Video Cam compatability, FireWire and iMovie

Just for your information: I just purchased a Canon Optura 50A camcorder. Works great, etc. but when I tried to connect with iMovie to download a tape, could not get the program to recognize it. After much trial and error I discovered the following:
When my external FireWire Hard disks are on and connected with the rear FireWire ports, no connection for my camcored using the front FireWire port. When I turn the external FireWire drives off (not even disconnecting them) the front FW port functions.
So I guess the caution is that if your camcorder does not connect with iMovie, try isolating the Firewire port you are using.
Anyone else have this situation or know why?

Hello Pagne:
Welcome to the discussions!
Don't know who's to blame, but I bought a new Canon DC 40 mini DVD camera which only has a USB2 port. IMovie will not recognize the camera.
Actually, with a DVD camera, you could have 500 firewire ports and iMovie would still never 'read' it. You will need to convert the DVD (MPEG-2) to DV before iMovie will use the footage.
To convert the MPG-2 content into something useable, you can use DVDxDV at http://www.dvdxdv.com/DVDxDV.overview.htm
or MPEG Streamclip at http://www.squared5.com/ which requires Apple's $20 MPEG-2 Playback Component
Roxio's Toast Titanium 7 will also let you convert MPEG-2 to DV
Sue
PS. I doubt Apple will ever switch to USB2

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I have a mac book pro and i have connected my panasonic mini dv video camera via firewire 9 to 4 pin connector but imovie doesnt recognize. please help.

I have a mac book pro and i have connected my panasonic mini dv video camera via firewire 9 to 4 pin connector but imovie doesnt recognize. please help.

Hello twrate,
Thanks for using Apple Support Communities.
For more information on this, take a look at:
iMovie '11: If iMovie doesn’t recognize your camcorder
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH2146
Best of luck,
Mario

HT3775 how do you import movies from an i-kam xtreme eyewear video camera hunting glasses into imovie?

how do you import movies from an i-kam xtreme eyewear video camera hunting glasses into imovie?

Here you go Karsten:
http://www.hunterspec.com/content/i-kam-xtreme®-video-eyewear-0
Looks like it records in AVI format at 25 fps. I think that should import to iMovie OK - if not it should import to iPhoto and then be available in the iMovie Events Library under "iPhoto Videos". Importing shouldn't be a problem based on this extract from the web page:
"The glasses can be hooked directly to a PC with the supplied USB cable to view the video, or when using the Micro SD card, it can be inserted into a card reader to watch footage."
John
EDIT: Also, see this point under Features: "Easy PC/Mac USB Connection (no driver needed)"
Message was edited by: John Cogdell

Can I use the new Apple Thunderbolt to Firewire adapter to download video from a video camera by firewire to my Macbook Air ?

Can I use the new Apple Thunderbolt to Firewire adapter to download video from a video camera by firewire to my Macbook Air ?

Yes, you can use the 85 watt adaptor. You cannot use the new adaptors because your computer is not equipped with the proper MagSafe connector. But you can use the older MBP adaptors as well as a 60 watt replacement adaptor. All can be found at Apple's Online Store.

I've been using a flip video camera since 2009 and all of my videos are in the flipshare library. What is the best way to burn all these videos to a DVD that will play on my DVD player/tv?

I've been using a flip video camera since 2009 and all of my videos are in the flipshare library. What is the best way to burn all these videos to a DVD that will play on my DVD player/tv? The flipshare library is taking up too much space on my Macbook and I wanted to delete these videos once they were all tranferred to DVDs.
Any help is greatly appreciated.

Purplehiddledog wrote:
I do backup with iCloud. I can't wait until the new iMac is available so that I can once again have my files in more than 1 location without needing to rely solely on the cloud.
I also rely on iTunes and my MacBook and Time Machine as well as backing up to iCloud. I know many users know have gone totally PC free, but I chose to use iCloud merely as my third backup.
I assume that the restore would result in my ability to open Pages and Numbers and fix the problem with deleting apps, but this would also mean that if my Numbers documents still exist solely within the app and are just not on iCloud for some reason that they would be gone forever. Is that right?
In a word, yes. In a little more detail.... When you restore from an iCloud backup, you must erase the device and start all over again. There is no other way to access the backup in iCloud without erasing the device. Consequently, you are starting all over again. Therefore, it would also be my assumption that Pages and Numbers will work again and that the deleting apps issues would be fixed as well.
If the documents are not in the backup, and you do not have a backup elsewhere, the documents could be gone forever.

