iLife '04: The Missing Manual

Connecting to FireWire

The FireWire jack on the side or back of your computer is marked by a radioactive-looking Y symbol.

If you intend to edit your own camcorder footage, you’ll also need a FireWire cable, like the one shown in Figure 13-1. One end is a plug that perfectly fits a into FireWire jack on your computer. (Apple calls it the six-pin connector.)

Figure 13-1. Plug the larger end of the FireWire cable into the corresponding jack on the Mac. The tiny end goes into your camcorder. The FireWire connectors are convenient, but fragile, especially the small end. Take care to insert and remove these connectors straight into or out of the jacks.

On the other end is a much smaller, squarish plug (the four-pin connector). Plug this tiny end into the FireWire connector on your camcorder, which, depending on the brand, may be labeled “FireWire,” “i.Link,” or “IEEE 1394.” This tiny end may look almost square, but it only fits in one particular way, thanks to a little indentation on one side. If you can’t seem to insert it, rotate the plug and try again—gently, because this end is fragile.

That’s all the setup your Mac needs. The single FireWire cable communicates both sound and video, in both directions, between the Mac and the camcorder.

Now, if you plan to transfer video to your Mac from a tape in the camcorder, turn the camcorder to its VCR or VTR mode. (This is what most people do most ...