Mini dvd w/o firewire

My son inlaw has a camcorder that uses those 3.25 in. dvd's.
It has no firewire ports. What do I need to be able to copy this size dvd to my mac?

Don't those camcorders come with adapter-rings to convert the small DVD to a normal size one?
(Alternatively, you need to get an external drive that is compatible with 3.25in DVDs.)

Similar Messages

Firewire and mini-dvd camcorder

If I purchase a mini-dvd camcorder that does have firewire, can I play [and capture] the movie from the camcorder into quicktime pro?

No.
Your file is MPEG-2 and QuickTime Pro can't extract audio (during any conversion) from muxed formats.
QuickTime Pro (Mac only version) can record from many cameras and can convert to MPEG-4 (good), H.264 (better) and device native (best).
Firewire is required to move the data from the camera to the machine.
You could import and convert using a DV tape camera with Firewire using QuickTime Pro but I don't think a DVD camcorder has any "pass through" features. If it does then the source may be able to be captured (bypassing recording to MPEG-2).

Cannot boot my mini from CD/DVD or external firewire drive

The problem I face is simple: I cannot boot my mini from CD/DVD or external firewire drive.
When I boot with option key down, I see the Mac OSX boot and a ghost Windows from an early BootCamp installation, removed long ago (I now use Parallels).
I tried disconnecting everything but keyboard and mouse, to no avail.
I tried resetting PRAM and NVRAM.
I tried disconnecting the mini from everything and waiting one night.
I tried erasing the disk from another Mac when booting the mini as FireWire drive.
And still, the mini refuses to boot from the original CD, or any external drive.
Anyone has an idea whether it is software or hardware ?
Could it be a consequence of the early Boot Camp install and then removal ? Is there a way to reverse this ?
Any help or hint will be appreciated.
Best regards
JC
Intel mini early 2006 Mac OS X (10.4.10) 2gb RAM, core duo

Hi DaddyPaycheck,
Thanks for your message. Indeed, I failed to mention the problem from the Startup Disk Preference point of view.
Bootable CD and/or external disks also never appear in Startup Disk Prefs.
It indeed sounds like time for a backup (I did that) and a HD erase and reinstall of OSX. But since the CD does not want to boot, I tried installing from another Mac with my mini booted as FireWire drive. And that failed, probably because the master mini I used was a G4 one...
Best regards
JC

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

Loading movie from mini DVD

I have a Sony DCR-DVD92 that uses the mini DVD's for recording. There is no firewire or USB port on this camera. Since the iMac can't run the mini DVD's how can I transfer the movies from my Handycam to my computer?

If you can, buy a better camera. This camera was not designed for use with a computer or with editing.
If you have a lot of mini-DVDs from this camera that you want to edit, your best bet is to [buy a USB DVD player recorder that sits flat on your desk like the ones at this link|http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/optical-drives>. Do not put these little DVDs into the slot on your iMac. You may not be able to get them out.

Mini dvd mac mini

I just bought a new camcorder that uses mini dvd's. I need to know if I can put these sized dvd's in my mini. I've never had this kind of camera before, so i'm not really sure how to import movies onto my mac for editing and to burn on a full sized dvd. Need help pronto

you can do it using an adapter ring, but if somehow something went wrong, Apple won't fix it under warranty, since they expressly forbid doing so.
your other options are to use an external tray-loading DVD drive, or a USB/Firewire cable (if your camera offers this option).

Mini dvd-cd

Is there an adapter that one can buy to use the mini dvd-cd for Imac? I have a sony video camera and it uses mini dvds. I am thinking of buying an Imac and this this the only lack of feature of not being able to use /play mini dvd/cd that is weighing against the decision to buy.
appreciate any input.
thanks

You will need an external FireWire DVD drive to read those discs.

Mini dvds

Does the imac take mini dvds because I got a mini dvd camcorder and was seeing if I can just put the dvd in and edit the footage from the mini dvd.
imac g5 17 inch 1.8 ghz Mac OS X (10.4.3)

The trouble is the Sony mini DVD handycams don't have firewire. I have been able to drag VOB files across USB (after the mini DVD has been finalized in the handycam). However, the mini DVD files have to be converted from Video_TS VOB to mp4 (I used a program called Open Shiiva that I found in a macworld posting). I can view the footage in QuickTime Player, but there's no audio and the whole process is very, very slow and cumbersome. I have dozens of mini DVDs that I need to convert (preferably without spending hundreds of dollars on new hardware and software). Any suggestions would be warmly appreciated.

