IMovie and Sony Camcorders

I recently purchased a Sony Camcorder - Tape based MiniDV - DCR-HC62. When I plug in the camcorder using a Firewire cable, iMovie 08 does not see the camcorder. The hardware overview does show the camcorder being plugged in using the Firewire port. Has anyone else had this problem with this camcorder model or similar models such as the DCR-HC54/HC52 ?

Welcome to Apple iMovie discussions. I am not sure why your cam is not recognized by iMovie 08. MiniDV cams should work easily with any version of iMovie. Do you have the cam set on "playback"? Some cams have a PC setting which won't allow capture of the video.
You might try the free download of iMovie HD6, which, in the opinion of many, is still a better programme than the 08 version. Go here for that.
http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/imovieHD6.html

Similar Messages

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    Did you try Sue's excellent suggestion of the Garage band trick anyway?
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  • Imovie and Sony harddrive camcorders

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    Hi jim:
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    Welcome to discussions.
    I quote QuickTimeKirk:
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    *Play a few notes
    *Close Garageband
    *Open imovie
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  • IMovie and Canon Camcorders

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    What version of iMovie?
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  • 2012 Macbook Pro and Sony DCR PC1 Connection

    Hello all,
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    Hi
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    • Toggle in iMovie pref. Play-back via Camera (on <-> off some times)
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    A/D-box
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    • Set to same standard as recorded/editing e.g. NTSC 29.97fps or PAL 25fps
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    Connections
    • Daisy Chaining most often doesn’t work (some unique cases - it’s the only way that work (some Canon Cameras ?))
    Try to avoid connecting Camera <--> external HD <--> Mac but import directly to the Mac then move
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    • FireWire-port - Can be re-setted by - Turn off Mac and disconnecting Mac from Mains/Power for 20-30 minutes
    External device’s (hard disk’s)
    • Should be FireWire as USB/USB2 performs badly and so does Airport or Net-work connected ones too.
    • MUST BE - Mac OS Extended formatted - UNIX/DOS/FAT32/Mac OS Exchange - DO NOT WORK for video due to 4Gb barrier.
    Mac
    • Free space on internal (start-up) hard disk ? Please specify the amount of free space.
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    • GarageBands fix - Close iMovie, Open GarageBand, Play some notes, Close GB and iMove can now be OK
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    • White MacBooks - don't
    • MacBook-Air - don't
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    else - NO SOLUTION
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    • If Your Mac-Book has a PCM-CIA Card place - then there are FW-port-Cards and then
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    SoftWare
    • Delete iMovie pref. file may help sometimes. I rather start a new account, log into this and have a re-try.
    • Any strange Plug-ins into QuickTime as Perian etc ? Remove and try again.
    • FileVault is off ? (hopefully)
    • Screen Saver - OFF
    • Energy Saver - OFF
    Using WHAT versions ? .
    • Mac OS - X.5.4 ?
    • QuickTime version ? (This is the heart in both iMovie and FinalCut)
    • iMovie’08 (7.1.?), 09 or 11 ?
    • iMovie HD 6 (6.0.4/3) ?
    Other ways to import Your miniDV tape
    • Use another Camera. There where tape play-back stations from SONY
    but they costed about 2-4 times a normal miniDV Camera.
    • If Your Camera works on another Mac. Make an iMovie movie project here and move it
    over to Your Mac via an external hard disk.
    (HAS TO BE   Mac OS Extended   formatted - USB/DOS/FAT32/Mac OS Exchange WILL NOT DO)
    (Should be a FireWire one - USB/USB2 performs badly)
    from LKN 1935.
    Hi Bengt W, I tried it all, but nothing worked. Your answer has been helpful insofar as all the different trials led to the conclusion that there was something wrong with my iMovie software. I therefore threw everything away and reinstalled iMovie from the HD. After that the exportation of DV videos (there has not been any problem with HDV videos) to my Sony camcorders worked properly as it did before. Thank you. LKN 1935
    from Karsten.
    in addition to Bengt's excellent '9 yards of advice' ..
    camera set to 'Play' , not rec/computer/etc.?
    camera not on battery, but power-line?
    did your Mac 'recognize' this camera before...?
    a technical check.
    connect camera, on, playback, fw-connected...
    click on the Blue Apple, upper left of your screen ..
    choose 'About . . / More . .
    under Firewire.. what do you read . . ?
    More
    • FileVault - Secure that it’s turned off
    • Network storage - DOESN’T WORK
    • Where did You store/capture/import Your project ?
    External USB hard disk = Bad Choice / FireWire = Good
    If so it has to be Mac OS Extended formatted
    ----> UNIX/DOS/FAT32/Mac OS Exchange is NOT Working for VIDEO !
    mbolander
    Thanks for all your suggestions. What I learned is that I had a software problem. I had something called "Nikon Transfer" on my Mac that was recognizing my Canon camcorder as a still camera and was preventing iMovie from working properly. After un-installing Nikon Transfer and doing a reboot, everything worked great.
    I never liked the Nikon Transfer software anyway--I guess I'll get a cheap card reader and use that to transfer photos in the future.
    No Camera or bad import
    • USB hard disk
    • Network storage
    • File Vault is on
    jiggaman15dg wrote
    if you have adobe cs3 or 4 and have the adobe bridge on close that
    or no firewire will work
    see if that helps
    DJ1249 wrote
    The problem was the external backup hard drive that is connected, you need to disconnect the external drive before the mac can see the video camera.
    MaryBoog wrote
    Maybe your problems is solved in the meantime, but for all others this might help as I had the same problem, also have the Sony HDR-HC7, but the 7e (Europe, PAL). I found this link today and it works perfectly
    //support.sony-europe.com/tutorials/dime/videotransfer/vtransfer.aspx site=odw_en_GB&sec=DVH&m=HDR-HC7E
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    Yours Bengt W

