Analogue/Digital Conversion w/ Canon HV20 & IMovie 08

I can't figure out how to transfer VHSc tapes from my old JVC Camcorder through my new Canon HV20 into iMovie '08 on my new Imac 24" 2.4.
I have the JVC connected to the Canon with AV cable. And I have the Canon connected to the IMac with a DV cable from the Canon's HDV/DD port to the Imac's firewire port. And I have the Canon's AV=>Dv function turned on.
I put both camcorders on the "play" mode. The audio and video signals get passed from the JVC to the Canon. But when I select Import in iMovie, I get the message "NO TAPE" in the upper left hand corner of the blue screen and neither video nor audio gets passed through. Help!!!!

This is a shot in the dark, but I think you may have to have a tape in the Canon (or whatever brand pass-through you use).
I was doing the same thing as you about 4 years ago (on a PC at the time) and I vaguely remember the "No Tape" message on my Sony. Technology has changed a lot in that time, so I may be WAY off base.
Sandy

Similar Messages

FireWire is the only way to import Canon HV20 Camcorder videos into iMovie?

As a followup to my last post a moment ago tonight 1/30/08:
Is it true that I need a FireWire cable to import Canon HV20 Camcorder videos into iMovie?
If so, the Apple salesperson is wrong.
He told me last Monday that purchasing the new iLife 2008 (that contains iMovie 2008) would allow me to use my current USB cable.
Given I see NO FireWire port on my new MacBook Pro (bought in 8/2006), I don't see a solution.
Note the camera, an HD camcorder (the Canon HV20) did NOT come with a FireWire cable; it only came with a USB male plug on one side of the cable and the other is a small square-like male plug that connects to a female port on the Canon HV20.
Solution?
Thanks for any suggestions, Daniel

The USB cable is for importing still photographs. Not video.
The firewire 400 cable you need is one that goes from the 6 pin full size male connector to the small 4 pin form used for DV.
The cable plugs into the camera in a socket behind a plastic flap near the eyepiece. Its marked HDV/DV. The other end plugs into the MBP on the right-hand side. 4th from the back.

Recording to iMovie from Canon HV20

Hi,
I have IMovie 10.0.2 and Canon HV20 connected through the Firewire. I can control the camera in "Play" mode (Start|Stop|Revind) but I cannot control it in "Camera" mode. The Record button is absent and a message "Camera Not Controllable" appears. I want to Start|Stop recording. Is it possible?

Just did some testing with my HV20.
Doesn't seem to be possible to actually record directly into iMovie 10. I tried to use the "import" button. The camera starts running but nothing is really imported.
The only way I managed is to use Quictime 10 to record from the camera (that will work). It will give you a h264 .mov video, that you can import into iMovie.
Ben

How to import to iMovie '08 from Canon HV20 HD Video Camcorder

Pretty simple problem statement: I've got a Canon HV20, a USB cable, and a new iMac with Leopard and iMovie '08. I plug in the camera, and iMovie does not seem to recognize it -- the only camera it wants to import from is the built-in iSight.
Help? And thanks a bunch.

You need a Firewire cable for video. The USB is only good for the still camera mode; to transfer still images from a card, if you have one.
Rick

Converting handwritten notes: analogue to digital conversion?

I have a box full of handwritten notes that I would like to convert to a digital format (jpeg or pdf), but I know nothing about these formats and so don't know the best method to do so: scanning is feasible, but terribly, painfully slow. I would prefer to snap photos of each page and then convert to pdf but I've had previous experiences with large pdfs generated from jpegs that were unbearably slow to open and navigate because of the size of the file.
I'm not looking for OCR or to buy a new scanner / camera, I was just hoping someone could point me in the direction of learning more about the formats themselves and perhaps recommend an effective workflow or another community that specializes in this sort of thing (all my searches for analogue to digital conversion lead to dead ends). Most of the material is just reference notes that I would like to have, so the quality just needs to be readable. It is written in pencil or pen, some of it is printed.
Thank you kindly for sharing your thoughts.
Best,
Rax

