Will Sony HVR-Z1E HDV Cam (PAL) work with iMovie 6.0.3

Question

Hi
I'm about to make a short film and have the possibility of hiring the Sony HVR-Z1E HDV Cam (http://www.sonybiz.net/biz/view/ShowProduct.action?product=HVR-Z1E&site=bizenGB&pageType=Overview&category=HDVCamcorders) for the shoot.
Has anyone here used a camera like this with iMovie HD 6.0.3? Can iMovie import the footage and edit it?
Or should I immediately be thinking of Final Cut Studio or Final Cut Express?
Cheers
Ewan
Power PC G4   Mac OS X (10.4.8)   1.67ghz 2gb RAM

Answer 1

"..I'd only be able to use the DV shoot mode on the cam ... But you say it works well?!.."
Perfectly: if you shoot in HDV, iMovie HD converts the incoming HDV footage into Apple's Intermediate Codec "on-the-fly" (..it converts the MPEG-2 HDV into a form which iMovie can handle, retaining all the extra detail of hi-def..) and that's what iMovie edits.
You can then send your edited movie back out to a clean tape in the camera, and it's converted back to the "native" HDV format as it's exported from iMovie.
At present, hi-def DVDs can be made only by using Apple's DVD Studio Pro (expensive) software, which burns hi-def onto normal DVDs ..but they're playable only on a Mac, not on an ordinary DVD player.
So if you want to keep everything as hi-def when you've finished, send it back to tape, and not to iDVD (..which will knock it down to standard-def when creating a DVD from your hi-def iMovie project..)
Because a huge amount of processing is needed for converting incoming HDV into AIC in 'real time' (..and the faster the Mac processor, and more RAM, the better..) your G4 will NOT be able to import in real time.
You may also get occasional - temporary - glitches, in that the sound of some clips may seeem to be running slow, and be low-pitched, after importing. This is an artifact of slower-than-real-time importing, and if you quit from iMovie after importing, then restart the program (thereby clearing memory caches in your Mac), clips should play normally.
Any rendering - dissolves, titles and other F/X - will take longer than with standard DV, as there's more data per frame to be manipulated. Straight cuts should be OK.
"..an issue with the Firewire 600 port.." ..There's FireWire 400 and 800, but maybe "600" was a slip of your keyboard..
"..a lead with a four pin firewire camera plug on one end and a Firewire 800 plug on the other. Works perfectly well for the Handycam. I wonder if it'll do the trick for this bigger beast?.." ..It's never worked for me! (..Maybe I've used a badly-wired cable or two..) ..I couldn't get a 4-pin-to-9-pin (FW800) cable to work, ever, with any normal 'consumer' Handycam ..nor with the FX1.
..But you seem to have got it to work, so it may work with the Z1 after all.
"..I'm hiring so there are limits.." ..Don't forget to download the instruction manual (..when you're ready, click to download it as a .pdf here..)
[NOTE: That's for the US/International version: I can't find the European (E suffix) manual at the moment, but I'm sure you can if you Google a bit. There's very little difference between them. You'll want to choose and use 1080i/50 (UK-PAL), not 1080i/60 (US-NTSC).]
Note that - I don't know what you're shooting - you can set up focus and zoom transitions before you actually shoot them; so if you need a smooth zoom from close to distant, while changing focus, too.. instead of just pressing the zoom button and relying on the autofocus to get it right, you can pre-select start zoom and focus settings, and end zoom and focus settings, then press the 'Do-It!' button, and the camera will handle the changes as pre-programmed ..while you're busy slow-panning, for instance.
For more of a "film look" you can also use one of the built-in Neutral Density filters ..but as that opens up the aperture wider, focus becomes more critical: hence the usefulness of the pre-set focus and zoom.
I normally shoot always at a shutter speed of one fiftieth, and never let the camera choose automatically. I find this gives -s-m-o-o-t-h- action, but also provides a good range of apertures, too.
Be sure that you get a big spare battery with it, unless you're shooting near to mains power. The standard battery lasts - as with most cameras - about only 40-45 mins, so be sure to get several, or one really big capacity batt.
Shoot and replay your tests before the actual shoot, so that you're sure the hired camera has clean heads, with no 'mosaic' drop-out on the tapes.
Er, can't think of anything else ..going to watch 'Murder She Wrote' now..