Mini DV transfer using Thunderbolt 3

[Wildman923]

Haven't been able to find if this is possible so going to be trying this due to lack of both a desktop PC to install a firewire card in and no computers with either a Thunderbolt 1/2 or firewire port. I have all the cables / adapters on order and should be here for this weekend to test it out. The daisy chain of cables / adapters consist of Apple Thunderbolt 3 -> Thunderbolt 2 adapter, Apple Thunderbolt 2 -> Firewire 800 adapter, then a firewire cable that goes from 9-pin -> 4-pin to plug into my camcorder.

For those not familiar, Thunderbolt 3 shares the same port as USB-C if the computer has the underlying hardware for thunderbolt compatibility.

Has anyone else tried this with either a success or failure?

[smrpix]

Don't know about thiderbolt 3, but previously, your chain had to be:
Thunderbolt -> Firewire 800 adapter, FW 800-> FW400, then a firewire cable that goes from 9-pin -> 4-pin to plug into my camcorder.

If it doesn't work now it may be because the whole chain is incompatible, or because you are missing that piece.

[Wildman923]

I was under the impression that FW 800 was backwards compatible with FW 400 when it comes to the physical connections. I'm planning on using a cable like this to bridge from the FW800 port on the adapter to my camcorder:


[Attachment 40972 - Click to enlarge]

[smrpix]

It's backwards compatible for things like hard drives. Camera control has always required that extra step. On a Mac, it's the ONLY combination that works.

[Wildman923]

GREAT info. I'm on a Win 10 PC so guess I'll see how it goes. If it doesn't then will try out the adapter/cable combo.

[Wildman923]

The chain of adapters is actually successful. I did have to play around with my Thunderbolt settings to get the computer to recognize and allow use of the Apple thunderbolt to firewire adapter (the thunderbolt 3->2 adapter appears to be pass through as far as Windows is concerned). With regular DV recordings I had to use scenalizer for capture, with HDV recordings HDV split did the job.

Both programs had full camera control.

[smrpix]

That's great news. Thank you for passing it along.

One clarification please, are you saying your chain did not require the fw400-800 adapter?

[Wildman923]

used the 9-pin to 4-pin firewire cable. I also had to use the 1394 legacy drivers for windows