You could try Graphic Convertor. It is designed specifically for the Mac OS to do all the things you are talking about. It has a lot of information in its manual about the different image file types and what you can do with them. There is a learning curve and a lot of it is way more technical than my level of understanding or interest, but the functions you are looking for are relatively simple, once you hone in on them.
I think there is a free or trial version of GC, I can't remember now, but the paid version is very inexpensive, and it is constantly being updated by its developer, lemkesoft. Adobe Photoshop Elements is supposed to be good, but very expensive, and there is no trial version for Mac, and in general the Mac versions of programs originally designed for Windows don't work as well or have all the features of the Windows versions.
If you want to check out Graphic Convertor, I would look for the "convert and modify" function in the file menu. Once you are in there, you can find the folder you want, and select as many image files as you want, and select functions to apply, such as saving WWW ready, converting to another file format, changing the resolution or size, renaming, adjusting/correcting brightness, contrast etc.. There is a way to combine jpgs into a "data stream" and to create multipage tiffs, but what I have been doing is saving things as tiffs, sorting them out and then converting them into multipage pdfs.
One thing I learned is that it is better to initially save images as tiffs, as that is the only common format that is not compressed. jpeg, png, gif, pdf are all compressed, which means that every time you open and save them, they get compressed again, which means you lose data every time you look at them. If you save them as tiffs originally, the file sizes are large, but you can pick which ones you want to be sure not to lose anything to keep as tiffs, so you can go back to them later if you need to.
You can select whatever level of compression you want for jpgs in Graphic Convertor, but there are so many choices it's hard to know which options to pick.You can save jpgs etc without compression with certain settings but the file sizes can still be large. There are different resolutions recommended for diffent kinds of images, for instance a line drawing should have a higher resolution than a typical photograph - the opposite of what I would have thought. Some of the high file size in multipage pdfs etc are not the image itself, but the digital instructions behind the scene so to speak - sometimes I've saved a jpg or a pdf with more compression to reduce the file size, but it ends up larger than I started, because what I told the program to do with it is saved with the image. You have to know what settings to pick to not save or get rid of that extra stuff if you don't want it.
The method described above in Preview may suit your purposes better - it's not that clunky once you do it a couple of times. You can also adjust the image size and contrast etc in Preview, and it works pretty well for the average user. One advantage of GC is the filters. One problem with using a camera for documents is getting the lighting even so there isn't glare on one part and shadows on another. This can interfere with readability. If you are adjusting the contrast etc in a program such as Preview it applies to the whole image, so it may improve one area and make another worse. The filters in GC can correct for uneven lighting to some degree.
I think there is a significant learning curve for all image processing programs. What is quick and intuitive to the eye is laboriously constructed and organized bit by bit in the digital world. If you don't want to spend a lot of time on this, I would really consider just getting a different scanner. I know exactly what you're talking about with scanning, but it doesn't have to be that way. There is better technology out there now.
If you're just scanning documents, the Fujitsu Scansnap scanners are amazing. You can get a portable one to do one-side scans for about $100, very good quality. You can select the file type, adjust the resolution/file size etc before you scan, scan directly to a multipage file, email, etc, without too much fuss. If you can afford it, a better scanner will save you a lot of time and aggravation and you will come out with a more useful and readable product. If the Byzantine world of image processing interests you, go for it.

IMovie: I uploaded HDV video from a Canon HV20 and then to YouTube. The video and the audio are out of sync. The audio seems to precede the video by a tiny bit which is disconcerting. Any recommendations about how to correct this? Thank you.

I downloaded video via iMovie from my Canon HV20. The video was in HDV. I then published it to YouTube and Vimeo and in both cases, the audio is out of sync: the video precedes the audio by a fraction of a second. The original is fine as viewed in the camera.
Any suggestions as to why and how to correct it?
Thank you,
David

Anything here help?
iMovie: Improving audio and video synchronization
http://support.apple.com/kb/TA25603?viewlocale=en_US

Can't Share (export) iMovie 6 project to Canon HV20

I'm running iMovie 6.0.4 under Mac OS 10.5.1.
I keep encountering the same error when trying to export a completed iMovie project back to HDV tape. I select Share -> Video Camera but keep getting an error message saying "Cannot Export to Camera, Your FireWire camera is not powered on or is not available. This also can happen if you added or removed a device from FireWire. Please try again."
Needless to say I've tried, tried and tried again trying a variety of different connection and powering-up processes. The camcorder is also in the correct mode.
I have connected the camcorder before and been able to export completed iMovie projects. So I don't think it's a hardware issue or an incompatibility issue. The only thing I can possible think of is I might of been using 10.5 when I last successfully completed this process. I'm now using 10.5.1.
So I'm at a loss. Has anyone experienced this before or know of a work around? I guess for now I'm going to "Share to a file, for sending to a camera later" and hopefully be able to export the completed project to tape in the future.