Sony Mini-DVD's with Final Cut Pro

I am wondering if it is possible to convert mini-DVD's such as those from sony camcorders to the Final Cut Pro editing program? I have been able to do this on my PC but is difficult, long and complicated. I have read other posts my my question isn't completly answered. My camcorder does not have a USB or Firewire port on it but I already own an exterior disk burning drive that accepts mini-DVD's. I am considering switching to a MAC from PC and Final Cut Pro is one of the main reasons why.
Thanks in Advance!
HP Windows XP Pro Considering switching from PC to MAC

Welcome to the forum!
To convert ANY non-copyrighted, non-encrypted DVD video footage to an editable format that FCP can work with, you have two basic options; hardware or software.
The hardware method is connecting a DVD player's outputs to a qualified DV device, which is connected to your Mac via Firewire. In FCP, set device control to "Non-Controllable Device" and use capture now - or dub the footage to DV/DVCam/DVCPro for logging and batch capturing.
The software method involves using a program such as DVDxDV, Cinematize or MPEG Streamclip to demux and convert the DVD-Video's VOB files into an editable format for later importing into FCP.
-DH

Sony Mini-DVD Camcorder

I recently bought a mac book pro and I have final cut express. I am trying to hook up my sony mini dvd camcorder to my computer so that I can capture my footage off of my camcorder to make movies. Any suggestion would be helpful. Thanks

"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)."
I'm not quite sure what some of this means, and I think much of it is quite wrong. If, by the first sentence, you mean that only a small minority of professionals use Final Cut. This is quite inaccurate. It is by far the most widely used video editing software on the planet. Far exceeding Avid, Media 100, Premiere or any other available software. Avid is strongly entrenched in film production and primetime television, but that accounts for a minute proportion of all video production worldwide. I would also disagree that Apple is slow to support new technology. Apple was the first software with professional DV editing, native HDV editing, DVCPRO 50 and DVCPRO HD via FireWire, the first to support DVX 24p and 24pa, and while it might have have been the first to support IMX and XDCAM, it wasn't far behind. It was slow to support native JVC HDV 720p editing, but that's about the only area in which it was not a leader, and it only happened because Apple wanted to edit the material natively as it did Sony 1080i, coupled with the Intel issue. AVCHD is very new technology, and its use of delivery format, 15 frame GOP-based compression for acquisition presents huge issues for any editing applications. Not something that can be turned around in a couple of weeks or even months. One thing that has greatly slowed down the development of video editing application interface functionality over the last few years has been the constant stream of ever-changing formats introduced by camera manufacturers. This has meant that less and less time has been available to actually work on the software. In Apple's case this has been further complicated by the move to Intel-based hardware, and the necessity to port all its software to a new architecture. This has not slowed Apple's development and support for new formats, but it has greatly delayed feature enhancements, in my view. Personally I feel, at this stage, it would be better for the pro apps to work on core issues and enhancements rather than continue development for yet another format, particularly a problematic consumer format. Panasonic is developing a professional format AVCHD Intra that might be supported on the pro apps before the consumer version.

Question About Sony Handycam Mini DVD + iMac

A friend recently asked me how she can compile all her half-hour long mini DVD's onto one normal sized DVD. She said she has tried several things but couldn't do it. I have a Sony mini DV recorder and thought I might be able to import the video from her camera the same way I import from mine to my iMac then burn it onto a disc. But I am not able to hook the camera to my iMac because there's no port for a firewire or a USB connection on the camera itself. Any ideas for how I can consolidate these smaller discs onto one DVD?
Thanks

