DV Firewire capture for Mac?
 

Hello,

I am new to the forum so please bear with me. I searched around and was unable to find my question in a consolodated post (which probably exists) and so figured it would be easier to start a new thread.

I have Mini DV tapes I need to capture. My workflow previously (as with most) was Camera (which I still have and is functional) --> Firewire --> Mac--> FCP --> export, but I no longer have any Firewire capture cards/computers. I am happy to purchase a PCI card and a PC for cature (if anyone has any basic/affordable suggestions), but mostly I am wondering what software exists (if any) to allow me to capture 1:1 lossless DV streams over Firewire, or give me .mov's for example, to edit.

Any help, suggestions etc. are welcome. Apologies if this has been answered many times before!

Thank you!

First you need to get off of Mac, Under PC just use Sclive software.

Mac works plenty fine too, If you use a firewire 4 pin to 9 pin cable -> firewire to thunderbolt2 adapter -> thunderbolt 2 to thunderbolt 3 adapter (USB-C). The firewire to thunderbolt adapters have skyrocketed in price (easily over $100 for just that adapter) recently due to Apple no longer making them and somewhat of a resurgence of people recording on vintage DV camcorders. If your mac has a thunderbolt 2 port which is basically minidisplayport with the thunderbolt logo, then you don't need the 2->3 adapter.

When capturing in iMovie, the actual DV formatted clips will be within the project file and you just have to right click to "show package contents" and you can pull the DV files out to use on whatever you want. iMovie is free also from the app store.

As for the cost of the firewire adapter, you can probably resell it for roughly what you paid once your project is done if that matters. They are pretty small and easy to ship and seems there's a fair bit of demand.

I just did exactly that with some of the cables (thankfully not the 900 to Thunderbolt 2, since I already had one) in an attempt to audition DVRescue, which can only capture through GUI on MacOS.

Would iMovie produce lossless DV files? I'm Mac unsavvy so I wouldn't know.

iMovie does record DV (and HDV) footage losslessly, but since iMovie '08 there has been no option to directly export it losslessly. So you have to right-click (or Ctrl-click) on the iMovie Library file and choose "Show package contents", then copy the DV files out of your project media folder.

Thanks for all the replies and information, much appreciated!

I am wondering if I need an archived version of iMovie to do this, or if I can use the most recent version? Also, I am not as concerned about a 100% lossless transfer, mostly that I can get a capture stream that's better than composite or S-Video through the Elgato device, for example (which I have tried and is really lossy as has been noted).

Thank you again!

Most modern version works fine to my knowledge, at least it does with an M1 Mac. The show package contents method is lossless, but if you don't want lossless and for deinterlacing to also happen, just capturing through QuickTime works too, just select File -> New Movie Recording and you'll see your DV device to use as a video and audio source from the little carrot dropdown next to the record button. There should also be a setting for quality for high or maximum that create vastly different filesizes That should pretty handily beat elgato as well, though you might as well just do the iMovie route for a lossless capture since it's just as easy, then use something like handbrake to deinterlace if you're going all-Mac. Hybrid which does have QTGMC does have a Mac version, but I haven't been able to get it to work on Mac and I don't think the Mac version has been updated since 2023.

Just for deinterlacing I’m using QTGMC with Hybrid 2022.03.20.1 both on an Intel Macbook Pro 2018 and a M4 mac mini. Works as a charm.

Sverre

I assume Final Cut Pro uses a similar copying architecture?

Would you mind sharing details of how you got QTGMC working with Hybrid on an M4 Mac?

You should consider trying out DVRescue. I've had good success using this on my M2 Mac to capture DV files - https://mediaarea.net/DVRescue

Sure. I downloaded the latest version from Videohelp https://www.videohelp.com/software/Hybrid/old-versions and did a regular install. I do not recall the sequence of installations, but I believe I already had installed ffmpeg via Homebrew. Most likely you have to de-quarantine the app, it is explained in at Mac Silicon thread on Selur’s Little Message Board https://forum.selur.net/thread-3937.html. He has a development version of a MAC Silicon edition. I haven’t got around to try that one yet.

When de-quarantined, Hybrid should work fine.

Sverre

Thanks for the reply Sverre, but this isn't quite checking out for me, as I've gone through these steps previously and the VapourSynth options don't appear in Hybrid. Are you sure it's not using ffmpeg under the hood to deinterlace? I mentioned this separately in a thread with Selur on Doom9 and he indicated that he wouldn't expect QTGMC to work without a lot of custom setup - https://forum.doom9.org/showthread.p...02#post2012202

Hello, sorry for the delay in answering.

I can’t comment on Hybrid use of ffmpeg, it is beyond by knowlege. As stated, I do not recall wether I had ffmpeg installed by Homebrew, or not, and the order of sequence. Maybe an «under the hood» implementation of ffmpeg is included in the 2022 .dmg?

Attached is a screenshot from my M4, showing QTGMC (Vapoursynth) in the (De-) Interlace… filters window. With custom preset (I normally go for slower) you will have access to all options. I’ve also spot tested some of the vast amount of Vapoursynth filters, and all could be activated. An example is in the next screenshot.

Sverre