CAMCORDERS: What is the last macOS that can handle DVCProHD via firewire (from HVX200)?

Actually I'm not sure...I've had Final Cut Studio 2, 3 or FCP X (renamed FCP) on my Macs since 2005 and I have no idea how they behave with video related stuff without them for the last ~20 years.
 
Actually I'm not sure...I've had Final Cut Studio 2, 3 or FCP X (renamed FCP) on my Macs since 2005 and I have no idea how they behave with video related stuff without them for the last ~20 years.
My last is FCS3.
You needed to have a "pro" app installed to get to install "pro video formats".
This made sense that Apple needed to pay those licences only when somebody paid them for the "pro app".

How many times you have had to buy FCP after X? Is there an upgrade price nowadays?

I might think about buying Compressor, if needed in my work and current version is good and works.
It was a mess back in FCS1-era.
 
They just changed the name after a bunch of years by dropping the X; no additional money and free upgrades multiple times a year since 2011 (really good ones)...so this was probably the best software deal I've ever had in my own life.

13 years, one price, $300.
Or $50 for Motion and $50 for Compressor (same as above with updates).

You're still on FCS3? How? lol
[You are missing out on all the modern features & improvements.]

And Apple licenses ProRes to companies and I've read they are strict with the process (IDK), so it works both ways. (Sometimes companies have deals/agreements based on their overall relationship.)

I saw some people write you don't need to have FCP or Motion/Compressor anymore; did you try downloading the Pro Video Formats package and installing on a computer that doesn't have anything?
 
They just changed the name after a bunch of years by dropping the X; no additional money and free upgrades multiple times a year since 2011 (really good ones)...so this was probably the best software deal I've ever had in my own life.

13 years, one price, $300.
My relationship with Final Cut Pro "resolved" after FCP7, but it was good years using that platform going back to 1.0 in, I think, '99? I'm just now remembering what it took to install it on a new machine--it would ask for previous versions of the software on disk, then the license keys for that version, and then ask for an older licensed version--a process of loading disks one after another into the drive until it was satisfied. Boy, we've come a long way on that end.
 
But are you capturing or streaming? Or both?

Short answer: Maybe macOS 11.0.1 (so 2020) - https://support.apple.com/en-us/106396

And it would require testing (Intel/Silicon) as that was the first year for Apple's new chips (gray area).

___

Long answer: There are different answers to this question and it really depends on your exact configuration.

For software-workflows:
If you'd be relying on traditional digitizing - how it worked with software back then (in that state) - then a lot of that same software that's still around today in its current state won't offer the same (or any) support because of different operating systems and general computing architecture changes (and other specific details I don't know).

DVCPRO HD is not even mentioned in the Apple ProRes white papers anymore which may or may not say something.

For hardware-workflows:
If you're using modern connections at the end of the conversion pipeline (you can get a picture/sound into a computer), it shouldn't make a difference for almost any computer in the last 20 years. If a camera can output a certain resolution and your wires and boxes are all carrying it correctly (or it's scaled preferably), almost anything will be able to read it (or something close to it).

___

I've connected a handful of 90s and early 2000 cameras to my Macs over the years (recently a MiniDV camera from the early 2000s into a M1 Silicon from a few years ago).

It's all done with a few toys from Amazon and either goes into a BM Video Assist to record or OBS through a HDMI to USB convertor that's set up in OBS as a "Capture Card Device".

And with modern AI algorithms and scaling and all that fun stuff, you can play around with the information that's flowing.

At the end of the day - we always would like the best quality possible but also have to understand that the starting source is not exactly the prettiest (old cameras), so as long as it looks pretty good and it's not squeezed or stretched (unless you want that) then maybe you'll find a way before your event.
To the best of my knowledge:

Chris Young

System Requirements: macOS 11.0.1

The Pro Video Formats package provides support for the following codecs that are used in professional video workflows:
  • Apple ProRes RAW and ProRes RAW HQ*
  • Apple Intermediate Codec
  • Avid DNxHD® / Avid DNxHR® decoder
  • AVC-Intra 50 / 100 / 200 / 4:4:4 / LT
  • AVC-LongG
  • XAVC
  • XF-AVC
  • XF-HEVC
  • DVCPRO HD
  • HDV
  • XDCAM EX / HD / HD422
  • MPEG IMX
  • Uncompressed 4:2:2
* Requires a Mac computer that supports Metal: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT205073
 
My relationship with Final Cut Pro "resolved" after FCP7, but it was good years using that platform going back to 1.0 in, I think, '99? I'm just now remembering what it took to install it on a new machine--it would ask for previous versions of the software on disk, then the license keys for that version, and then ask for an older licensed version--a process of loading disks one after another into the drive until it was satisfied. Boy, we've come a long way on that end.
I loved Final Cut Studio, I think many did. I was young, like 19, just getting going with Final Cut Express right before I got FCS 2, it was such a magical time for me.

