Camcorder time/date stamp not working

Question

I am working on a new movie. I loaded about 20 minutes of raw mini DV from my camcorder, and it loaded onto the clips plane just fine. I wanted to add a second tape, made on the same camcorder at a slightly later date, but this tape does not change clips for every scene change. I checked iMovie preferences, and the coreect box is checked; I repaired permissions. The second tape still grinds along for nine minutes and changed for each clip. Does anybody have any thoughts? Thanks in advance for your help.
Mike Ryan

Answer 1

Welcome to iMovie Discussions.
If the 2nd tape was ".. made on the same camcorder at a slightly later date, but this tape does not change clips for every scene change.." that suggests that the internal clock battery in the camcorder had run down, so there was no date/time stamp.
Some camcorders use a separate flat, coin-sized cell to keep the clock going, and will do so for months - or years! - after the main camcorder battery has gone flat.
Others have a small rechargeable cell inside, and that gets recharged by the main battery. So if, or when, that main battery goes flat, the extra rechargeable cell also goes flat after a few weeks or months - hence no date or time.
It sounds as if this is a seldom-used camcorder, and that the main camcorder battery went flat, or was removed, and then the internal date/time cell ran out of juice.
Before that camcorder is used again, its removeable/replaceable date/time cell should be replaced, or - if it's an internal recharging cell - the main battery should be recharged and left on the camcorder for an hour before it's used. Then - in either case - the camcorder's clock should be reset before shooting.