Digital video import

Maybe I am not up with the times, but I thought you could import digital video (from a Sony handycam) into iDVD or iMovie and burn it to DVD. I can't even get the programs to recognize that there is a device attached to import the video.
Is there a way to do this and how do I go about getting it done?
Thanks

Hi Denise,
Yes that is one of the oddest things about the digital camcorder industry. Almost none of them actually come with a Firewire cable even though they have Firewire ports, yet they often come with a USB cable even though the price of a FW cable is the same as USB. How come you buy a multi-hundred dollar camcorder and you don't get a Firewire cable, yet I can buy a $30 Firewire drive enclosure and it does? Odd!
Anyway, the USB port is not for transfering digital video. On my old Digital8 Sony camcorder, the USB port is only used to download still pictures taken with the camcorder that were saved on a the memory stick in the camcorder. The pictures are so bad it isn't even worth the effort. I think newer Sony's use the USB port to do some sort of streaming video out of the camera, but this is more like a web cam application and is not true high quality DV footage you get from the Firewire port.
Try PC Microstore at...
http://www.pcmicrostore.com/CBC.aspx?q=kw:Firewire;c:36142
Firewire cables go for about two bucks with free shipping for the cheapest ones. You need a 4 pin (Camera's iLink side) to 6 pin (computer side). At that price, get a few (maybe differeent lengths) so you have spares on hand in case your main one gets flakey or just so you have some extras.
As to making DVDs, the process can be as easy or complicated as you want to make it. Although even if you keep it easy (little to no editing and just go to DVD) it is still rather time consuming. However, if you do buy a DVD recorder, be sure to get one with a Firewire port (you still need those cables) as you can then go directly from the camcorder to the DVD recorder and make your DVDs. That might be good enough for your purposes, but you might also want to try one through iMovie and iDVD and compare the quality. While the DVD recorder might be fast and easy, I am not sure how good the quality is on them, althogh it might be fine.
In either case, you need to get a Firewire cable regardless.
Patrick

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No digital video import after kernel upgrade to 2.6.32

I have read the thread started and marked SOLVED by schatzs:
http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=87846
however like Himmi.Jimmy in that thread, I cannot import any video. I have a sony handycam TVR230 and I am trying to use kino.
The AV/C controls work (ie I can rewind the tape), but when I click capture the tape moves forward for 4 to 5 seconds and then stops. The capture screen stays black and nothing get imported.
Last edited by kekules_dream (2010-01-02 14:48:54)

Yes, I had to do that too, and because of that I had to downgrade nvidia as well. I am worried about that as a long term fix. Arch keeps on marching along and ignoring major upgrades has eventually caused problems for me in the past. Do you think this is a more general problem or just specific to antique handycams?
Last edited by kekules_dream (2010-01-04 15:08:25)

I am importing digital video into my movie. But when it imports, the video has glitches in it every 5 seconds or so. When I look at the uicktime file, it has no glitches. What is up and what can I do?

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If the camera has a firewire port, you should do this (forget the canopus)
Close FCP, turn off the mac and the camera.
Plug the firewire cable in the mac and the camera...make sure the camera is set for playback and not record.
Turn on the camera, then the mac.
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Type in a name for the REEL (critical for FCP to recognize the timecode of that particular tape) and then type in a name for the clip(s) in the Description line.
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K

Import from digital video converter

I am new to Mac and very new to iMovie.
I have a mac Mini with OSX 10.4.11 and am using a DAC 200 Digital video converter to import video from a VCR (converting old tapes of the family) via Firewire.
I turned on the Video converter and the camera import window opened automatically. I recorded the tape (about 2 hours) and clicked DONE at the end of the tape. iMovie then automatically generated thumbnails. This took about 45 minutes. When done, the imported video was only 42 seconds long. I repeated the process and the resulting video was only 1.9 seconds.
What did I do wrong? I looked at all the settings and nowhere did i find something which seemed to be responsible for limiting the video length. How do I get the full video?
and how do I prevent the automatic thumbnail generation?
Many thanks
Mark

Welcome to the  Discussion Forums.
Firstly I don't know anything about your converter, but wonder if it comes with any software or gives any indications of what format it converts the analogue to. It seems rather strange that it would take 45 minutes to create thumbnails for 42 seconds of video, take a look at your events folder (by default its in home/movies) and look for the actual imported files, check to see if they are really only 42 seconds long.
imovie 08 is a very new product and can be a little quirky, ensure you are following instructions for your converter and pay particular attention to doing things in the right order.
If you continue to have problems you could try capturing your video in imovie 6 or in QT pro.