  • IMovies and iDVD keep crashing

    I installed iLife 11 yesterday. I have only had the mac for a week and a half. I have created a short 3 minute movie with some music.
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    Cheers
    VIcki

    Hi
    *Not knowing the origin to Your problem - General approach when in trouble is as follows.*
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    com.apple.iMovie.plist
    com.apple.iMovie3.plist
    com.apple.iMovie7.plist
    com.apple.iMovie8.plist
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    com.apple.iApps.plist
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    _ on start up of iPhoto - Keep {cmd and alt-keys down}
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    _ WAIT a long long time
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    • QuickTime updated ?
    • Mac OS version ?
    • Program miss-match. iMovie 4 - will not work under Leopard
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    • Program miss-match. iMovie 6.0.3 or 6.0.4, Mac OS X.4.11 AND QuickTime 7.4.1 - is OK (will work under Leopard and Snow-Leopard)
    • Program miss-match. iMovie’08 v. 7.1.4, Mac OS X.4.11 AND QuickTime 7.5.5 - is OK (will work under Leopard and Snow-Leopard)
    • Program miss-match. iMovie’09 v. 8.0.6, Mac OS X.5.8 AND QuickTime 7.6.4 - is OK (will work under Leopard and Snow-Leopard)
    From LKN 1935. (in this case = iMovie HD (5), I tried it all, but nothing worked.
    Your answer (above) has been helpfull insofar as all the different trials led to the conclusion that
    there was something wrong with my iMovie software. I therefore threw everything away and reinstalled
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    to my Sony camcorders worked properly as it did before.
    Lennart Thelander
    I run "Cache Out X", clear out all caches and restarts the Mac.
    Yours Bengt W

  • IMac G5 (10.3.9) and Sony Handycam (w/ Hard Drive)

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    See:
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  • 2012 Macbook Pro and Sony DCR PC!

    I have a MBA and my Sony only has Firewire, 400, so a friend of mine was importing the micro cassetes from my old camera, into his Macbook Pro with iMovie and transferring them to a thumb drive for me to use. The last time he did this was early 2012.
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