MiniDV (little cassette tapes) or Mini-DVD (miniature optical disks you can stick in a set-top DVD player and playback)?
The former is the format that you would use if you intended to edit the video, and the latter is the format you'd use if you simply wanted to playback the video as it had been recorded without modification. They are not compatible formats as the physical media is different, but so is the data stored on those media.
A MiniDV camera minimally has an i.Link / mini-FireWire400 port on it for data transfer to the computer. The computer can control the camera through this port, use it either as a live camera, or operate it as a VCR and capture the video as it plays back into the computer. MiniDV video is captured real-time from the camera, meaning that if you recorded 60 minutes of video, it will take 60 minutes to transfer to the computer. The capture data will be in DV format, which is effectively uncompressed 720x480 at 29.995 frames per second (for camcorders using the US' NTSC standard video resolution anyway).
On a Mini-DVD camcorder, the camera may not have a port for connecting the camera to a computer to transfer the video. If it does, it is probably a USB or mini-USB port that allows the camera to be used by a computer as an external DVD recorder. If it is a without-connector model, transferring video would mean taking the mini-DVD out of the camera and putting it in a computer -- however Macs cannot take the mini disks and require and external DVD drive to read them. The MPEG2-encoded video on the DVD drive is highly compressed and not really suitable for editing. Manipulation of the content will necessarily degrade it, so you will lose video quality in the process of handling it, reencoding it, and reburning it.

Mini DVD stuck in drive

My darling son, who never causes us any problems, has done it this time.
He inserted a mini DVD into the drive slot. It never booted, the machine doesn't recognize it has a disk in the slot, it can't be ejeted, there's no little paperclip hole, etc.
Any ideas for removing this?
(My son appreciates a prompt reply so he can once again have dessert after dinner.)
Message was edited by: Beach-Comber

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2179?viewlocale=en_US
If that doesn't work, you may have to try this trick:
http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20080605013811670
If that doesn't work, you may have to get a compatible Firewire DVD drive from http://www.macsales.com/
Note this article: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2801

Mini DVD importing

I have a Sony Mini DVD 305 handycam camcorder. When i plug my camcorder into my imac, using a usb, my mac picks up the DVD in the camcorder, and it can not read it, and imovie can read it, or edit it. What should i do? Will Imovie be offering mini DVD compatiblity it the future? If not what can i do?

your device is not supported by the iApps...
iMovie is a consumer video edit app meant to work with firewire connected miniDV/D8 camcorders
you have to..
a) finalize dvd in your device, read camera's manual how to accomplish that
b) avoid sticking miniDVD into slot-in drives.. gets damaged.. buy an external dvd-drive
c) handle that disk as any other DVD:
* DVDxDV (free trial, 25$, Pro: 90$)
* Apple mpeg2 plugin (29$) + Streamclip (free)
* Cinematize >60$
* Mpeg2Works >25$ + Apple plug-in
* Toast 6/7 allows converting to dv/insert dvd, hit apple-k
* connect a miniDV Camcorder with analogue input to a DVD-player and transfer disk to tape/use as converter
non of these apps override copyprotection mechanisms as on commercial dvds...
http://danslagle.com/mac/iMovie/tips_tricks/6010.shtml
http://danslagle.com/mac/iMovie/tips_tricks/6018.shtml
best practise:
use the apps as intended - use a miniDV camcorder....
concerning "future":
no rumors here allowed, but I strongly doubt, Mac will ever support the usage of a delivery/playback-only format as DVD for editing purposes....

Looking for a GREAT mini DVD Camcorder that is compatible with my MAC! :-)

Ok. Here it is: I have a Sony DCR-TRV350 Camcorder, which I LOVE. However, the DVI port on the camera is screwed up. I bought a new DVI firewire, alas, to no avail. I cannot get the information from the camera to my Mac. So, making my fun, goofy movies is being inhibited by a fix, that will cost nearly as much as a new camera. I am looking for a new camera, that takes advantage of the firewire port on the Mac. Any suggestions? I would prefer a Sony. I am looking for advice from someone who knows, better then I, (that should be easy) of a good camcorder (miniDVD?) that works well with a Mac. I just want to have fun, bringing in footage to iMovie HD, editing, and posting them to Metacafe. Any and all input is, of course greatly appreciated. Thanks so much!!
~ George

