Clearly, you need a FireWire webcam, and you need IOXperts’s FireWire WebCam Driver, but that will get you only a camera that can theoretically display video on a Mac running Mac OS X. To see and work with video, you still need another application.
- The Web-cam software is a nice addition; you don't get this capability with the iSight. IVisit is great videoconferencing software for users of older systems that don't support iChat AV.
- In fact, any Mac with internal firewire should be fine. I'm using a 6 year old beige G3 266MHz that can be bought used for about $100. As a guideline, any G3 or better should work and you might even get away with something older in the 7300-9600 model range.
by Brian Fisher • Jun 18,2019 • Proven solutions
Yes, it is possible for Mac users to connect their camcorder to Mac. Connecting your camcorder to Mac for importing Video from Camcorder to Mac or photos to Mac might be a piece of cake if your camcorder is compatible with Mac. I mean, as long as your Mac can recognize your camcorder, you can do that easily. That’s to say, you can directly connect your camcorder to iPhoto, iMovie and more for transferring the camcorder file to iMovie and more for further use.
Part 1: How to Connect Camcorder to Mac
To check whether your cam is compatible with Mac or not, you can read the documentation that came with your cam to see the requirement of the camcorder – some manufacturers required you to install software to access to the cam on your computer. Practically speaking, many camcorders from Cannon, Samsung, Sony, Panasonic and JVC have been included in the Apple’s list. For these camcorders, you can follow simple steps to have them connected to your Mac:
- Power off your camcorder and plug the camcorder into your Mac via a proper FireWire cable;
- Turn on your cam, and after a few seconds, iMovie will be opened automatically;
- Follow the on-screen instruction on the Mac and transfer the cam video to iMovie. If you want to transfer photos from camcorder, open iPhoto instead.
Part 2: How to Fix 'Fail to Connect Camcorder to Mac' Issue?
If your camcorder is incompatible with Mac and you fail to connect it to Mac via FireWire cable, you can do it alternatively. You can directly insert the camcorder SD card to the SD card slot on Mac. The SD card will appear on your desktop as a hard drive icon. Double click the icon to open it and you can videos/photos from your camcorder to Mac.
However, there is one thing you have to acknowledge: camcorder videos are saved in AVCHD (MTS/M2TS) or DV which are not compatible with Mac. Take AVCHD for example, if your cam video is not in standard AVCHD (MTS/M2TS) format, you may have to convert your camcorder video to compatible formats for iMovie or Final Cut Pro. You are unable to play the camcorder video on QuickTime, neither can you organize them in iTunes or transfer them to other Apple devices unless you change the camcorder AVCHD to Apple supported formats first. Here, we recommend to you this powerful UniConverter for Mac. You can convert your camcorder videos to Mac supported format so that you can enjoy them on your Mac.
UniConverter - Video Converter
Key Features of UniConverter:
- Compatible with 150+ video/audio formats – UniConverter can convert more than 150 formats of standard and high definition video. It also converts several audio formats.
- Fast conversion speeds – this tool will convert video and audio at speeds of up to 90X.
- Inbuilt video editor – you have an inbuilt editor which you can use to sharpen your video, add watermarks, text, etc.
- Lossless video conversion – you do not lose any quality, even if the conversion happens at high speeds.
- Download video – you can download video from several sites on the Internet. Use these for your projects before conversion.
- Compatible with macOS 10.15 Catalina, 10.14 Mojave, 10.13 High Sierra, 10.12 Sierra, 10.11 El Capitan, 10.10 Yosemite, 10.9 Mavericks, 10.8 Mountain Lion and 10.7 Lion.
Webcam For Mac Skype
Step-by-step Guide to Convert Camcorder Videos to Mac Compatible Formats with iSkysoft
Firewire Webcam For Mac Download
Step 1. Import Camcorder Videos
First of all, you need to import your camcorder videos to this program. You can do it by dragging and dropping them directly to the app. Or you can go to the main menu then choose 'Add Files' to do this.
Step 2. Set Output Format
Select an output format for your video from the format tray. Here you are highly recommended to choose 'MOV' which is a format supported by QuickTime and iMovie on Mac.
Step 3. Convert
Press 'Convert', and the UniConverter will do its job.
USB Video Class (UVC) Cameras
Any USB Video Class (UVC) camera should work in Debut. Mac OS X has had native support for UVC devices since version 10.4.3. If a camera works in PhotoBooth, iChat or FaceTime out of the box, then it is most likely UVC compliant. Most new USB cameras are UVC devices.
Non-UVC Cameras
Debut is able to support some non-UVC cameras using an open-source driver named macam. A list of cameras supported by macam is available at http://webcam-osx.sourceforge.net/cameras/index.php.
To use a non-UVC camera in Debut:
- Download the latest macam disk image from http://webcam-osx.sourceforge.net/downloads.html.
- Double click the dmg file (e.g., macam.0.9.2.dmg) to see the contents in Finder.
- Launch Terminal (located in /Applications/Utilities) and run the following command:
- Enter the administrator password when prompted.
- Quit Debut if it's already running.
- Connect the camera, launch Debut and press the Device toolbar button. The non-UVC camera should be automatically used if there are no other connected devices. Otherwise, it can be selected in Preferences -> Devices.
Firewire Webcam For Macbook
Video Capture Devices
Some USB video capture devices, such as the SIIG USB Video/Audio Capture Device (http://www.altoedge.com/video/siig-video-capture2.html), can be used in Debut. Third-party software is usually needed to make them work. For example, VideoGlide (http://www.echofx.com/videoglide.html).
Please see Using the SIIG USB Video Capture Device for details.
FireWire Cameras
Cameras with a FireWire interface, such as DV cameras or Apple's iSight, can work in Debut. If a Firewire connected camera works in Photobooth, iChat or FaceTime then it should work in Debut just like a regular built-in or USB camera.
Firewire Webcam For Mac Pro
- Download Debut Video Capture Software
- Buy Debut Video Capture Software Professional