Importing from sony miniDV camcorder

I have a new MacBook which does not have a firewire port. My miniDV camcorder (sony DCR-HC48) has a dock that supports both firewire and USB. However iMovie does not recognize my camcorder through the USB connection. Do I have to connect it using firewire? What are my options?

Your options are to return your Mac Book and get one that has a Firewire Port, like the White MacBook, or the MacBook Pro.
Apple accepts returns in the first 14 days no questions asked. After that, they normally don't but it would not hurt to ask.
Other than that, do you have a friend's Mac you could borrow?

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HT2498 I connected a Sony miniDV camcorder ....

I connected a Sony miniDV camcorder on firewire port of a iMac late 2009 and Mavericks 10.9.2. Result: the iMac don't see the camera (I tested it whit iMovie 9 and 10).
The same connection whit Snow Leopard works fine. Why ??

Hi
May be You find help in my old list ?
NO CAMERA or A/D-box
Cable
Are You sure that You are using the FireWire Cable - USB-Cable will not work for miniDV tape Cameras FireWire - Sure not using the accompany USB-Cable but bought a 4-pin to 6-pin (or 9-pin) FW one ?
Test another FW-Cable very often the problem maker.
Camera
Test Your Camera on another Mac so that DV-in still works OK
Toggle in iMovie pref. Play-back via Camera (on <-> off some times)
Some Cameras has a Menu where You must select DV-out to get it to work
Camera connected to "charger" (mains adaptor) - not just on battery
Camera set in Playback mode - NOT Recording mode
Does Your Camera work on another Mac ?
Sorry to say it is to easy to turn the 6-pin end of the FW-cable 180 deg wrong.
This is lethal to the A/D-chip in the Camera = needs an expensive repair.
(Hard to find out - else than import/export to another Mac ceased to work
everything else is OK e.g. recording and playback to TV)
A/D-box
Is the dip-switches set right ?
Set to same standard as recorded/editing e.g. NTSC 29.97fps or PAL 25fps
Try resetting it
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
the Movie project to dedicated external hard disk.
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.
(Other hard disks don't count)
I go for a minimum of 25Gb free space for 4x3 SD Video - and my guess is 5 times more for 16x9 HD ones
after material is imported and edited. No Camera or A/D-box
GarageBands fix - Close iMovie, Open GarageBand, Play some notes, Close GB and iMove can now be OK
Does Your Mac have a FireWire Port
White MacBooks - don't
MacBook-Air - don't
if not then a few Mac’s has a PCM-CIA slot and there are FW-Cards that makes a FW-port this way
else - NO SOLUTION
Only option as I get it is either
Use another Mac to Capture material (to an external USB2 - Mac OS Extended formatted hard disk - or -
Change to another Camera that can be used with Your Mac (no there are no miniDV tape Cameras that can)
If Your Mac-Book has a PCM-CIA Card place - then there are FW-port-Cards and then
You can import via this - but I've not seen this on more modern Macs. My PowerBook G4
has one and this FW-Card-port works greatly.
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
What I exactly did.- put camera in play mode - open guide - choose connection guide - choose comp./printer (where to transfer movie to) - select connection.- i-link (on my camera) but equal to firewire - OK - choose HDV - choose NO for conversion of i.link.
Settings are shown then (VCR HDV/DV.- HDV and i.link-conv..- OFF), press OK, OK, END.
Switch camera off. Connect firewire cable to camera & Mac. Switch camera on, in play/edit mode.
Open i-movie, choose import from camera. On screen below the camera connection is shown.- DV (HDV). Now you can import, automatically or manually.
This worked perfectly for me. Took me 2 days to find out. Could not find any clear thread explaining what I had to do on the camera and the manual was not clear either.
Yours Bengt W

Importing from Sony mini DVD?

Brand new iMac and I cant insert the mini DVD from Sony Handycam camcorder since iMac only takes standard size dvd. It appears as if there is no other plug-in option, eg, firewire or usb port. Any suggestions? The Sony model is dcr-dvd 305 ... should I burn files from small dvd to large one? Will I lose quality? Bought this computer for ease of use and already frustrated...thanks!

