Transfering videos from pc to mac

Good afternoon

I have a canon XL2 mini dv camera and i currantly record then transfer video into FCE via firewire.

I am looking to stop using tapes and move to capture via hard disk, i have an laptop with some canon software that allows me to record direct to its hard drive, but i am unsure how to go about transfering video to my imac and fce, with out the hassle of burning to disk.

Is there a way to link up my laptop and my imac to transfer video?

Thanks in advance

If you have a network in place that would probably be easiest. What OS are you running on the laptop?

The laptop has windows xp as that is the system that supports the canon capture software, i don't have a network running as i only have the one machine at home.

That's helpful. Even without a network in place it should be possible to connect the two machines via an ethernet crossover cable, adjust the network settings, and transfer files that way.

A thought occurs to me though: Do you have an external hard drive with enough free space to hold the video file(s)? If so copying the entire folder structure that the software creates around the movie (not software itself) to that hard drive should allow you to transfer the files. If the files are small enough a usb flash drive will also work.

BTW Just to get the process nailed down a bit more a couple of questions occur to me:

1. What format is the video saved in (.avi, mov, wmv etc)?
2. How large are the files typically? A hard drive/stick drive may be faster than a network transfer.

The video files are saved as avi files.

I have a firewire 800 1TB and a USB 2 2TB external hard drives, i was unsure about using these as they are both formatted for mac, both are Western Digital.

The files are quite large as they are usually between 1 hour and an hour and a half long, and are filmed in 1080p, not 100% sure on size as i have not used the software to save yet, as i have been unsure about getting the video into FCE and i've only being projects that were important.

If the files are less than 4GB, you can use a FAT formatted disk (which both OS X and Windows support natively). You can also use NTFS drives with OS X (with full write permissions) but that will require installing some software (and I'll let someone else recommend a solution since I don't do this).

Transferring over the network is certainly possible even if you only have the one machine. If you have a router in your house, you can easily get a small network up. However, transferring large files over a network may be slower than using an external HD.

Would it be possible to for iMac to get files from a laptop via ethernet?

Yes. I'll have to rely on one of out Windows gurus to guide you through the EX part of the setup process. Drives me nuts every time I do it because I always forget where to look for one of the settings.

Basically you would connect the two machines via ethernet and set up a small network with the two machines and turn file sharing on for both machines. This could be done either with or without a router.

Depending upon the age of the machines involved you may need a type of ethernet cable known asa "crossover" cable. If your Mac is new enough a regular one will do. Can What year you tell us more about what specific iMac you are using? Year,OS, specific model etc?

My iMac is only 14 months old and is running lion, it is the i5 version and the laptop is old and runs xp as that is the software that the capture software runs on

i only wish i could afford a dv capture recorder but way out of my price range

That is good news. your Mac is recent snout that a regular ethernet cable will do the trick. Basically you will need to go into the Mac network settings and assign it an IP address manually and do the same thing in XP.

The first article covers the setup and assigning IP numbers on both machines. The second and third set up file sharing on the respective machines . It looks like a lot but should go quickly.

Sharing Files Locally Without a Crossover Cable on OS X Before you do the Mac portion of these steps create a new location in the Network preference pane. Click the ethernet adapter and use the drop down menu that says "Automatic" and switch to edit locations. Create a new location and enter the new settings in it. That way you can easily switch between your existing settings say for internet and the new settings when you want to share files.

How to Enable or Disable Simple File Sharing in Windows XP

File Sharing Mac OS X Lion and PC Windows 7 | Mac OS X I know this says Win 7 rather than XP but the first 7 steps are Mac related. The rest will be taken care of by the steps in the second article.

cool, many thanks!

You're welcome. Something occurred to me after I typed that response. When you shift over to the new location to share files between machines that means the iMac does not have internet because the settings are not what the modem and your ISP expect. As I see it there are two possible solutions to this.

1. Start the transfer at times when you will not need internet for a while. Say overnight for example.

3. Connect the two machines to a router and connect the router to your modem. In this configuration the Mac could keep its internet connection active while the transfer is taking place. Your modem may even have some basic router capabilities built in and basic is all you need for this task.