Is it possible to import DV video using Firewire?

I use the command line program dvgrab to pull from my minidv camcorder over firewire.

The command I use is:

sudo dvgrab -a -format raw -rewind -t prefix-

The permissions are messed up, which is why you need sudo. Afterwards, just do:

sudo chown username:username prefix-*.dv

The rewind command rewinds the tape, so leave it off if you don't want to rewind.

The prefix- gets appended to the file name to help you identify it. The files are automatically split when dvgrab finds a time gap or every 2GB.

Manpage for the dvgrab command Manpage icon has a few more useful options.