I have a Windows 11 laptop with Thunderbolt-3 ports, and an old Sony camcorder who's only digital output is Firewire (output uses the DV video codec). So I did what a lot of people on various forums recommend for this situation. I bought the Firewire-800 to Thunderbolt-2 adapter as well as the Thunderbolt-2 to Thunderbolt-3 adapter (both from Apple), and of course also a Firewire-800 to Firewire-400 adapter (the Firewire cable for my camcorder has a Firewire-400 port on the PC end of the cable). Chaining these adapters together, I get a way to connect my old Sony camcorder to my Windows 11 laptop.
Unfortunately Windows doesn't recognize that any device is connected at all. It doesn't even pop up a message saying that the device doesn't have a proper driver installed. It seems that as far as Windows is concerned, nothing is even connected to the computer. I'm trying to figure out if the electronics in one of the adapters are not working, or if Windows 11 just doesn't have a suitable driver for the Thunderbolt-2 to Thunderbolt-3 adapter (that's the only one that would directly require a driver as it's the adapter directly connected to the computer, and thus would have a thunderbolt interface chip that Windows would need to detect and have a compatible driver for). Maybe Apple insisted that Microsoft stop including a driver designed to make Windows ineroperable with Apple manufactured hardware, and threatened to sue MS for including the drivers needed for Windows to work with this Apple manufactured Thunderbolt-2 to Thunderbolt-3 adapter?
I hope someone here can provide some insight into what is going on here, and maybe tell me if there's some kind of work around for the adapters I'm trying to use? Maybe some kind of 3rd party driver could be found for this?