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.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=306171

TS3720 how can i upload movies from Sony pj580v camcorder to use with imovie11?

How can I upload movies from Sony pj580v camcorder to use with imovie 11?

Transfer it to your computer and import into iTunes, make sure it's in a compatible format. Then simply sync with the iPad. If you have a camera connection kit and you know the footage is compatible you can connect it directly.
Follow the link to see formats
http://www.apple.com/ipad/specs/

Can't import from Sony XDCAM memory card to FCP 6

I can't import from Sony XDCAM memory card to FCP 6.01 HD. Am using Macbook Pro, 2 gig of RAM. This is my first time NOT using tape. I can copy the files off the memory card onto an external drive (to free up the card for pro crew's next day's shoot), but can't import either to FCP. Do I need to convert the files in some way before FCP can read them? Need to fix this problem fast as the crew are off to Nepal for 2 week shoot.

Laura,
First, I'm assuming that you're referring to the XDCAM EX. You'll need to install the FCP 6.0.2 upgrade, which contains the XDCAM EX codecs.
Second, You'll need to install the PDZK-P1 Transfer Application, and use that to import your EX clips into FCP. I just noticed that there is a new version available, 2.5.1 which is labeled specifically for Tiger/Leopard. I haven't tested this version yet, and will report back on any stability issues. We're currently running version 2.1.1, without many issues.

Importing from Sony DV into iMovie & getting Darker video image

Importing from Sony DV (Video quality looks great on video LCD screen) into iMovie & getting Darker video image. After I import into iMovie the video image is darker, making in harder to edit. I appreciate any help with understanding how I can improve the video quality when importing.
Thank you

Welcome to discussions!
You may just need to adjust your monitor.
http://www.danslagle.com/mac/iMovie/tips_tricks/6008.shtml
Plus, it will look better on a TV than your monitor.
Sue

Cannot import from Sony DSR-25 DVCAM player

Final Cut pro will not import from Sony DSR-25 DVCam rocorder/player. Video apperars in the imprort window and plays but nothing in the event window.

A lot of problems with the Tunderbolt to FW adapters for DV ca[ture and with the rocketfish cables.

Import from sony camcorder

hi, i have a sony HD camcorder (HDR-350E) which isn't supported by FCE, but is by iMovie. So I imported my clips using iMovie, then dragged the files onto the project browser window in FCE. Is that the best way to import from iMovie? Or should I be doing it in some other way?
Thanks

Hi(Bonjour)!
http://www.apple.com/finalcutexpress/tutorials/importing-from-imovie.html#import ing-from-imovie
Michel Boissonneault

Problems importing from Sony DRC-SR40 camcorder

I can connect the camcorder thru USB. I open the icon that appears on my desktop and see all the MPG’s. But iMovie will not recognize them. Quicktime will not open them—error message says it can’t “parse” it, whatever that means. I can view the movies on my computer only with the “VLC media player” which I had to download from Apple. My questions are:
1) Do I need Quicktime Pro or is there no way Quicktime will run these videos?
2) Anything I can do so that iMovie will recognize and import them?
3) I’m new to camcorders, so is it stupid to say that I thought I would be able to burn videos to a blank DVD and play them on my television DVD player? Is that possible?
iMac DV-400 Mac OS X (10.4.2)

iM is meant to import lossless from miniDV camcorders, using the same codec, called 'dv' ...-
your device is recording in a socalled playback-format, mpeg2 ... usually not meant to be processed...
you're options are..:
* buy/get * Apple mpeg2 plugin (19$) + Streamclip (free) ; drag'n drop files from device onto your Mac's harddrive ... install both apps and open files with Streamclip; convert/export to 'dv-stream' ....
or ...
* 'edit' in Streamclip (=just 'cut'), use Toast 7/8 to burn mpegs directly to a videoDVD...
or ...
* purchase http://www.pixela-1.com/captympeg_editex/ for handling such files.. no iLife support...
or ...
* 'swap' your recording device to a nice miniDV camcorder... << iLife is made for ...
2) no.
usb connected/'mpeg' devices are NOT supported by iM nor iDVD ...
3) iM + iDVD (iLife at all) is MADE for that purpose..
spend some time reading here:
http://www.apple.com/ilife/tutorials/

