MiniDV import video via Firewire
Just a note about importing video from old MiniDV cassettes to a recent laptop.
I managed to connect to a Sony DV camera (DCR-PC105E PAL) via my firewire RME sound card (Fireface400) and successfully import video material to my MacBook Pro (mid 2015, macOS Mojave).
For some reason a direct connection from the camera to the laptop (miniFirewire -> Firewire800 -> Thunderbolt) did not work. Maybe a broken cable - maybe having the RME in the chain does some kind of conversion. I am unsure, but anyhow with the sound card passthrough connection it works great.
iMovie (10.1.8) and QuickTime Player (10.5) can be used to capture the material. In QuickTime make sure to select "DV-VCR" for both camera and audio source.
Finally I used HandBrake to crop to 4:3 and export as H.264 mp4.
