Sony HDR-CX160 won't import into iMovie

Hello! I am desperate for some help. I have had the Sony HDR-CX160 for over a year now. When I first got it, I remember having difficulty with iMovie reading the camera. I found a Youtube video that told you the order to hook everything in and it worked great. I was able to import my video with no problem.
I am once again having EXTREME difficulty. iMovie will absolutely no read my camera. I hook it up and it boots up iPhoto and even imported pictures off the camera. In iMovie, it shows that it reads the camera, but there is a weird error symbol next to the camera and it won't boot up the import screen no matter what I do. I'm inserting a screen shot to show what I mean.
Does anyone know what I can do? I recorded my friend's birth of her son and now I can't get the footage off my camera which is very nervewracking and stressful for me. Please help!

Welcome to iMovie Discussions.
Here's the standard crib-sheet from Apple, so check all these things first..
[P.S: David S. "..an response helpful.." ..?]

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eMac Mac OS X (10.4.3)

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http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/video/mpegstreamclip.html
and
Apple MPEG2 PlayBack($20):
http://www.apple.com/quicktime/mpeg2/
Read about it all here:
http://www.sjoki.uta.fi/%7Eshmhav/SVCDon_a_Macintosh.html#edit_convertMPEG
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=267352&tstart=0

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Message was edited by: iJancy

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Message was edited by: Donna Jones1

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Hi there everyone,
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Message was edited by: newzealandchick

This is fine and all and I understand that this is the same file format as MPEG-1?
Not quite. It is actually MPEG-2 -- a later generation of video compression still commonly used for both DVDs and Digital Satellite compression. Had it really been MPEG-1, MPEG Streamclip would have converted it without the need for the QT MPEG-2 Playback component.
I tried to convert it using streamclip but it said that i needed the QuickTime MPEG-2 Playback Component which I dodn't want to pay $20 for. I really wnat this to be over and done with.
Try the iSquint converter. It is also free and handles both MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 video compression formats without purchase of the MPEG-2 Playback component. It is an "easy to use" application but does restrict your output to MPEG-4/AAC or H.264/AAC compression formats which are both compatible with iMovie '08
I also found this site: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=306171 which says that my camera is fully compatible with imovie '08. I am really confused and just want to be able to edit my movie and send a dvd to my grandparents!
Most of the "incompatibility" problems seem to be as much related to particular work flows as to the hardware. My Sony HDR-HC3 works one way with iMovie '06 and a different way with iMovie '08. In many cases, it is simply a matter of learning how the different devices will and won't work.

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I have QT Player but it hasn't "kicked in" when I try to import my videos.
Something called PIXE VRF Browser is supposed to help in the conversion. The QT MPEG-2 thingy won't install until I buy QT Pro, according to what I get on the screen.
Sounds like you have too many applications trying to do the same thing. Either use the Pixela Pixe VRF Browser or use the Mac applications (Mac OS Finder, Apple QT MPEG-2 Playback Component w/MPEG Streamclip) but not both to do the same job. The Apple Finder should be able to copy multiplexed VOB/MPEG-2 files from either your PC burned DVD or directly from your camcorder DVD to your MAC hard drive where MPEG Streamclip/QT MPEG-2 component can convert them for use in iMovie '08. Frankly, I don't understand your work work flow or why you want to import your files to a GOP editor in the first place if your goal is to do frame level editing in iMovie '08.
As for Jon's suggestion, I am on dial-up and cannot download big files at 3-4 Kbps snail pace.
What does this have to do with importing your camcorder files to your PC and re-burning them to DVD for use on your Mac? If I were to make a recommendation here, it would have been to use an external hard drive here rather than DVDs for transporting files between platforms and then only if you want the files available to both. If your goal is only to edit them in iMovie '08 or iMovie HD on your Mac, then why not cut out the "middleman" platform?
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Totally confused here. Are you saying your DVR-D300 files were commercial produced or that you are dealing with torrent downloads of copy-written material? These are two separate issues with facets beyond the scope of this forum.
As for "platform", I have iMovie08. iMac does not read the mini RAM disks when I connect the camera to a USB port.
Are you saying the Finder doesn't read them or that iMovie '08 doesn't read them? Do you "finalize" your DVDs before trying to read them via USB as the manual states may be necessary as indicated on page 150 of your manual?
How can I find out that iMovie09 will let me import and edit my Panasonic videos?
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Sony HDR-CX160 won't import into iMovie

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