Friends,

I just bought a MacBook Pro and wanted to upload footage from my Canon HV20 to edit using iMovie. I then realized that the firewire-800 port that's on the MacBook Pro isn't good for the firewire cable I have. My old cable - which I successfully used to transfer footage from HV20 to a windows PC - has 4 pins, and the MacBook Pro firewire-800 port has 9 pins.

I am sure there must be 4-pin to 9-pin cables or adopters available out there. The question is, which one is the best - a cable or an adopter? Any recommendations? Please help.

Thank you.

I would definitely go with a cable. With an adapter, there's more hassle and a greater chance for failure (more pieces to go wrong, plus, if for some reason your existing firewire cable gets loose in the adapter and makes a bad connection, then you might find yourself reimporting a lot of video). Granted, I've never had experience with either one, but from my studio experience in general, dedicated cables are much better than adapters, if feasible.

Here's an example of the kind of cable that you need: General Brand | FireWire-800 9-pin to 4-pin DV Cable - 6 | VG015 (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/283254-REG/General_Brand_VG015_FireWire_800_9_pin_to_4_pin.html)

(Cables from most retailers are incredibly overpriced..so I would recommend doing a quick google search for "cheap cables" *wink*)

Best of luck to you,
Glenn Fisher

Glenn,

thank you for the suggestion. I'll go for the cable, then.

Cheers.

I bought 9 pin - 4 pin connector cable (Belkin make) from B&H. It worked like a charm :-)