I have the MacBookPro and Canon HV20. I use both iMovie08 and iMovie06HD. The 6HD allows me to (a) Produce a better quality DVD than the 08 does and (b) export the movie back to the MiniDV tape on my Canon HV20 camcorder. I use the DV-Firewire cable to connect the HV20 to MacBookPro. There is no problem when I transfer the movie from HV20 to MacBookPro, but I cannot transfer it from MacBookPro to HV20, no matter how many times I reload the 06HD. My camcorder is connected directly to the MacBookPro. Are you always able to transfer your movies from MacBookPro to your HV20? If yes, I will appreciate a step by step process you use. Thanks.
April 12, 2008

I'm using a Canon HV20 video camera that uses digital tape. After importing to my Events Library in Final Cut X, there are some timecode breaks between clips resulting also in gaps between the clips. Is there a way to avoid this?

I'm using a Canon HV20 video camera that uses digital tape. After importing to my Events Library in Final Cut X, there are some timecode breaks between clips resulting also in gaps between the clips. Is there a way to avoid this?

Thanks Russ. I'm a beginner but Lynda.com has a video on making an archive, so I'll follow her video to try this method.

IMovie 08, the Canon HV20, & 24p?

Although iMovie 08 has been highly disappointing (less functionality, timelines, etc) can it natively capture video from the Canon HV20 that has been recorded in 24p "Cinema mode"? If not, is there a plugin to do the pulldown required for capturing and editing, and are the results equal to native 24p capturing and editing? If not, I'll have to use iMovie HD all the time - too much functionality was taken out it in iMovie 08.

I use HV20 all the time with iMovie 06 and 08. Like many has pointed out the only thing 24p about HV20 is its sensor. It can scan 24fps progressively but records to tape as 60i using pulldown and the result is '24p looking video playback' on 60i system - just like many movie DVDs where the source is 24p but stored as 60i.
If you want true 24p editing you need to use NLE that supports 24p timeline, which no consumer level NLE does, and you should convert 60i clips back to 24p via a process called reverse-telecine. So for most of us Hv20 would work just fine with iMovie 06 or 08 as is.
As for low light performance of HV20, it is a little bit better than other cams in this class when you use 24p mode because the shutter can open for longer time allowing more light in. But any consumer HD cameras suffer from bad low light performance so don't expect HV20 to do any miracles.

Has Adobe any plans for PSE Premium to accommodate Hi 8 Analogue footage for digital conversion?

Anyone aware if Adobe has any future plans for PSE Premium to accommodate Hi8 Analogue footage for digital conversion?

Sonny,
Most welcome.
Considering the changing marketes, if one has enough analog footage, I would make plans to accommodate that, while hardware is available. You seem to have found a digital camera, that can take the analog feed, digitize it, and pass it through to PrE. That should hold you for the future.
As miniDV tape cameras are becoming scarse, and especially with pass-through capabilities, it will become more difficult to find the equipment in the future.
Good luck,
Hunt

Downloading Digital Camcorder (Canon HV20) Clips onto an Older iMAC

I have a G4 iMac running OX 10.3.9 and iMovie version 3.0.3. I purchased a Canon HV20 camcorder that uses DV mini tapes. I have connected the camcorder to the iMac using a firewire cable and all the appropriate camera settings (reasonably confident on that issue). However, I cannot import any clips into iMovie because the software does not "see" the camcorder. The message shown is "no camera attached" or words to that affect.
Would greatly appreciate any suggestions. Could it be that the camcorder is not compatible with the old version of iMovie or the older Mac? Or is there something I should be doing so iMovie will import the clips?
Thanks.

