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  1. Member
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    Hello guys. I joined this site primarily because I needed some authoritative opinions.

    About three weeks ago, yours truly accidentally overwrote GBs of personal, precious video files on his two backup drives. Some of these are gone forever, some may be recoverable, some are recoverable. It is the latter category I am writing about.

    I have maybe a few dozen D-8 cassettes going back about 15 years. They've been kept in a relatively cool, dark spot. I have memories on these I cannot stand to be without. I know there has to be a way to capture these onto my computer. I put my system specs into my profile, so I am assuming they're visible. If not, I'll happily provide them.

    Thanks so much folks from a new guy in these forums.

    Keith
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  2. Member DB83's Avatar
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    D-8 ? Is that Digital 8 Camcorder Video ?

    If so, capturing to a PC is not difficult. However, since you appear to be on a Mac your options are more limited.

    Suggest you contact a mod to have your topic moved to the Mac forum where you will get more assistance
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  3. Member solarfox's Avatar
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    Since your 2010 Macbook has a Firewire port, you're actually in a pretty good position. Do you still have the Digital-8 camcorder? If so, it will also have a Firewire port (although since Digital-8 was a Sony product, the camcorder will probably have it labeled "i.Link". Don't worry, they're just different trademarked names for the same thing: namely, IEEE 1394), so you can just plug the camcoder directly into the Mac; all you need is a suitable Firewire cable. You should then be able to just transfer the video from tape to disk using iMovie's "import" function.,
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  4. Member
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    Hey...

    I used to have a D-8 recorder. (I've since gotten the mini-DV Canon HV30.) And that, I guess, is what I'm wondering. What do I need to buy in order to play these tapes and get iMovie or Final Cut to capture them? My FW ports are the 800 variety. Here are my system specs:

    Model: 2010 Macbook Pro 15", running Yosemite (v10.10.5)
    CPU: 2.66GHz Intel Core i7
    RAM: 4GB 1,067MHz DDR3
    Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M 512MB
    Extra display: HP monitor, 22"
    Storage: 512GB internal/primary HD; three external FW800 drives: one secondary, 2TB; two backup drives, 4TB each
    I also believe that my two USB ports are of the 2.0 species.

    That was probably overkill, but there ya go LOL

    Does that help? And thanks!
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  5. Mod Neophyte Super Moderator redwudz's Avatar
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    Since this seems to be a Mac topic, moving you to our Mac Forum.

    Moderator redwudz
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  6. Member
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    Where? I clicked on what appeared to be your link, and got nada.
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  7. Member solarfox's Avatar
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    Firewire-800 is backwards compatible with 400, so there shouldn't be any issue there. The connector is different, though, so you'll need an adapter like this one:

    https://www.amazon.com/elago-FireWire-400-800-Adapter/dp/B002TF0ZDQ

    If you don't have the Digital-8 recorder any more, then you'll need to get one in order to play the tapes. Sony doesn't make these any more, of course, but they're not too hard to come by on eBay. (You could also buy a Digital-8 VCR, but those tend to go for a lot more than the camcorders do.) Pretty much any Digital-8 will do; they all have the ability to output via Firewire, and if you're only going to use it to play back the existing D8 tapes (i.e. you're not planning to use the camera feature to shoot additional footage, and you're not interested in using it as an analog-to-digital converter to digitize analog video from VHS, laserdisc, etc.), then the feature set doesn't matter much. The DCR-TRV130 is pretty common (and is the model I've been using for years), as are the 260 and 310 -- but really, any of them will do the job.

    The camcorders typically use the "mini" Firewire connector, so you'll want a cable that has mini on one end and the standard connector on the other, like this one:

    https://www.amazon.com/Belkin-IEEE-1394-Firewire-4Pin/dp/B00004Z66P

    And that should be all you need, really.
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  8. Member
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    Solar... Thank you so much. I will look into all of that. I'll contribute no more to this thread since the moderator wants it to be in a Mac section. But, again, thank you.