Sony MiniDv camcorder / New macbook Alum compatibility

Hi all,
I've read some posts about the subject and realized it will be tough to import high quality video from my minidv camera to the new macbook.
However I wonder if someone could advise any external device that would allow me to import full quality video.
My camcorder is a Sony dcr-hc19e with Usb out, DV out and A/V out ports.
My macbook alum, as you all are aware, just has Usb ports..
I would import using Final Cut Pro 6.
Thanks,
Adrian Garcia

Any device that can output video to a Mac via USB should be able to do it at full quality. The type of interface doesn't affect the quality of data transfer, on the speed. So only when you're doing on-the-fly capture, as with an analog-to-digital converter box, would the speed of the interface really matter.
To the best of my knowledge, your camcorder cannot transfer video from tape to your Mac via USB. I fact, as far as I know no MiniDV camcorder can output video to a Mac via USB.
So other than purchasing a different camcorder, there is probably no solution for you for importing video into an aluminum MacBook.
Regards.

Choppy video in iMovie/iDVD from Sony HDD Camcorder

I feel like I must be doing something wrong here, I've just moved from a windows XP machine to a nive shiny iMac which is lovely and I just want to hug it a lot, but.....
My DVD's just aren't coming out right, here's me thinking Macs were renowned for their video editing, but all my stuff is looking better from windows.
To explain further, I connect my Sony DCR-SR32 to the mac via USB (the Sony is a hard disk camera which records to mpeg2) iMovie recognises the camcorder and allows me to import all my clips. I spend hours putting together some holiday footage with appropriate fades, titles and cuts. I then import the finished project into iDVD and spend more hours messing with the motion video menus and getting everything looking right.
I then burn to a DVD and it looks horrible, the frame rate looks like it's about 10 fps and it's jumping around all over. After some research, I find that Perion is probably to blame, and I can work around it by exporting from iMovie as a DV file or removing Perion which I've creating a DVD.
So the output is better, not so jerky, but something is not quite right, while it's not jerky its not quite as smooth as if should be, and the colours seem to be a little more pixelated a bit like when a divX movie struggles in an area of low contrast.
I'm comparing this to running XP in a parallels session, attaching the camcorder and hitting the "Disc burn" button which burns a lovely smooth and colourful DVD without a problem.
I thought this must be an issue with the conversion, convert to h.264 when the file is pulled off the camcorder, and then again into mpeg to burn must be missing something, but I took the raw mpeg files and got Toast to burn a DVD and that was the same "not quite right" result. I've read a lot about OSX's difficulties with mpeg2 and suggestions to use Streamclip with the MPEG quicktime plugin - will this do anything better, it just seems that with any conversion you're going to lose some quality, and converting several times to get something into iMovie then again when iDVD prepares the disk seems to be asking for more trouble ?
I've double checked all the obvious things, like is it set to PAL, and is the DVD burning at the best quality. I'm even burning to disk images to take the physical DVD out of the equation.
But still the results are not satisfactory. I really don't want to have to run windows still, iMovie and iDVD - although fairly basic were really nice to use, and the overall result is great... if I could just get it to look right.
Any idea on what might be wrong in all this, or how I can get a better quality movie to burn ?

Ok, this time I tested it in playback mode.
Connected USB. Chose HDD connect. NO NAME appeared on desktop. Opened iMovie (started my stopwatch at this point). Detected camera - scanning. Generating thumbnails (at this stage it is generating thumbnails for all the clips I have on my camera. For the record, I have 6 clips of 52secs, 22secs, 40secs, 27secs, 29secs and 1min). Finally, after around 1m50s, the 'Import From' window pops up showing me the thumbnails for each clip. I stop the stopwatch.
I only want to import the 1min clip this time, just for timing reference. To import this 1min clip on my imac (see my mac profile below) took 2m30s. This includes generating the thumbnails too, although I'm not quite sure why it does this again. I think 2m30s is very slow considering that DV would/should import in real time.
Anyway, those are my findings today and I for one now have a better understanding of how to connect my camera...playback mode only!
Thanks.
Lee

