YES, there ARE firewire to/from usb connectors, converters, adapters … whatever a person wants to call them, there’s a cable that will allow connectivity between one and the other. That being said …
There will probably be some potential for information degradation (not image, per se, as it is a digital thing and not analog we’re talking about) and most definitely, unless you’re going from firewire to usb3, well probably most definitely, a slower connection and that might have some negative effect on your editing efforts.
Even Walmart has a multi-adapter cable made by Sima that allows for interconnecting between firewire and usb, for less than $25. Amazon.com advertises usb firewire adapters and shows a usb 2.0 to ieee 1394 4-pin extension cable, as well as some other multi-connection options if you search.
Question is, how well does any of these work? That, my friend, I cannot say as I’ve not attempted this, nor do I have any friends in the video business who can vouch for them. Other places to check might be B&H Photo Video and MarkerTek.
Maybe somebody with some serious engineering knowledge in this area will come on and give some real and informed input.
Finally, wiseGEEK dot com says the two bus technologies are “not integrated” and that it’s not possible to connect one to the other “directly”. Then the writer goes on to say “A Firewire to USB adapter cable for transferring digital video (DV) IS available from at least one manufacturer, but it can be expensive and difficult to find.”
So, what kind of answer is that: You can’t do it, and here’s how you can do it?
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