    K
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  9. Member solarfox's Avatar
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    If you look up at the top of the page, Redwudz has already moved this thread to the Mac section, so you're good.
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  10. Originally Posted by solarfox View Post
    Firewire-800 is backwards compatible with 400, so there shouldn't be any issue there. The connector is different, though, so you'll need an adapter like this one:

    https://www.amazon.com/elago-FireWire-400-800-Adapter/dp/B002TF0ZDQ
    No!

    That adapter is fine for transferring data from hard drives. It will not work for controlling a camera.

    The only proven way to do that is FW400 -> FW800 -> Thunderbolt.

    You don't indicate whether your mac has a thunderbolt port.
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  11. Member
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    I believe it does. It's what outputs to my external monitor.

    I do have many or all of the necessary cables. I seems that I just need to get the right device and right adaptors.

    Thanks guys!
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  12. Explorer Case's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by Kong View Post
    I believe it does. It's what outputs to my external monitor.
    Eh, no. A Thunderbolt port looks like a Mini DisplayPort, but the compatibility is one way, the other way.
    The first Thunderbolt was on the MacBook Pro Early 2011. Your 2010 MacBook Pro does not have a Thunderbolt port.

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  13. Member
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    Any other ideas? LOL There has GOT to be a way to do this.

    Ultimately, I want to have access to these video files and have them as QTs.

    Thanks folks.

    K
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  14. Explorer Case's Avatar
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    Despite the problems to some, adapters/cables/hubs/multi-port hard disks in between, all these methods have worked for some other users with camcorders, if you believe the reviews. I don’t think anybody ever researched this enough, I couldn’t find such online, so it might be the quality of the specific adapter?

    FireWire is a serial bus, thus with standard compliant peripherals and cables, one can daisy-chain a lot of devices (up to 64 I think). Suppose you have an external hard disk with both FW400 and FW800. E.g.: notebook fw800 ==== external hard disk ==== fw400 camcorder. In this example the middel device does the adapting. Note that a single FW400 device in the chain may lower the speed for the other FW800 devices to the speed of FW400.

    Or plug directly. A (replacement) cable with different pin ends (9-to-4 is probably want you need) may be sturdier, and less likely to get lost than a small adapter, at similar price. Manufacturers of FW devices often don't like separate FW adapters, though (One says on their website “These adapters are problematic and should not be used”).
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  15. Member
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    Originally Posted by Kong View Post
    Any other ideas? LOL There has GOT to be a way to do this.

    Ultimately, I want to have access to these video files and have them as QTs.

    Thanks folks.

    K
    what hookups does your camcorder have ?? will any of these work - https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2386202.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0.H0.Xdig...-+mac&_sacat=0
    Last edited by october262; 29th Jul 2017 at 10:50.
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  16. Member
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    I don't actually have a D-8 camcorder. I am asking questions to determine what I'll need to transfer D-8 video to my computer, a 2010 Macbook Pro. According to Case, it sounds like I could buy an old D-8 camcorder, and risk buying some adaptors and take my chances.
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  17. Explorer Case's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by Kong View Post
    it sounds like I could buy an old D-8 camcorder
    You’ll be needing some device to run the tapes in, and a secondhand D-8 camcorder seems like the best bet, if you want to do it yourself.

    Originally Posted by Kong View Post
    risk buying some adaptors and take my chances.
    I’d opt for a replacement cable that doesn’t need a separate adaptor, with 9 pin FW800 male on one end, and whatever the camera takes on the other end (probably 4 pin male). The new ones are limited in choice (there used to be loads of choice, years ago), resellers may have still have some; the manufacturer Belkin only carries one model (6 feet, black) anymore.
    The problem with secondhand cables is that you don't know its history/prior care, so the reliability is unknown.
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  18. Member
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    Hey guys, thanks to each of you who offered suggestions.

    I guess my best bet is to risk an investment into an old D-8 camcorder and a FW adaptor and pray for the best.

    Tanx.
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