking I should get a fresh start by creating tape archives of everything (ignoring past work), but now nothing seems to work...

I have a Canon ZR90 MiniDV camcorder, and was using that also as an analog-to-digital converter for both my 8mm Sony CCD-TR916 Handycam and a VCR. I used a 4-pin to 6-pin Firewire 400 cable from the ZR90 to my Mac.

Now I have a 2013 Macbook Pro (with FCP 10.2) with thunderbolt, not firewire. I was looking into the firewire-to-thunderbolt adapter, but it's only firewire800. So I was going to have to get that adapter plus a 400-800 adapter. But then I saw online that someone already tried that with my camera and it didn't work. I also looked up the "compatible cameras list", and my camera isn't on it anymore. I tried hooking it up with the USB connector on the camera too and couldn't get anything.

I understand Apple wants you constantly buying the latest and greatest, but I can't go back in time and rerecord my 90's home movies with my iPhone 6+... What am I supposed to do?

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X Yosemite (10.10.3)

Posted on May 12, 2015 9:25 PM

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Answer 1

May 12, 2015 9:38 PM in response to Nick Haley

Okay.. this is not going to be shocking and an epiphany but...

If I were you I'd pay someone to do it for you. It's a one time transition and saves you from buying more hardware.

Good luck!

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Answer 2

Nick Haley Author

Level 1

35 points

May 12, 2015 10:24 PM in response to Rickphone

Ya thought of that, but have around 75 tapes. From what I've found it'd cost over $1,000 to have it done. Trying to do it myself.

Also, I found this at the bottom of the "compatible cameras" page:

Final Cut Pro X is compatible with most MiniDV tape-based camcorders using DV and HDV formats, which use a FireWire (also known as IEEE 1394 or i.LINK) cable to transfer video.

So maybe it might still work? What about this cable (a firewire 4pin to 9pin), which I'd then plug into a thunderbolt-to-firewire (9pin) adapter.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=&sku=688782&gclid=CjwKEAjwycaq BRCSorjE7ZewsmUSJABWzM54Pe-wnKFFn0A_dcIZgp5MHRCC4RXtQsKRFJrkh1yD8RoChWLw_wcB&Q=& is=REG&A=details

Has anyone done this with success??

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Answer 3

Alchroma

Level 7

23,809 points

May 12, 2015 11:55 PM in response to Nick Haley

Yes I have with the exception of Sony gear used rather than Canon.

Al

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Answer 4

Russ H

Level 7

22,432 points

May 13, 2015 5:25 AM in response to Nick Haley

Adaptor aside (which, as Al indicates, should be OK), I'm curious how well using your VCR> camcorder>Mac setup works. Hopefully, it will, But if you run into issues, try first dubbing the analog tapes to mini DV. And then capture the mini DV with Final Cut. Or acquire an A/D converter box (time saver and potentially better quality).

Russ

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Answer 5

May 13, 2015 7:39 AM in response to Russ H

I always recommend the dub to DV first and then capture from the DV. You create a backup of what are probably precious family archives. Don't try to edit on the fly, just dub.

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Answer 6

May 13, 2015 12:24 PM in response to Nick Haley

My understanding on this is:

Timecode is not present in camcorder pass-through mode.(i.e. your Canon ZR90 A to D converter).

Hence the advice above to dub to DV tape first. Yes 75 tapes will take some time to copy, then import.

FCPX will not import without timecode. I think FCP 6 and 7 does.

iMovie ver 10 also requires timecode to import.

Have you got an older version of iMovie, say '09 (ver 8 ) or '11 (ver 9) that you can use to import and then transfer to FCPX .I have seen posts here where these have worked where ver 10 has not.

Also I believe you have had QuickTime 7 Pro in the past. You might give that a try. FILE> New Movie Recording.Then transfer to FCPX.

This same feature is available in QTX but the files may be saved as H264 rather than DV, depending on your set up.

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Answer 7

May 13, 2015 2:14 PM in response to thesurreyfriends

Another option I throw out is to find an older Mac with FCP7 installed and equipped with FW400 ports. Uncontrolalble (non-timecodeO DV decks work great on the older systems.

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Answer 8

Nick Haley Author

Level 1

35 points

May 16, 2015 12:53 AM in response to Nick Haley

Thanks everyone for the thoughts! I got a 4-pin to 9-pin firewire cable and the firewire-to-thunderbolt adaptor, and I'm happy to say it's importing my video! Thats worrisome though about not being able to pass-through my analog content to FCP. The easiest solution for that though may be the same solution I've found to fix ANOTHER problem I've encountered... For some reason, even though the DV tape is playing just fine on the camcorder's screen (both video & audio), the signal getting to FCPX is getting chopped up into thousands of milli-second clips! The tape seems just fine so I'm not sure why that's happening. I downloaded Quicktime 7 again and registered my Pro status on it, and it's importing the footage absolutely fine! Hopefully it'll take my passed-through footage too. I'll have to test this later though 'cause I've just discovered I think my son ruined my VCR 😟

Why I have to download an archaic program that imports stuff better than Apple's flashy new FCPX is beyond me. And I was hoping to have my older video divided up into neat clips! FCPX should at least have a setting to disable the auto clip-cutting thing though if it's not going to work right.

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Answer 9

Nick Haley Author

Level 1

35 points

May 16, 2015 1:01 AM in response to thesurreyfriends

Yes I have an older version of iMovie - not sure Apple will let me run it on my machine anymore though. lol

Quicktime 7 Pro is actually working for me, although I haven't been able to try the pass-through conversion yet for my VHS & 8mm tapes. I was really looking forward to getting my videos split into neat clips, but I guess FCPX won't do that to analog video? Will have to see.

This quicktime import should be good quality? I'm sure FCPX might be better, but on old VHS tapes it's probably not going to matter right?

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Answer 10

Russ H

Level 7

22,432 points

May 16, 2015 5:11 AM in response to Nick Haley

Not to worry. The quality of the clips captured with QuickTime 7 will be just as good as FCP X.

Russ

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Answer 11

Nick Haley Author

Level 1

35 points

May 19, 2015 9:45 PM in response to Nick Haley

Confirmed. FCPX WILL NOT import my analog tapes w/o timecode. It SHOWS THE VIDEO, PLAYS THE AUDIO, and SAYS IT'S IMPORTING... But once you close the import screen, it hasn't imported anything. Stupid.

On the bright side though, QT7 Pro IS importing the video. Although on some of the tapes the audio acts funny and sometimes it also cuts the video for some error when the camcorder is playing it just fine.

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