I just posted "Edit in 4:3 or 16:9 for classroom TVs?" with a bit of the same issue. My iMac also won't recognize my HV20 when I connect via Firewire. I had all the same experiences as you. And a connection using Canopus ADVC-110 between the HV 20 amd iMac via firewire won't work either. It's just the nature of the beast I'm afraid.
What I'm having to do is connect my HV20 to a several year old Pioneer DVR-320 DVD recorder by way of the "composite" out on the HV 20 to the ins of the 320 to burn a DVD of my tape. I get a not-so-great signal of course because I have to use the composite connection (the HV 20 not having an S-VHS out AND the Pioneer 320 does not recognize the firewire connection from the HV 20 either just like iMovie 4 , and yet the Pioneer 320 has a firewire in !!).
Very luckily the Pioneer 320 has a FW out as well (extremely rare to find on a DVD recorder) and my iMovie 4 DOES recognize the FW connection, so I'm able to play back my Pioneer-burned DVD onto my iMac in standard definition. And I can burn the DVD on the Pioneer 320 using 4:3 format OR 16:9 out of the HV 20, which is the nature of the question I posted earler today. For the moment I'm choosing 4:3, and this is how I'm choosing that format just in case you want to know because it was a little tricky figuring it out.
In the HV-20 in Play mode: PLAYBACK OUT/SET UP 1: AUTO (when I chose DV, it became DV LOCKED and it would not not play back), and then TV TYPE: 4:3
PLAYBACK SET UP 2: choose "DV Locked", which then shows up as "DV" on your LCD screen. But this DV Locked is apparently different (?) from the DV locked in SET UP 1, so it's O.K. See what I mean about it being tricky? Or you could chose HDV/DV which seems to work O.K. too.
Of course I'm lucky to have the Pioneer 320 even though I'm consigned to using composite connections, but I just have to do one last project and I can compromise on the quality a bit. But if I get too much more frustratd, I'm going to get a new iMac with iMovie '09, and just be over with all this standard definiton nonsense because a new Apple will certainly capture the HV 20 in HD format.
Please let me know if you come with something better.

Video out to Canon HV20

I am using an Imac 20" Intel with 2G Ram, a 500 GB Lacie External drive for my media and a Canon HV20 Camcorder for material.
I was able to capture my HD footage with no problem to FCE 4.0, edited my footage and created a DVD with IDVD with no problem. Want to delete the media and start a new project. However, I read somewhere that it is a good idea to save your completed sequence back to MiniDV to keep a backup of the highest quality video for use to create HD DVDs in the future.
This is where my problems start. As I said, I have no problem capturing but for whatever reason it will not record back to my camcorder (which based on the info in my Canon manual and a check with Cannon support) I am doing everything right on the camcorder end. Camera gives error when I start the recording process of "Check the HDV/DV input" and I don't see the footage on my camcorder.
I have tried Print to Video and recording via the timeline and neither will work. Spent 2 hours on phone with Technical support yesterday and then even went to the Apple store with some footage, my camera and my firewire cable only to be told that they could only help if I brought that and my computer and my external hard drive (and then they would only try to figure something out for 20 minutes)
I am sure there is some setting that is frustrating the camera but can't figure it out....any help would be appreciated.

Hi,
I had similar trouble and came accross your post. I have since got mine to work (see below).
What is the format of the sequence you are trying to export? Is it 1080i, 720p, or something else?
My workflow involved importing clips from the Canon HV20 using iMovie at the 540p import setting (960 x 540 pixels). I would then edit in FCE 4, and my sequence settings would adjust automatically to my clips, i.e. 540p. When I tried to "print to tape" FCE would begin to export and I would hit OK on the computer screen, but the camera would not start recording.
I did some troubleshooting. What I had to do was create a new sequence 1080i and then copy/paste my edits from the 540p sequence into the 1080i sequence (and correct some incorrect motion on still images, because the resolution of the sequences were different). Now, when I "print to tape" the 1080i sequence, FCE actually does a HDV transcoding step (which takes a while on my iMac) and then the Canon HV20 records the sequence no problem. Of course, when viewed on the Canon HV20 miniDV tape to my HDTV the quality is a bit less than the original because of the down sampling to 540p. But anyway, I have an archived copy of my work. I have also had successfull "print to tape", with the HDV transcoding, using a 720p sequence.
The Lesson Learned: Import at full 1080i, or 720p, and make sure sequences match your import settings. Otherwise, you will end up mucking around with a bunch of conversion issues.
If there is another way to get non-1080i material to print to the HV20?? I'd love to hear about it since I have a couple of other very complicated sequences in 540p. I will be buying a bigger external hard disk to go 100% 1080i in the future. Live and learn.
Hope this helped,
Mace

What is the best digital format from VHS to iMove?

