TRANSFERRING OLD MINI DV TAPES

I have a pile of valuable Mini DV and HDV tapes to transfer using the original Sony Z1 camera as player.

The El Capitan system on my late 2011 MacBookpro did not recognise this camera using iMovie and Final Cut Pro X via a firewire to 9 pin plug.

I managed to get an expert to downgrade the laptop to 10.6.8 which I think is Snow Lion

I tried again tonight and iMovie and the Mac still does not recognise the camera.


I have also tried using three leads connecting together to finally end up in the thunderbolt socket on my iMac 2019 with Monterey to no avail.


There are numerous Youtube videos of people succeeding but I cannot work out why I fail on this . Any ideas please. It used to be so easy on my old tower Mac.

MacBook Pro 13″, OS X 10.11

Posted on Dec 13, 2022 02:26 PM

Reply

Similar questions

2 replies

Dec 15, 2022 03:41 PM in response to gascoyneone

You need the following adapters & cable


1 Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) to Thunderbolt 2 Adapter - [if you have a USB-C port on the Mac]



2 Apple Thunderbolt to FireWire Adapter




3 FireWire 800 Cable - 4 Pin Male to 9 Pin Male - to connect the camera to the Thunderbolt to FireWire Adapter




connect the camera to the Mac using the above cables

playback the tape on the camera

Use Quicktime Player to capture the video, its quicker easier than using editing applications Open QuickTime Player application on the Mac



Move the mouse over the QuickTime Player window to reveal the control panel


Click on the down arrow in the control panel and 


select the DV camera for video




select the DV camera for sound source 


Check for sound on the level meter

set quality to maximum



Click on red button to start recording



Click on the black button to stop recording


Save the video file

Dec 15, 2022 02:15 PM in response to gascoyneone

Hi gascoyneone,


Welcome to Apple Support Communities. Since this issue is directly addressed in If iMovie doesn't recognize or control your camera or camcorder, we'd recommend starting with the guidance there. It sounds like the 'DV and HDV cameras' section may be particularly helpful.


The camera compatibility articles below may be helpful as well as your camera may be incompatible .


iMovie for macOS supported cameras


Al the best.




This thread has been closed by the system or the community team. You may vote for any posts you find helpful, or search the Community for additional answers.

TRANSFERRING OLD MINI DV TAPES

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.