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Transfer from my 1990's Sony Video Cam to external digital drive

Can I transfer my Sony Video Cam movies directly onto an external digital drive using iMovie on my MacBook Pro? If so, where is the best place to get instruction? I can't find on Apple Support YouTube channel. Thx!

MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 11.3

Posted on Jun 6, 2021 10:11 AM

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Posted on Jun 7, 2021 7:38 AM

You need to be able to connect your camera to the computer with the FireWire cable that came with it.


Unfortunately most Macs for the last 10 years do not have FireWire sockets, so depending on the model you may need one or two Thunderbolt connecters at £40 each and there is no guarantee they will work.


If your Mac is over 10 years old it should have a FireWire socket.

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Jun 7, 2021 7:38 AM in response to EdithMay

You need to be able to connect your camera to the computer with the FireWire cable that came with it.


Unfortunately most Macs for the last 10 years do not have FireWire sockets, so depending on the model you may need one or two Thunderbolt connecters at £40 each and there is no guarantee they will work.


If your Mac is over 10 years old it should have a FireWire socket.

Jun 7, 2021 9:33 AM in response to EdithMay

The Sony CCD TR 517 is an analog camcorder , not a digital camcorder and therefore you would need to use an analog to digital converter in order to capture your video into iMovie .

As your camcorder is analog it will not have a FireWire port , so don't try looking for the FireWire cable that didn't come with it .

You would need to connect the video and audio output of the camcorder to the input of the analog to digital ( A to D ) converter and then connect the output of the A to D converter to your Mac.

Do a search for camcorder A to D converters on the internet if you wish to pursue this . Just be sure that it is Mac compatible.


Transfer from my 1990's Sony Video Cam to external digital drive

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