Hello - I am getting some VHS tapes converted to digital files to edit on iMovie 11. They will be edited on a Macbook Pro 13" and it would be convenient if they could also work in FCE later on. My plan was to ask the company doing the conversion to put the files/movies on a portable hard drive, rather than DVD. And then import them or edit on iMovie. But is mpeg 4 the best end format or something else?
Thanks.
Simon

$500 -- ouch!!
Along with the new deck, I bought another brand new Sony Handycam MiniDV camcorder, because our Canon broke this summer too as well which served us very well for 10 years. It started eating tape, but we feed it new tapes every time we record; probably why it lasted so long?!? This camcorder set me back around $200. Yes, they are hard to find, but I work in the digital photo/video business, so sometimes dealers may have new old stock where you can bargain down. I was extremely lucky to had bought a new old stock from a dealer that had it but couldn't sell it. Perfect.
You're right -- tape to tape transfers is not ideal as degradation in S/N will impede on image quality. But I'm assuming the OP is simply using consumer grade VHS camcorders, so the analog to DV transfer is ok if done once. Then DV tape through Firewire is an analog to digital transfer. Once the OP has the digital copy inside the computer, it will never degrade if you make multiple copies on the hard drive.
Another solution the OP can look into is that some shops (getting rare these days) may have a Canon GL-2 on their rental pool and the OP can just use its built-in Analog to Digital (Firewire) pass through to transfer VHS analog footage directly into iMovie or FCE!
Wow, it's good to hear another person here still using DV!

Analogue video conversion on the Mac

I just discovered a whole box of video8mm family movies dating back nearly 20 years. I would like to edit them and and burn them on to DVD for future generations. My plan is to buy an old £40 video 8 camcorder on ebay, but how do I get them digitised at the best quality?
I have a G5 with Leopard, FC_Express as well as iLife 6 and 8, what is the best and cheapest analogue to digital conversion or converter? I also have a Canon XM1. Can you feed an 8mm camcorder through the XM1 to digitise the footage this way?

Thanks very much all of you for your input.
I just bought an older model Sony Digital-8 DCR-TR7000E on Ebay for £100, which has Firewire and the ability to play Video-8 (still waiting for delivery, the first camera I bought on ebay a few weeks before arrived in pieces, with vital bits missing. I returned the camera, never received my money back or any form of response, will sue. I hope my second ever eBay experience will be more positive.)
I also found out that the EyeTV Hybrid and the EyeTV 250 Plus are capable of digitizing Video 8 tapes. (http://www.elgato.com/elgato/int/mainmenu/products.en.html)
Mark and Montse's suggestion of the upcoming iRecord (http://www.irecord.com/irecordpro.html) sounds very promising and something like that has been long overdue.
Buying a secondhand Digital 8 sounded the most cost effective option (if I discount the loss of the first camera). Having a second smaller digital camcorder which is easier to carry than my Canon XM1 is an additional bonus.
I will feed back my experience. Could be interesting to others.
Thanks again.

Canon HV20 In Photo Mode Does Not Appear On Desktop ?

I can't think where else to post this and it is connected with an iMac!
Normally when I connect a digital still camera to my iMac via USB I get a "No Name" Hard Drive type icon on my desktop. The camera is basically just another HD. I can then open the icon and drag out the files.
However, when I connect my Canon HV20 HDV camera to the desktop, no icon appears.
The camera is set in Photo Mode and has an SD memory card so it is to all intents and purposes a digital still camera.
I can download my photos via iPhoto or Image Capture so it is no great problem but I feel convinced that the camera's icon should appear on the desktop just like any other still camera.
Has anyone had a similar experience or found a solution?

Thanks again Terence - you've done quite well out of this question!
Thanks for the confirmation den.thed. I normally use a reader but often with the HV20 I only have a handful of photos at a time to download and I don't want to wear out the contacts with overuse!

Analogue/Digital Conversion w/ Canon HV20 & IMovie 08

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