IMovie HD won't import from Sony HDR-HC1

iMovie HD 5.0.2 (111) on my G5 desktop controls, but won't import from, my new little Sony HDR-HC1 1080i DV camcorder. Same was the case with my 12" 1 GHz PowerBook until, at the advice of a Manhattan Beach Genius Bar tech, I did an archive reinstall of 10.4 and a reinstall of iMovie HD on both my G5 PowerMac and G4 PowerBook and then downloaded all the updates. Now my PowerBook works, but my PowerMac still won't import. On an empty second HD in my PowerMac I installed OS 10.4 and iMovie HD ONLY (to create as sterile as possible of an environment), made the 2nd HD my startup drive, and still iMovie HD on my PowerMac will not import from this camera (although it will from an older Sony VX-1000 regular def camcorder).
Does anybody have any solutions, or any idea why iMovie HD now imports on my PowerBook but after the same makeover still won't on my PowerMac?
Per earlier posts, I tried playing some piano notes in Garage Band, trashing the iMovie preference files, and reinstalling QuickTime (the tech had heard QT 7.0.3 could be at fault from becoming corrupted in certain updating combinations), all to no avail.
HELP!
PowerMac G5 2 x 2.67 GHz Mac OS X (10.4.3)

I have had import/capture problems using FW drives with FCE/iMovie5 and my 2gig iMac. My canon GL2 works fine but only when no other FW devices are connected to the FW port I use the computers internal drive to capture. If your using the G5's internal SATA drives this (below) may not apply.
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=277702&tstart=0
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=277704&tstart=0
Some G5 users have had to purchase a FW PCI card or have the G5 front FW port replaced. Check this link.
http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/G5/G5usb_firewirereports.html
Cheers!
Steve

How do you transfer video from a miniDV camcorder to the 2011 model of MacBook Pro

I recently found an old miniDV camcorder that was stored in my house from several years ago. There is video on the camcorder that I would like to import into my MacBook. However, the miniDV has a firewire connector and my MacBook does not. Is there a simple way to import the data to my MacBook?

If your MacBook has Thunderbolt, you can get a Thunderbolt to Firewire adapter which should give you the connectibity you need.
Allan

AP3 does not recognise movie files from Sony HD camcorder

I tried to import footage from a new Sony HDD camcorder, Aperture uploaded the stills ok but couldn't upload the movies with an error message saying 'Unknow File Format'.
However iPhoto uploaded the movies no problem. The file format is .MPG
If anyone can offer any advice on what I need to change to upload MPG format that would be most appreciated. Thanks.

Are you sure the format is .MPG -- Sony HD camcorders are typically outputting AVCHD files, which Aperture does not read? Nevertheless, not sure if .MPG is supported either.
f you open Aperture Help and search on Video, you find the following:
File Formats You Can Import into the Library
Aperture supports most image, audio, and video file formats captured by digital cameras. An example of the file types and formats that can be imported into your Aperture library are:
• GIF
• JPEG
• JPEG2000
• PNG
• PSD (8- and 16-bit)
• TIFF (8- and 16-bit)
• BMP
• DNG
• RAW files from a variety of supported digital cameras
• AIF
• WAV
• MOV
Ernie

How can I import from Sony Hi-8 digital?

I want to import footage made on a Sony DCR-TRV103, but being as it's a 10+ yr old camcorder, it seems to be out of reach. Any suggestions appreciated.

I should have clarified my situation: I HAVE one of these cameras. The "out of reach" part refers to it not being on the list of video tape camcorders that FCP X is compatible with, which appears to be borne out by the app not seeing the FireWire-connected device when I try to import from my tapes.
Maybe there's an issue with the camcorder's FireWire, or another deficiency, I can't tell. But I can try to use an older setup, with FCP 5, which used to work.
Thanks for the thought, at any rate, and for any further ideas.

Importing from sony miniDV camcorder

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