Need helP! iLINK and Firewire 400/800 on Sony Z1U

I recently purchased a used HDV SONY Z1U with iLINK outlet to computer with iLINK inlet for video downloads to HD.

Owning a iMac 1 Tb (Snowleopard OSX) it comes with a Firewire 800 and Thunderbolt 1 Gbs plug-in. I found (in my old cable box) a Firewire 400 to iLINK cable from Sony and wonder if that sufficient for the SONY to handle (have a Moshi connector from Firewire 400 to 800). If somebody on Wetpixel can provide some valuable info about my question I would very much appreciate it before I start plugin in some cables and may ruin the camera or/and computer. Thanks

I recently purchased a used HDV SONY Z1U with iLINK outlet to computer with iLINK inlet for video downloads to HD.

 

Owning a iMac 1 Tb (Snowleopard OSX) it comes with a Firewire 800 and Thunderbolt 1 Gbs plug-in. I found (in my old cable box) a Firewire 400 to iLINK cable from Sony and wonder if that sufficient for the SONY to handle (have a Moshi connector from Firewire 400 to 800). If somebody on Wetpixel can provide some valuable info about my question I would very much appreciate it before I start plugin in some cables and may ruin the camera or/and computer. Thanks

I have used both FW 400 and FW 800 cables to capture from a Z1 to some older laptops to both FW400 ports and FW800 Ports. And had to daisy chain a couple of times to get connections (not proper cords etc.) but not familiar on the connector you have.

Which software are you using on the iMac?

Basically you plug the FW cable to the camera, plug into the computer, urn it on to playback and set to HDV (found it more reliable than AUTO), launch the Application and it should show. There may be some details or tweaks in there in terms of sequence set-up in Final Cut Pro (if you are using that). iMovie was a bit more direct. I have not done any HDV capture in Final Cut X yet.....

Thanks, so you say if I plug in the iLINK side on the cable into the Sony video and daisy chain a FW 400 to the 800 adapter and finally to the iMac I should be able to open Final Cut Express or/and iMovie 11 to download the videos to my iMac? I appreciate your input, thanks again.

Thanks, so you say if I plug in the iLINK side on the cable into the Sony video and daisy chain a FW 400 to the 800 adapter and finally to the iMac I should be able to open Final Cut Express or/and iMovie 11 to download the videos to my iMac? I appreciate your input, thanks again.

It should work, I recall having to do something with a Hard Drive and not having all the proper cords. It may be easiest to get a 4 pin to 9 pin cable, they are fairly inexpensive.

Note that the footage (depending on how you set things up) will be captured to your internal drive. Though you can handle HDV on the internal drive, moving it over to an external may make performance better when working and editing. But a basic edit should not present many problems, since FCE and iMovie '11 bring it in as easier to edit Codecs. (I would have to double check on iMovie '11, have not used that one much)

If you get jammed up/run into issues, let me know. I have iMovie '11 and can do a quick capture on some HDV I have lying around.