MBP not detecting video camera via FireWire 800

Hey all,
I bought a MacBook Pro late 2008 mainly for video editing. Also, I purchased a 3rd-party FireWire cable because Apple doesn't distribute them here in Singapore (-_-).
I've tried many times to connect my 2 video cameras to my Mac and NONE of them turn up in iMovie. It can't possibly be the cable because the store sells them to many people because Apple doesnt distribute them and none came back complaining it doesn't work. And us Singaporeans will go to lengthy methods to get back our money if products we bought don't work.
My 2 video cameras are both Panasonic and they are
NV-GS90
NV-MD10000
The first one is a small one while the second one is a professional camera.
If the cameras can't connect then my whole purpose of purchasing the Mac is defeated. I called Panasonic and they said that it should work fine with the Mac, no drivers needed (Applecare told me to check with them for drivers).
Anyone can provide a solution? T-T

While you were in the store, did you connect any other FireWire devices to your computer to find out whether or not your FireWire port is working? You should certainly do that at the first opportunity, now that you've effectively eliminated a bad cable as a possible cause of your problem.
You may also want to run the Apple Hardware Test that you'll find on one of the discs that were shipped with your MBP. That may be able to identify a problem with your FireWire port.
Apple generally doesn't make or sell cables — there's not enough money in them. Apple leaves that market to third-party vendors, who supply them at lower prices than Apple could or would. And FireWire 800 is far from new: all or most new Macs have had FW800 ports for more than five years now.

Older Digital Video Camera - no firewire port

I have an older Sony Digital Video Camera and a MacBook Pro with iDVD"08 and I want to transfer my tapes to DVD using OneStep DVD. The camera has a USB port, but no firewire port. Is there an adapter I can get or some other way to use OneStep DVD?
I also have a Mac Mini with iDVD6.

I have the same problem and I have a new Sony HDR-SR7 HDV Camera.
In the past iMovie and iDvd (for example iLife '06 and earlier) worked mainly via firewire when it came to importing or capturing video. It is still the preferred protocol on most macs. And it is what I continue to use on all 4 macs in my home.
However, in order to compete with most PC's as well as changing market conditions; USB 2 was only recently incorporated into the macintosh platform with the introduction of iMovie 7 (I'm guessing it was done to appease camcorder manufacturers that only supplied internal Hard Drives and USB2 ports and dropped FW connectivity altogether as a cost cutting measure and not necessarily because USB is a better than firewire (which it most certainly is not). Keep in mind iMovie 7 now allows for capturing video via USB2 when connected directly to the camera but it won't allow you to create custom chapter markers (unless one uses Garage Band to perform this much needed function). Nor will USB2 allow you to export your finished i-Movie back to the camcorder (at least not on most macs). Apparently this particular feature was also dropped when writing this newer iMovie software.
Nevertheless, iMovie 7 will allow you to share / export the finished iMovie (and automated / interval chapter markers) to iDvd'08. But for those of us who still prefer to use Firewire over USB2 as well as maintaining custom chapters, apple does offer iMovie 6 as a free download (provided one has already purchased iLife'08).
http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/imovieHD6.html
If your camcorder has no FW ports, your best remaining option (short of buying apple's pro apps / exchanging for a camera that has firewire) is to use the existing USB2 interface to connect your camcorder directly to your mac and apple's latest software / iMovie 7.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1014
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=305919
Hope this helps but if not just come on back.
Message was edited by: SDMacuser

Video camera compatibility for CS5? what sequence setting do I use?

I am new to the extraordinarily complex world of hard drive/hybrid cameras. I have always used tape and firewires with few problems. A student came in today with new camera she just bought a Panasonic SDR –H85. We downloaded a video file, but it would not import into Premiere. I also had no idea which of the dozen new sequence set-ups to use. How do I find out camera compatibility for CS5? (Adobe doesn’t list specific models.) And what sequence setting do I use?

Thanks for your help! For some reason we had a hard time finding these specs. It looks like it is a SD camera, not a High Definition camera (the HD on the side of the camera mistakenly meant Hard Drive, not High Definition?)
At any rate we now need to use the Adobe media encoder to convert the file so that we can import it into Premiere ….all with a loss of quality due to the re-rendering. (btw, what is the best file to re-render?). I suggested that the student who just bought it return it for a camera (preferably High Def) that will work in Premiere. Any suggestions?

How do I save a dvd (with video from a video camera) to edit with imovie?