Importing digital video is very slow

Hi, I just bought a new Canon HF R40 camcorder and I am finding a few problems. I've tried editing in iMovie 09 (iLife09) not sure if that's and the program doesn't recognize the camera at all. With the old iMovie program, I would just turn on the video camera and vio la...it recognzied it no problem. This has left me with transferring movie clips directly from the SD card which seems painfully slow. Now I was able to put together a short video with iMovie 09 but was unable to use any titles because the program would crash once I pressed the icon for Titles. BTW I was taping in MP4 formate for the purpose of getting it on youtube.
So my questions are:
1. Is editing from digital video vs DV tape slower in general? At this rate I ask why anyone would find any pleasure in editing with digital video.
2. Is this because I'm transferring from an SD card vs directly from the camera?
3. Is iMovie 11 better at handling digital video?
4. Does anyone know why the program is crashing when using trying to use titles?
I really appreciate any advice with this problem. I figured it was time to upgrade into a new camcorder but it sure seems that DV Tapes are much easier to work with and I'm on the verge of just returning the camera.
Thanks,
Orlando

You may find these useful:
iMovie 11 - cameras supported:
http://help.apple.com/imovie/cameras/en/index.html?lang=en_US
iMovie 9 - cameras supported:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3290?viewlocale=en_US
iMovie 8 Camcorders supported:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1014
Digital camera RAW formats supported by OS X Lion:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4757?viewlocale=en_US
Digital camera RAW formats supported by OS X Snow Leopard:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3825?viewlocale=en_US

In iLife08 what is best setting to convert avi 720 and digital video 1080i

What is the bottom line for best quality for 720 p TV.
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- the preset Large (which is 960x 540)
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Your best option if you are using NTSC footage in imovie is the export to/movie large (960 x 540) at 30 fps, the resolution won't go any higher and still work on the tv. Don't even think about changing the framerate to 24/25 fps, even though you'll be able to export to 720p (1280 x720) changing the framerate will make your video jerky.
If you are using PAL then yes you could export to 720p (even though the specs say 24 fps, 25 fps does in fact work as well), you could try a few tests yourself but I've already done them and IMHO there is so little difference between 960 x 540 and 1280 x 720 that it isn't worth messing about setting up and trying several manual exports to get the best results when you can click one button and be done.
So far a AVI conversion is concerned, I'd try mpegstreamclip, but saying that I can't really be sure. AVI is a container not a codec and I would need to know what codec is actually used inside the container to answer your question properly (Quicktime may tell you though). The problem with AVI is that it is simply so old (even microsoft abandoned it over 10 years ago), unfortunately in a small number of cases some of the codecs that were used in AVI are simply no longer able to be converted. Probably not so likely but at least you are warned.

I'm getting a "No Data From Device" error for older video import

I'm trying to create digital video archives of some older (Hi-8) tapes before they turn to dust. I've got a Sony deck with iLink and have been using iMovie, which is time consuming but error free. I want to use the "Create Camera Archives" feature in FCP X, but am not able to import any video. FCP recognizes the deck, lets me control it and displays video in the capture window. But it does not capture anything - camera archives are empty and when I try to import the video I get a "No Data from Device" message over the import window, as the video is playing in the background. I thought it might be an issue of import settings... but I can't find any to change.
Any advice appreciated. Thanks.

Make sure all your settings are correct for capture and playback. Also make sure that the settings on the deck are the same as well. I know I had an issue when my Sony FX1 HDV camera was set to DV, FCP gave a similar error message.

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Nearly all MiniDV cameras have a 4pin Firewire connector. Looking at the manual (link) for the JVC confirms that.
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Once connected simply load iMovie and click import.
regards
mrtotes

How can I upload digital video from a HDD camcorder to iMac Intel?

I bought a Sony DCR SR100 camcorder with 30 gig HD, and the software that comes with it is Windows only, and the Mac software that they refer you to on the internet says "not Intel Core compatible"
So get this - the online support guy from Sony says to get a digital to analog conversion card to load the video thru the AV jacks. I reminded him that I'm starting with digital video in MPEG2 on the camera's hard drive - which is essentially an external hard drive. Converting to analog didn't sound right.
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The problem (I discovered) is that the files are "muxed" which means that the audio and video are somehow intermixed, so they need to be converted into a standard that iMovieHD can read, like "DV"
There is a shareware called MPEG STREAMCLIP that converts video into other things. I tested it and it does work. I just need to figure out the most efficient way to import, convert and open in iMovie.
http://www.squared5.com/svideo/mpeg-streamclip-mac.html
I think it is universal which is cool.
I am curious about the workstation that you mentioned to run windows software. Where can I find that?