Years later when they rewrote everything, I think 99% of the user base was depressed from the changes, it took me about a year to get over it, lol.

In hindsight, Apple, per usual, was ahead of its time again.

What they ended up doing with the software in the next decade+ was a privilege to experience and use.

And all of those disc installation processes were nuts back then! (computing in general is beyond night and day)
 
To the best of my knowledge:

Chris Young

System Requirements: macOS 11.0.1

The Pro Video Formats package provides support for the following codecs that are used in professional video workflows:
  • Apple ProRes RAW and ProRes RAW HQ*
  • Apple Intermediate Codec
  • Avid DNxHD® / Avid DNxHR® decoder
  • AVC-Intra 50 / 100 / 200 / 4:4:4 / LT
  • AVC-LongG
  • XAVC
  • XF-AVC
  • XF-HEVC
  • DVCPRO HD
  • HDV
  • XDCAM EX / HD / HD422
  • MPEG IMX
  • Uncompressed 4:2:2
* Requires a Mac computer that supports Metal: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT205073
Why did you just copy and paste it? lol
 
I

In hindsight, Apple, per usual, was ahead of its time again.

What they ended up doing with the software in the next decade+ was a privilege to experience and use.
Have barely ever seen let alone touched the modern version of FCP so it remains a bit of a mystery what and how it does what it does, but I know some people who are fervent fans for sure. I was an early adopter of editing in Resolve (2016) and it has been also enjoyable to see it grow and expand, although there are still some frustrating elements (then again what software is free from those). It has become easier to share and round trip with others as more have adopted that platform over time.

I will say that every now and then I noodle with iMovie, and find it extraordinarily annoying. Seems like Apple could do a lot better there. Even the way video plays in the Photos app on the phone has some major annoyances (the long series of tiny thumbnails of media at the bottom, trying to scroll through a video with microscopic motions).
 
Did you ever use Resolve before Blackmagic bought it?

It always shipped with their cameras and when many of us started using it in 2012 with their first one (BMCC) to process CinemaDNG it was really clunky.

I think Apple started gearing iMovie towards the younger generation too much and it became a little bit of a different software.

As much as I love many things Apple does, some are headscratchers. I don't scroll through videos on a phone often but I haven't figured out a fluid management plan for music in iTunes and multiple devices yet (what a headache).
 
Did you ever use Resolve before Blackmagic bought it?

It always shipped with their cameras and when many of us started using it in 2012 with their first one (BMCC) to process CinemaDNG it was really clunky.
I supervised many telecine transfers using DaVinci (or da Vinci as it was called back then) starting in the 90's. it's amazing to think that those old systems were capable of a tiny fraction of what Resolve is able to do now--and they cost 1/3-1/2 a million, and facilities charged $1000+ an hour for time on them.

I was doing my color in FCP7, then Red Giant Colorista--then didn't Apple have a standalone Color app for a while? I never bought a Blackmagic camera, but at some point I wanted to move over to Resolve and when I discovered it would be a good replacement for FCP7 which was headed for obsolescence due to looming OS incompatibility, I bought the dongle and have been immersed ever since.
 
They had Color from 2007-2010 but I never used it...although just from Googling the years I saw a note about them saying they want to "democratize" the color correction process and offer it for a low price, which is pretty much what Blackmagic did a few years later (Red Giant was once giant though too with a lot of that stuff).
 
Why did you just copy and paste it? lol
I already had it saved in my "To save info folders"... along with about thirty years of other now useless info catalogued under anything from Umatics to now. Bit of a hoarder i'm afraid.

Chris Young
 
To the best of my knowledge:

Chris Young

System Requirements: macOS 11.0.1

The Pro Video Formats package provides support for the following codecs that are used in professional video workflows:
  • Apple ProRes RAW and ProRes RAW HQ*
  • Apple Intermediate Codec
  • Avid DNxHD® / Avid DNxHR® decoder
  • AVC-Intra 50 / 100 / 200 / 4:4:4 / LT
  • AVC-LongG
  • XAVC
  • XF-AVC
  • XF-HEVC
  • DVCPRO HD
  • HDV
  • XDCAM EX / HD / HD422
  • MPEG IMX
  • Uncompressed 4:2:2
* Requires a Mac computer that supports Metal: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT205073
I don't understand why 11.0.1?

That is needed for Pro Video Formats 2.3.1, but there were dvcprohd support years before.
And they did not drop that support for that, so later than 11.0.1 should be fine also.

The thing here is stream dvcprohd VIA firewire.
And like always there's nothing documented about that, before or after.
 
Apple says 11.0.1 on the link I posted, which is the same info Chris pasted (but that also doesn't mean it's not old info and maybe it hasn't been updated by Apple).
 
BTW, yeah, I assume later is of course fine; usually a version noted is the 'at least' version.
 
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