Help! New to Mac and can't get imovie to work

hi
i just bought a refurbished iMac and I'm trying to make/edit dvd's from my sony dcr-dvd203 camcorder. Since it says it doesn't support the camera I've tried burning the mini-dvd onto a regular dvd. but how do i import and save the contents of the disk drive so i can work on it?

When i put the disc in the drive it plays on the DVD player but doesn't comeup on iMovie.
Sounds like it is working properly. iMovie is not designed to to edit MPEG-2 content. Even if the DVD where in a camcorder and properly recognized, iMovie would have to demultiplex the AC3 content, convert it to AIFF and store it in a generic MOV file container. Also, since only about 6.67% of the video frames on the DVD are editable, the other 93.33$ would have to be converted to intra-frames before it could be merged with the audio. Even then, since audio and video of your original file was synchronized with each other spatially, offsets have to be generated to minimize drifting between the two tracks in a temporally synchronized MOV file container.
Am not trying to "snow" you here with technical matters but just indicate some of the problems facing users of multiplexed MPEG-2 (HDD/DVD) content camcorders. Some work well with iMovie '08 while others may have problems with a particular work flow or simply don't work at all. In all cases, however, you the user can opt to do what iMovie '08 may not be able to do on its own -- manually convert the data to a suitable format which iMovie '08 can handle.
As previously indicated, the MPEG-2 codec was developed as a distribution and delivery compression format -- not an editing format. It is well suited for delivery and viewing by DVD and Satellite because it condenses the data for compact storage or transmission via relatively narrow bandwidth. Essentially what you have to do is de-compress the data to a an edit compatible data format which is usually stored in files of much greater size. This means disregarding the original purpose for which the camcorder manufacturer specifically chose this particular storage medium.
What I recommend is that new users simply download the free iSquint application. (This is the "smaller brother" application of Visual Hub.) Since it is free, does not require any special codecs, and is very simple to use, it make a good starting place for this type of conversion. Basically, if you can get your VOB or other "muxed" MPEG-2 content file to your hard drive, you should be able to convert it for use in iMovie '08. Even in its default opening mode, if you drop your "muxed" file to the work area, it will quickly create a 320x240 MPEG4/AAC which can be opened in iMovie '08. Using the "Optimize for TV" option will create a 640x480 standard VGA display file with somewhat better quality. Increasing the video data rate increase the video quality even more. (Actually, you are not really increasing the quality here, but rather simply preventing the unnecessary loss of video quality.) In any case, switching to H.264 compression format could possible improve quality even more since this compression format is 2.0-2.5 times as efficient as MPEG-4 used above but increases the amount of time required for the re-compression process.
Thus, the paragraph above should allow the novice user to determine if his or her file can be easily made iMovie '08 "edit" compatible, as well as, explore some of the settings and their effects on the conversion process. Since the application is, as already stated, free, standalone, and easy to use, it allows the new user to evaluate the basic conversion process with only a small investment in terms of time. It also allows them to determine if they need or desire to invest money in more advanced programs allowing a wider variety of output formats, additional features, and the possible potential for even higher quality editing. This recommendation merely offers the interested user an opportunity to gain the necessary experience upon which to base a "more informed" decision regarding where to go/what to do next.

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