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  1. Sure hope someone can help, I've asked this question on Apple forums but no real luck. I just purchased my first MBP and I'm hoping to be able to connect my old Sony 8mm Camcorder (Model #DCR-TRV120) to my MBP in order to transfer old tapes onto DVD's but my computer won't recognize the camera when it plugged in. I'm using a brand new Firewire cable (FW400 - FW800) that is plugged into an Apple Thunderbolt to Firewire adapter but my computer won't recognize the camera.

    I've tried everything to get the computer to recognize the camera but nothing helps, even tried another Firewire cable. Any thoughts or idea's to fix this? Seems like it should all be pretty straight forward.

    Thanks!
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  2. aBigMeanie aedipuss's Avatar
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    i'd guess it's the same problem people have with usb to firewire adapters. they just don't work with camcorders. try apple support but i have a feeling they will just tell you the camera is no longer supported.
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    "a lot of people are better dead" - prisoner KSC2-303
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  3. The funny thing is I've seen people on different forums using almost the same camera but without problems. Apparently it's a known fact that I can't use a USB port (and I've tried) for making this connection, only Firewire. Works perfectly with my old Dell Laptop of course!
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  4. The FW800 - 400 adapters work okay for disk drives, not for camera control.
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  5. Apple's wholesale abandonment of FireWire once again bites someone in the ass: Thunderbolt has proven as welcome to average users as bottles of Thunderbird at a baby shower.

    Here's your 3 problems: the Thunderbolt-to-FireWire adapter, that they swore on a stack of bibles would be 100% transparent and compatible with expensive legacy FireWire devices- isn't. Ditto the FW 800>400 adapters: not always 100% compatible. Then throw into a pot with the OS trainwreck that began with 10.7 Lion, and you have quite a conflicted brew. So you'll likely need to use an older computer with your old HandyCam, one that runs a stable compatible older OS (Mac 10.5 or 10.6, Wndows XP) and has a built-in traditional FireWire port (or card in the case of a desktop).

    You might read posts here and there by people who have made your combination of MBP and video camera work, but this is no guarantee you can make yours work. Along with all the other potential conflicts, don't forget Apple has a habit of making ongoing undeclared alterations to their MacBook hardware during production. Any given MBP model in any given year could have two, three or four motherboard variations: each subtle change increases or decreases usability with software or external devices that predate that MBP iteration. This is why pros with huge investments in legacy FireWire devices never discard their old Macs. If you have an older computer available for this task, just use it and forget the new MBP until your videos are digitized.
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  6. Thanks for the help, looks like I'll have to break open my old Dell Laptop for the video transferring unless someone else has a better idea. I appreciate the replies.

    Clint
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