Video import from PAL camcorder

I have just bought a Canopus ADVC110 which converts analog video to digital and have it hooked into my Powerbook Pro via a firewire lead.
I have my analog PAL camcorder tied into the canopus and am attempting to import some PAL video but not getting very far.
I fire up iMovie and it does indeed detect the camera but when I create a new project it appears as DV-NTSC and not DV-PAL. I have changed the 'New Project frame rate' preference from 29.97 to 25 but still no good. When I click on Import I get the video/audio but the video is VERY jumpy and in black and white and the audio is totally garbled. As the video is PAL and the project says DV-NTSC this might be the issue? I would have thought that the Canopus would remove any PAL/NTSC issues as it is being converted to digital anyway? I don't know how to change the new project from DV-NTSC to DV-PAL, again I thought switching frame rate to 25 would have done this?
So, can anyone help me get a smooth video import onto the Apple? I dont care what resulting file format is as long as I can import and play it. I don't mind buying a different video application if necessary and do have Toast Titanium if that helps.
Many thanks,

It sounds like you may not have set the dip switches of the Canopus correctly to PAL.
See page 16 of instruction manual for the canopus ADVC110!
(I use the same one)

Ichat 2.1 and canon digital video camera problems

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i recently got my hands on a cool little program called ichat usbcam...
before i got that app, ichat would not recognize my canon digital video camera via firewire...now that i got ichat usbcam, it shows up and i can use the digital video camera...
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he has a g4 quicksilver...he is running tiger...we both use the aim account for ichat...
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G3 Blue and White/900 powerlogix zif upgrade Mac OS X (10.3.9) Yes

Hi Seusman,
Sounds like you have cracked it.
Framerates are detemined by what processor you have, with some adjustment on a chat by chat basis depending what the other person can manage.
The Bitrate is controlled by what Connection Speed you have, The System Preference > Quicktime > Streaming tab setting and iChat > Preferences > Video section Bandwidth Setting, plus any adjustments to match who you are talking to.
The up speed is more important than the Download speed when we are talking ADSL connections.
Any spped test will tell you get about 80% of what the ISP says they sell you.
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It is somewhat lowered depending on the framerate your Mac can do and what other things yuo are asking the Procesor to do and how much RAM you have obviously can effect that as well.
The framerates you quote are the same as mine.
The bit rates if often what I see in iChat based on my 1Mb down /256K up service.
11:31 PM Wednesday; March 1, 2006

SONY Digital Video Camera DCR-DVD 201 and iMovie

I have a sony Digital Video Camera
Posted: Aug 6, 2006 6:59 PM in response to: max Farina
Reply Email
Can I use this Digital camera with my MacBook Pro
it is a SONY DCR-DVD 201
I do not see a firewire port on the camera ONLY a USB.
How can I get my video from my DVD to iMovie?
I want to put my home video from this camera to iMovie, Can it be done?
I am going nuts, I paid alot of money for this camera and now I can't use it in my new Mac?
I am very new to Mac and this hurts!
PLEASE someone help me, I only see a USB, DO they sell some thing to help get the Video into iMOVIE?
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Search this forum for "compatible, DVD camcorder" and you will find many threads where people lament this truth:
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http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=2404104&#2404104
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=2288697&#2288697
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=2243781&#2243781
Somewhere I have read a pretty detailed thread describing what converter you need and how to do it. So just keep searching...

USB for analog to digital video input?

I have a USB-based Analog-to-Digital video converter that I used when I had my PC, for transferring old family video tapes to digital to burn DVDs.
Can I use this with my Mac with iMovie 08), or will the Mac only accept digital video via a Firewire input?
- Mike

Mike Rivera wrote:
... Can I use this with my Mac with iMovie 08), or will the Mac only accept digital video via a Firewire input?
no, you can not use that device, because usb-devices need specific 'drivers', which in most cases are of no avail for Mac ..
but...
many harddrive-camcorders are connected via usb, and DO work with Mac..
if a device has both (miniDV camcorders), the video is only imported via firewire, the usb-connection is only in use for stills, those devices allow to record ...

Converting analog to digital video

Does anybody know a cheap way to convert analog video (from a VHS) to digital video that can be burned on a DVD? A converter box is probably my best option as I have no digital camcorder, but I was looking for one under $150. So far the only ones I can find send the analog signal to the computer, where it is converted to digital by software. This would be fine, but the software is Windows only. I either need a converter box that converts the signal within the box and sends a digital signal to the computer, or one that comes with converting software for Mac. Preferably composite video (yellow, red, white), and preferably something that uses firewire, although if I have to I can use USB
Thanks,
Tom
iMac G4 15-inch 800 Mhz Mac OS X (10.3.9) iMovie 3.0.3, Toast 7 Titanium, no iDVD

Not sure what you mean by "breaks up in places".
In iMovie4, the maximum clip size is 2 gigabytes. When importing from a camera or converter, iMove will just start a new clip ever 9 1/2 minutes (2 gb), but you don't lose a single frame.
If you're getting irregular breaks, including the loss of video (may be hard to tell, if it's only a frame or two), you either have a cable problem (maybe just not plugged-in securely) or a VHS tape that is a bit out of synch. For that, you might need Time Base Correction, where the hardware will basically ignore the synch data on the tape and replace it with it's own. There are VCRs and video converters that have TBC built-in, but they're more expensive. There are also separate pieces of gear that do only that. I dunno whether digital cameras are available that do this.
First, I'd see if it happens with other tapes, then try another VCR, before spending megabucks on more gear.

Digital video import

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