firewire 800 convert to USB3 or Thunderbolt

[Bob Zelin]

Hi Ken –
USB 3 card for older Mac Pro

https://www.sonnettech.com/product/allegroprousb3pcie.html

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1016794-REG/sonnet_usb3_4pm_e_allegro_usb_3_0_pcie.html?ap=y&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIt8em1s6n3gIVT77ACh3oXAATEAQYAiABEgIHy_D_BwE&smp=y

$57 in stock at B&H free shipping, and it has Mac drivers

Does this look acceptable to you ?

You cannot put thunderbolt on an old Mac Pro. There are no cards to do this.

Bob Zelin

Bob Zelin
Rescue 1, Inc.
bobzelin@icloud.com

[Ken Slater]

Thanks Bob
I think that all my slots are full – but let me know if you think this would work:

I found a drive that has both Firewire 800 and USB 3 etc. What if I looped through one of those – Firewire 800 to MacPro
then connecting the clients USB 3 drive to that?

Here’s the one I found on Amazon – looking for others though:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00YUU3XJG/?coliid=I2ECZG16I7W0VN&colid=DZ6UBM0MWTGS&psc=0&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it

[Robert Withers]

I keep an 2013 MBP with OS Mountain Lion to work with FCP7. I use an OWC external box to move files around among my High Sierra Airbook (Thunderbolt 2, USB 3) and a set of Firewire 800 drives. I can edit the camera files on the FW drives in Premiere Pro and in Resolve on the airbook. I don’t try to edit legacy projects but I imported one legacy project from FCP7 to Premiere Pro CC (a few years ago) with some tinkering with the XML import files. All the cuts came through eventually but I didn’t have many other effects. Doing them now in Premiere. I wonder what OS you are working with. As you know, some software runs only on certain OS, and some OS only run on certain machines so it’s a little complex to keep them all available. I’m sick of Premiere and dreaming of switching to Resolve for all new things, but it’s tough to work with so-called legacy projects these days. Used to be easier with film and Steenbecks.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1106927-REG/owc_other_world_computing_owctb2dock12t1_owc_thunderbolt_2_dock.html

Robert Withers

Independent/personal/avant-garde cinema, New York City

[Ken Slater]

Hey Robert
I did enjoy editing on Steenbecks but they actually weren’t that much easier with a trim bin full of misc out takes to search for when the client changed his mind and those grease pencil dissolves. I still have a 35mm upright movieola that I keep near by. When a render is taking a few minutes longer than a client likes I point to it and describe what editing use to be like.

At least their wasn’t a new version of software every few weeks that might or might not work with them.

To keep everything working I have locked my OS at 10.7 and all of the previous shows and commercials that want to be re-cut (mostly infomercials that need the offer to change every 6 months) can be reloaded and edited easily in FCP7 or even Media 100 which still works great. Some of these shows have sold over $2.5 Billion worth of product so they still have value.

The drives are mostly for backing up data from shows and re-installing on my larger faster raid. So USB3 would have really helped speed up that process.

Thanks for the response!

Ken

[Robert Withers]

Hi Ken,
I could never get the 16mm Moviolas to work — always ended up punching extra sprockets or shredding film. I knew some folks who rebuilt and recalibrated them all the time who could work with them. Maybe 35mm Moviolas were kinder. Maybe that’s why I have such a good feeling about Steenbecks.
Congrats on your $billions of spinoff. Hope you got a few bucks out of that.

I have the impression that the speed of computer jacks is limited by their initial design and perhaps by the computer “bus,” whatever that is, so if you hooked up superfast connections or drives to USB2 or Firewire jacks on your computer, whatever it is, you wouldn’t pick up any speed. But I’m no techie. Lots of people will know more about this.

Best wishes,
Robert

Robert Withers

Independent/personal/avant-garde cinema, New York City

[Ken Slater]

Hi Robert

Yea the 16mm movieolas were film eaters – the 35’s were golden though. For 16mm I bought a Showchron with 2 sound plates and one picture. That worked great and it cost a lot less than the Steinbeck’s etc. The picture wasn’t as bright but it was easier to use. The president of that company was one of the lead comedians from the Firesign Theater.

Bob Zelin has it right with the Sonnex card for USB 3. My 12core can handle the speed on the mother board. I will have to see if I can go up one OS level to 10.8 from the Apple website to get it to work.

I definitely wouldn’t pick up any speed looping through a firewire drive but it would probably work for backing up data which is all I really need at the moment.

Thanks for replying.

Ken