Best way to import Pokemon Black?

Is firewire the only way to capture/import video on new computers?

• You guys dont know how frustrating it is, when all i want to do is get the footage from the camera to the computer. I see all the other help questions and problems other people are having that are similar, but my situation is different because im using a hub/connection/cable that hooks up from my camera to usb. hp chatted with me online for three hours before they gave up and blamed it on my canon camcorder. camcorder works fine in vista, yet supposedly windows 7 is better and it doesn't work on a brand new windows 7 laptop. I only went out to buy a computer to import video and edit it, not one or the other. I bought a macbook before this and sent it back because apparently macbooks don't import video via usb and the macbook has no firewire. what the hell am i supposed to do buy an old computer so i can still use usb, pay hundreds more just to import this way or buy a 40 dollar firewire cable, find out it i still can't import with it and be stuck with a useless computer, camcorder, and firewire cable? And by the way the laptop i bought doesnt have firewire, just hp's stupid expansion port 3, which doesn't even sell a firewire port adapter for it. Plus laptops that do have firewire are either way too expensive or otherwise crappy. Or am i wrong? Can video still be imported via usb nowadays or is there some secret tech-e way to do this?

• Answer:

  Well... Now that we know what camcorder it is... assuming you are capturing HDV format video with that miniDV tape based computer. USB was never an option for importing HDV - maybe USB for DV and lots of dropped frames - but never HDV. USB and firewire are not interchangeable - never were. And not all Macbooks are without a firewire port. Those made between October 2008 and June 2009 and those made since September 2009 and MacBook Air computers have no firewire port - that is true. But all other Macs (including MacBooks made before October 2008 and between June 2009 and September 2009) made in the last 10+ years have a firewire port. USB-to-firewire cable/adapter/converter things do not work. I learned the hard way. Now you have, too. Yes it is a bummer. The last firewire cable I bought less than a year ago is a 4-pin to 4-pin 2 meter cable from Fry's and made by Belkin. It came with a couple of adapters to make one or both ends 6-pin. It was $14. Older Macs have a 6-pin firewire 400 port. Newer Macs have a 9-pin firewire 800 port (except those with no firewire port, above). The 4-pin to 9-pin firewire cable I bought a couple of moinths ago was $24. I have seen $40 firewire cables - but they are not necessary. When Apple released the first set of MacBooks with no firewire port, LOTS of folks screamed. When the next update was released, the firewire port magically appeared. Then, in September 2009, they went away again. The only workaround I can think of is to get a computer - new or old - with a working firewire port. Better would be with an external drive. This way, you save the video project files to the external drive, and when you edit, disconnect that drive and connect it to the MacBook (that has no firewire port). The "other" Mac should be running the same OSX version and iMovie (or FinalCut or whatever video editor you use when importing the video) as the MacBook on which you plan to do the editing. Even a MacMini would work. It is not so much that "firewire is either the only way to capture/import video on new computers using a MiniDV camcorder, or it isn't"... for standard definition, DV format, miniDV tape based camcorders, USB *might* work (with lots of dropped frames), but for high definition HDV format, miniDV tape based camcorders, firewire is the only way that I know of. For that matter, if you check the Panasonic AG-HVX200, Sony HVR-Z7 or JVC GY-HM100, they all require a firewire cable to connect the camcorder's DV port to the computer's firewire port - and each of these camcorder uses Flash memory to store high definition video. In the case of the Panny, it uses P2 cards which can also be plugged into a PCMCIA port that the MacBook does not have - and the Z7 uses some interesting cards that I am not aware of any card reader dealing with and the JVC uses SD cards that SD card readers can use... I know you are not shopping camcorders - I just wanted to point out that HDV importing is the root of the firewire requirement. Along that thought, the Focus Enhancements FireStore external hard drives that record HDV format video also need firewire connectivity... As for Vista vs Windows 7... If the computer has a working firewire port and the video editor can deal with HDV format video, it imports just fine. At least, it does to my HP EliteBook 8530w. Truth is, I do all my video editing on Macs (currently a 24" iMac) - but that is another story altogether... and I have been using the same Sony HDR-HC1 and Sony HDR-FX1 for a few years back to a 17" G5 iMac...