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Maybe not the cheapest solution, but we are using a Blackmagic Intensity Pro 4K capture card (Pcie card) placed into a Sonnet Echo Express SE IIIe chassis and connected to an Intel iMac Pro via Thunderbolt 3 cable. This works flawlessly for all analog formats as well as HDMI inputs. Using Mac OS 12.3.1. For an even cheaper solution you can purchase the Sonnet single card chassis instead of the 3 slot chassis that we have. The BMD capture card quality is exceptional, of course the playback device is important in delivering a quality feed. We are using a professional Panasonic field VTR feeding an ADVC-500 rack mount unit which is sending a component signal to the BMD Intensity Pro 4K. We also have the ADVC-300 unit and that also works with this configuration. We haven't tried capturing direct to FCP but going thru the BMD card works perfect.

I ended up 1) adding an APFS volume to my existing container, 2) download and install Mac OS 12.2 on that volume. I reboot to 12.2 when I need to transfer tapes, and then go back to my 12.3.1 for normal life. I can’t remember where I downloaded 12.2 installer, but it is on the internet somewhere. BTW, I just used 12.2, but perhaps a slightly newer version could work, as long as you don’t go to 12.3.


support.apple.com/en-ca/guide/disk-utility/dskua9e6a110/mac

Thanks for your input. i was using the ADVC300 fire wire direct into my iMac M1 with no problems at all also my other Sony decks and peripherals also fire wire or TB2 worked so well Before the Monterey 12.3.1 update ... now my M1 can see the TB2 adapter via the USBc Bolt adaptor but the iMac on Monterey 12.3.1 no longer recognises any signal or input so in FCP user import window in cameras nothing is showing ....

It wouldn't surprise me to learn that this was unintentional, otherwise known as a regression. I can't imagine why they would remove this functionality which has been so prevalent and stable through more than a decade. And it's possible that the MacOS engineers are just unaware or haven't prioritized the fix. As someone mentioned above, the documentation page does explicitly mention that most FireWire cameras and decks should work.

I think I we can all raise awareness about this by doing a few things. Opening a support case with Apple is one. If you haven't done it, give them a call and ask to be reported as a MacOS issue (not an FCP one). Creating a bug report through feedback.apple.com is another one. I think I opened mine under MacBook Pro. You can also add your voice to the thread I linked above (discussions.apple.com/thread/253757258), which is up to 4 pages long by now. I'm not sure if any Apple engineers or engineering managers read this forum.

If we all do this it might raise the profile of this issue enough for someone to notice.

Tom wrote:

Download Big Sur from the App Store. Then you need to create a bootable jump drive with the installer. Search the internet on how to do this with Terminal. Boot onto the jump drive and run the installer onto an external SSD.

Thanks for this and I have now a workaround that seems to do all I had before.
I basically downloaded the Big Sur OS installer, that went into applications, Then made a bootable USB stick,
using terminal window and directions from the internet on the way to do this, it took a few goes mainly from my inexperience .
I them created a volume with no fixed size limit on my M1 Macintosh built in SSD drive.
I then installed Big Sur onto that SSD volume. so now I have no external drives to boot and run the OS from with any slow performance noticed.
I no go into recovery mode keeping the power button pushed. and fingers crossed but it worked i have a choice of Monterey 12.3.1 and i have Big Sur as a option.
I then loaded Quick Time and FCP onto Big Sur, and my firewire cameras and tape decks are working as before into the M1 TB 3 connector.
It just takes seconds to re boot in Big Sur just for the capture process.....
Needless to say all auto updating is turned off

Just like to say thanks for all your replies and help identifying the problem that the monterey update caused.

Having the same problem ! I just discovered this today, after I had not used fcp since upgrading to new system. Has any one got a solution yet?

Hi Frustrating and personal i feel it should have been addressed before now.
I tried a lot of things and even doubted my adapters and leads as none of my firewire older video equipment seemed to be not detectable in the FCP capture window.
The problem i believe is the 12.3.1 update Apple gave us using iMac M1 i could see the chain of adapters were apparently seeing the TB2 adapter just not the firewire 800 and beyond.
I could not see a way to go back to before the apple update.
I looked at running Big Sure on a external SSD hard drive but watching the pennies looked for a more economical solution.
I did not wish to have to wipe my hard drive and start the reinstall process as I was under the impression to use Apples time machine that already had back ups would be in the Monterey OS

What i found was to go unto Disc utility and create a "volume" on my macs internal SSD hard drive.
Then down load big sure apex 12GB file that went into the application folder. DONT open the downloaded file as you will get a warning a older file can't be opened in Monterey 12.3.1 and the newly downloaded file will be deleted.
if it helps you can google my web site under martin woollett photography and give me a call if you wish to
Regards

Until the OS is fixed the only solution is to use a hardware capture device like one of the Black Magic boxes.

Hi

I did look at the black boxes but, found it a bit expensive unless i looked at the wrong model
I now dual boot between 12.3.1 and Big Sur (using Big Sur just to open FCP and capture ) using all my FCP libraries on a external drive so i can share FCP between the two operating systems.

If Apple ever get round to fixing this i would be surprised if it happened all i would need to do is delete the new volume on the macs internal hard drive. this forum helped a great deal and i appreciate being a part of it....

Another option is to buy a used 21 inch iMac with FireWire and an earlier OS on eBay. We bought one strictly for another capture only station running High Sierra for $320.

Yep that's a good workable idea, i have a older mac here and it will do as you suggest its now my back up as it spends most of its life as boot camped windows mode for our film scanner that strangely is windows only,
except I don't get any more blue screens.....
I know its a nuisance dual booting for capture only, but it hasn't cost me a penny that way....
Especially after paying £1,600 for a M1 Mac that seems to be unusable for firewire anymore. As someone earlier said that fire wire has a good 10 years of use and is still widely used.

It's alive! Alive!

My firewire HDV camcorder is recognized again in Monterey 12.4! I was able to see it in FCPX and in Quicktime. I'm glad Apple was able to fix this issue. I'm on a MacBook Pro M1 Max. I hope it works for everyone else as well.

Supposedly, the FireWire camcorder/device recognition issue is fixed with the just-released macOS 12.4.

Hopefully, we'll see an update to FCP soon...

It is for me! Detecting my HDV camcorder just fine from FCPX and Quicktime on a MacBook Pro M1 Max running 12.4.

Unfortunately latest Monterey 12.4 update does not fix this bug still ignored by Apple and certainly not documented in support pages but tested it anyway. Can confirm still not working in latest 12.4.

You may have a different issue. A number of users have reported the problem as solved.

Using unsupported Mbp with Monterey 12.4 updated with Open Core legacy 0.45 and 12.4 can now confirm it is working finally thanks Apple this is much appreciated by the pro users pass this on to other members

Thank you. I have brought my iMac back to bid Sur and lost lots of not backup up music.... (I know stupid that it was not backed up!)
Is it for sure working, as I am reluctant to have to go through the same, wasting hours and valuable time to reload an older system...

I have only seen one user say it's not working for them. It likely means they have a separate issue. Everyone else has reported successful analog capture with 12.4.

With the latest update not working, I can see my camcorder in system preference and it is working in the latest iMovie but not in FCP. FireWire is connected to my Thunderbolt display wich is connected to my iMacPro with a Thunderbolt 2 to 3 adapter. (Was always working with former OS 12.1)