Best Import from Camcorder

[dmwesq15]

I have a Canon ZR960, and will be editing on my Macbook Pro. I have a tendency to switch between Adobe Premier and iMovie (especially since Premier won't work on my main account but does work on other user accounts on my computer). I also want to store the video on a separate external hard drive so I'm not taking up space on my laptop. My question is how can I best import the video from the camcorder for later use in one of the two mentioned programs? Do I have to import it as part of a project using one of those programs and then transfer it to the external drive? Or is there some method to just import the raw video direct to the hard drive?

[smrpix]

That's a miniDV camcorder. You want to import it as DV via firewire. If your computer does not have a firewire 400 port you will need two adapters: FW400->FW800 then FW800->Thunderbolt. No other combination will work reliably.

Premiere can handle the DV footage as DV. Some versions of iMovie handle DV, some will automatically convert to ProRes (which makes no sense for DV material.) Any program that captures DV as DV is fine, but since you have Premiere, may as well use it.

You can store and edit your video as DV. DV is a straight data transfer from the camcorder with no loss of quality.

[dmwesq15]

What would be the purpose of the FW 400? It won't work with a DV/FW 800 to Thunderbolt hookup?

[smrpix]

What would be the purpose of the FW 400? It won't work with a DV/FW 800 to Thunderbolt hookup?

Generally no. Those cables can work for firewire drives, but they are incompatible with cameras (with a very, very few exceptions.) That's why you have to do the double adapter.

[Cornucopia]

Dv was designed to work specifically with FireWire400 (best that was available when it was introduced), and transfer is a realtime process (due to the nature of tape playback). Therefore, neither the clock, nor the physical/electrical connections, nor the code/protocol can be changed.

You would not be able to share your media to those 2 apps using a single common resource. (On a Mac), Premiere would save Dv as Dv type 2 wrapped in QuickTime containers, whereas iMovie would either convert it (as mentioned) or would save it as raw (containerless) type1 DV streams.

Scott

[dmwesq15]

What I found odd was I was able to use the FW 800 to Thunderbolt and import into iMovie. I was then able to take that footage and import it into Premier. But for Premier I would need to add a FW 400 into the mix? Just seems odd to me, especially if the reason was the Mini DV source was what required the FW 400, and it wasn't software specific that required the FW 400 connection. I will have to find a FW 400 cable and adapter I guess to fully test this out.

[dmwesq15]

One other thing I want to mention is I just noticed that through the capture screen on Premier I can start and stop my camera with the FW 800 hoookup, so is that a normal thing and the FW 400 to 800 adapter is needed to bring in the audio/video yet the 800 cable alone can recognize camera controls, or is it that the 800 may work and I'm just missing a step somewhere?

[smrpix]

One other thing I want to mention is I just noticed that through the capture screen on Premier I can start and stop my camera with the FW 800 hoookup, so is that a normal thing and the FW 400 to 800 adapter is needed to bring in the audio/video yet the 800 cable alone can recognize camera controls, or is it that the 800 may work and I'm just missing a step somewhere?

FW connections can be finnicky. You can try changing the order of what you turn on and when you plug it in. But the symptoms you describe are also typical of how it doesn't work. Obviously I can't speak to your case specifically, you may be one of those rare, rare lucky ones.

[dmwesq15]

I have a FW 400 cable and ordered an adapter, so when it comes I will try the connections as suggested and see how that goes. Thanks for the help.