I need to download a video on to my mac using a usb cable tonight. I don't have firewire. Help me.?

Question

I don't have the firewire cable. I play the video camera which is hooked up to the laptops usb but it won't play or upload to i movie.

Answer 1

Hello, the problem is not with your computer or camcorder but is in-fact the way computers take in video footage. A USB cable is  used for transferring images from your camcorder to your computer NOT FOR VIDEOS. The problem is that USB cables do not have the speed to transfer a video to your computer this is why you use a firewire cable capable of transferring DV footage or any other type of footage in a fast manner (400 MBPS), with this speed the computer can take in the video footage. I am sorry to say but without a firewire cable you CAN NOT transfer your video to your computer.

Answer 2

your mac doesn't have fire wire?!?

that's next to impossible since they are all built in since 1997.

are you sure you're not confusing the leads. they look a little similar.

Answer 3

iMovie will not recognize the USB port for importing DV form a miniDV tape based camcorder. This is not a Macintosh issue. This is the same issue with Windows and MovieMaker.

Your Mac has a firewire port. For less than $8, you can get a 4-pin (camera DV port) to 6-pin (Mac Firewire 400 port) and import the video to iMovie and be done with it.