"..I wish Apple would tell me "why" a standard MiniDVD camcorder would not be compatible with I-Movie, because I can not think of a single logical reason.."
iMovie was designed to work with "DV" digital camcorders. These were, and are, camcorders which record video in a particular method onto DV, or miniDV, tape. iMovie wasn't designed to import or edit analogue 8mm or Hi-8 recordings, so it won't. iMovie can't handle an incoming analogue (non-digital) signal. (..But if you put one of those 8mm or Hi-8 analogue tapes in a Digital-8 camcorder such as the Sony DCR-TRV350, mentioned in the very first post, above, you can then import it as a digital signal through the camcorder's FireWire connection..)
Various other digital recording methods came and went, and Apple have supported some, but not others: there was the short-lived Sony "microMV" tape format which Apple didn't support, although you can handle that with MPEG Streamclip. Then there was HDV, which Apple does support ..but they did that by creating an Apple Intermediate Codec, into which the MPEG-2 video format of HDV tape gets converted during import.
Then there were various MPEG-2 DVD video formats, and the various movie formats used by solid-state memory-chip camcorders. Now there's AVCHD format, for memory chips, hard drives and DVDs.
These methods of recording video just keep multiplying - because the camcorder manufacturers want to offer "Look! Ours-does-it-better!" claims. But just because they produce a camcorder which records video, that doesn't mean that Apple (which doesn't make camcorders) has to provide a means to edit all these weird formats which keep springing up. Surely, the camcorder manufacturers should be providing Mac-compatible, or iMovie-compatible, editing methods for their devices, shouldn't they?
As Thomas mentions, there's a list of some compatible camcorders (see above) ..but that's a list of camcorders which are compatible with the latest iMovie '08 (..which can deal with some DVD camcorders, but not those which record DVDs in AVCHD format..) and AVCHD format can be handled only by Intel-based Macs, anyway.
So for an MPEG-2-based mini-DVD camcorder and iMovie HD 6, copy the files into your Mac, and then use MPEG Streamclip to convert them to iMovie HD 6 compatibility.
For iMovie '08, some miniDVD camcorders are compatible (those using MPEG-2 recording). For DVD camcorders using AVCHD recording, you may have to copy the recordings onto your Mac, and then download and use "Voltaic" to convert the recordings into iMovie-editable format.
"..I can not think of a single logical reason.." ..the reason is that manufacturers just want you to buy these cameras. But they don't give a hoot that you can't edit the material they record, and so it's left to Apple, and other software developers, to try to devise some way to "unravel" the compressed recordings for you, and make them editable.

Mini DVD and MBP confusion

Hello,
I recently bought a new MBP and I'm a bit confused about the DVD drive.
According to apple, "some slot loading drives may support mini-DVD's (80 mm)"
According to these discussion forums and what I've seen online, thats not at all true, and putting one in your macbook will make the DVD get stuck.
As for the converter thing that you put the mini dvd on to make it a full sized disk, I've seen some people who say that this works and some say the DVD still is not recognized.
so, who's right?
info on the drive in my macbook:
HL-DT-ST DVDRW GSA-S10N:
Firmware Revision: AP12
Interconnect: ATAPI
Burn Support: Yes (Apple Shipping Drive)
Cache: 2048 KB
Reads DVD: Yes
CD-Write: -R, -RW
DVD-Write: -R, -R DL, -RW, +R, +R DL, +RW
Write Strategies: CD-TAO, CD-SAO, CD-Raw, DVD-DAO
Thanks for your help.
Message was edited by: Mike A. Baker

Hi Mike,
The external enclosure will have a "firewire bridge" which converts between ATAPI (essentially the same connector as IDE) and Firewire and a power connector. It is simply a matter of plugging in the cables that come with the enclosure, doing up a few screws and bob's your uncle. The process is almost identical to installing an internal drive in a PC, but easier as you don't have to worry about where to plug things etc!.
"Cooldrive" seem to be a good source in the US - http://www.cooldrives.com/525usbfircas.html
If possible look for one with an "Oxford" chipset in the Firewire bridge (if they have this they will usually brag about it - rather than the cheaper "prolific" bridge). This one looks about right for a cheap option, or this one for the next step "up market"!
Compatibility used to be an issue under earlier versions of OSX and OS9 but these days is rarely a problem. When it was a problem, a little utility called "patchburn" would almost always overcome the problem, but it is not needed under Leopard.
Both Pioneer and LG drives seem to work fine.
Cheers
Rod
Message was edited by: Rod Hagen

Mini dvd w/o firewire

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