Can't import some Sony mini dvds

I have a Sony Handycam DVD403 and am importing with iMovie '09
I've successfully imported 15 mini dvds but have 7 which do not get recognized.
For the ones that work, I turn the handycam to play, the handycam screen says 'USB MODE', the Mac gives me a dialogue box that say 'you have connected a mini-DVD device to your computer. Chose an action from the popup menu or click Ignore' . I just click ignore and a few seconds later, the Device list of the mac shows a new entry, another dialogue box displays at the top of iMovie that says 'Looking for cameras and devices' with a blue/white moving bar under it and the words 'Sony Storage Device' under the bar. After a couple of minutes, it says 'Generating poster images' and then shows me the clips and I select which ones to import (oddly enough, it lists everyone twice, so I must deselect 1/2 of them, but at least I can import them)
For the ones that don't work, I get the 'you have connected a mini-dvd device...' but the mac never shows me anything new in the list of devices and nothing more happens.
If I unplug the USB cable, I can see the videos on the handycam, so something is on the mini DVDs
I have tried turning off the handycam, rebooting the mac, unplugging the usb cable, using another usb cable...all in various sequences with no luck.
Because the handycam device is not listed as a device, I can't use the import facility from the File Menu
Any assistance would be greatly appreciated. I was so encouraged that some worked and hope someone has tips to get the last 7 working
thank you!

nevermind...kept reading on this support forum and tried finalizing one of the mini DVDs and it WORKS now!
Yeah!

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If your camera is several years old, it is most certainly Mpeg2. If your DVD will play in a DVD player, it is almost certainly MPEG2. The alternatives are AVCHD which is a fairly recent format for high definition cameras, and dv which is uncompressed, and probably not used on your dvd. If you can open your dvd in the finder, you may be able to right-click, get info, and find out for sure.
If you are interested in a new camera, there are a lot of choices. The simplest choice is a standard definition miniDV tape camera that connects with firewire. If you go HD, there are mpeg2 cameras and AVCHD cameras in tape, DVD, flash memory, and hard drive formats.
Personally, I like the flash memory AVCHD, but others like the easy archival capability of tape.
See this Apple document for compatible camcorders.
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seeburg220 wrote:
I noticed your camera is the European model. Is that a different format than the USA version, ie PAL ?
Yes. My Sony DCR-TRV20E is the PAL model (hence the E in the model number). I believe there was also an NTSC model. I purchased mine in December 2000, so over 12 years old now, but still works fine. Although, as I mentioned earlier, I rarely use this camcorder now - really only for importing old tapes.
Just on that note, I will shortly be doing an import of a wedding I shot, edited and archived back to miniDV tape in 2002 (using iMovie version 2). The project was originally copied to VHS tape. The bride would now like some copies on DVD, so I'm going to add chapter markers and author the DVD in iDVD (and perhaps do some other tidy ups). I'll also provide some USB memory sticks.
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Regarding the problem you are having with importing, can you provide some information about your method. For example:
is the camera connected to power rather than being just battery powered;
what cable and/or adaptor are you using;
has the camera worked with other versions of iMovie;
have you set the camera to VCR (playback) mode;
have you tried connecting then starting things in a different sequence;
have you waited long enough before aborting the import process (it sometimes takes a while before iMovie recognizes the camera)?
Answers to all these things, and any other information you can provide, may help us to provide a solution.
So don't look at buying a new camcorder just yet - hang in there!
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"No matter how competent FC / FCE is, it is still a very small minority with respect to the numer of professionals actually using it. Adobe might be counting on gaining market share by being able to announce AVCHD support before Apple, and given that the majority of users out there do not use FC/FCE and that more an more Mac users are new users / switchers, it might not be such a bad plan if Apple is typical Apple and slow to adopt new technology (but getting it mostly right when they finally do move)."
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I've read & digested all the good advice 'round here regarding getting DVD into FCE.
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Customer gives me Sony Mini DVD's recorded on an NTSC cam, and wants an edit deleiverd in DVD NTSC. I live in a PAL country. And I own a cheap camera that doesn't appear to have any kind of NTSC playback or recording option. I use this to digitize. So recording the analogue output of my DVD player is out.
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Can't import some Sony mini dvds

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