A friend took videos of an event of mine with his video camera. He then put the clips on a dvd and gave it to me. It was recorded on with a Sony video camera and imported on to a pc with vega's then burned with DVD Complete. He was not sure what format he put it in but maybe something like video_TS.BUP. When I open it up from my desktop it has a audio TS and Video TS folder. When I try to open one of the video folders it goes to iphoto and says unrecognizable format. So does he need to save it to different format and what format would that be. I want to put those clips on my mac to edit to make a movie. I have the newest macbook with the newest imovie. Thanks for all your help!

DVDs are encoded into MPEG2, which iMovie cannot edit. So you need to convert the DVD back to something else. For highest quality, I recommend that you convert the DVD to Apple Intermediate Codec. There is a free tool called MPEG Streamclip that will do this. You will also need to install the Apple QuickTIme MPEG2 Playback Component.
Here are the details.
1) Download and install the Apple MPEG2 QuickTime Component ($20) - available online from Apple.
2) Download and install MPEG Streamclip from Squared 5 (free).
3) Start MPEG Streamclip
4) Insert your DVD into your Mac. If DVD Player or Front Row starts automatically quit those.
5) Open a Finder window. Navigate to your DVD to the Video_TS folder.
6) Drag the .VOB files from the Video_TS folder and drop then into MPEG Streamclip.
7) If MPEG Streamclip offers to fix timecode breaks, say yes.
8) Use FILE/EXPORT TO QUICKTIME to convert the files to Apple Intermediate Codec (or h.264 if you prefer)
9a) Optional: You can deinterlace your footage in this step, if you like
9b) optional: If you know the date and or time of the footage, name your file
clip-yyyy-mm-dd hh;mm;ss
(let mpeg streamclip provide the extension). This will provide metadata that iMovie will use to put the event in the right year and month.
9c) Optional: If you don't want to make one huge clip out of your DVD, you can make smaller clips by using MPEG Streamclip. Move the cursor to the "in" point of the clip, and press i. Move the cursor to the "Out" point of the clip, and press o. Then do steps 8 through 10 and repeat until you have done this for all clips you want.
10) Save the resulting file in a place where you can find it, like your Desktop.
11) Open iMovie.
12) In iMovie, choose FILE/IMPORT/From File and choose the file you saved in steps 8, 9, 10.
13) iMovie will generate thumbnails and you can edit.

Best video camera to use with iMove '11 for iMac

I'm looking for the best video camera with no difficulties for iMovie. Just to be able to plug in the camera with out having to load additional software or any other difficulties.
Or if any one else knows what type of file format is specifically needed for macs? MPG4 or AVI?
Thank you!

John Vonk wrote:
You wrote :
I'm interested to buy a Nikon photocamera Coolpix S8100.
This camera is NOT on Apple's list of supported cameras to use with iMovie 11. Nor is the camera Canon SD3500 as mentioned by you, I thought ...
Do you think I could use the Coolpix S8100 camera as well with iMovie 11 ?
Or could I meet a problem ?
In my opinion, the camera will work with iMovie '11, HOWEVER....
I have a Canon SX30IS bridge camera [that is, not a camcorder], and the HD videos work absolutely fine on iMovie with one - for me - important problem.
As my camera is also not supported, when any number of short video files are loaded in together, iMovie will not understand the sequence they were taken in, and MAY load them in a fairly random order into a project.
This is not a problem where one or two files are concerned, but where there are more, it can be a major problem if you want them used in sequence.
You either have to load them into the project one by one, manually, or be able to identify clearly from the thumbnails which is which, or the order will be all wrong. It IS possible to relate what you see as a thumbnail back to the original file, but only one file at a time, so you can't use the thumbnails to work out the order, if the images shown don't do that for you.
I have used videos from 5 unsupported digital cameras, and even an 8mm cine conversion file quite successfully, so I have no doubt that the Nikon will also work.

Best digital video cameras to use with imovie 11

I am looking for a compatible HD video camera that will work with imovie 11. Read tons of reviews, but have not found a good match yet. Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

It's such a personal choice, based on your own personal needs (and budget) that it is hard to advise, but you could narrow the field by looking the models listed as supported by iMovie 11:
http://help.apple.com/imovie/cameras/en/index.html?lang=en_US

WWHEN I CONNECT MY VIDEO CAMERA TO THE MAC, IMOVIE DOES NOT RECONIZE IT SO IT GOES STRAIGHT TO DVD PLAYER. I AM TRYING TO DOWNLOAD VIDEO IN IMOVIE. SOME OF THE DISC WILL GO TO IMOVIE OTHERS STRAIGHT TO DVD PLAYER

When I connect my video camera to the mini mac in order to download into imovie it goes directly to dvd player and I can't download into imovie. It does not reconize a camera being connected. This does not happen all the time. Is something wrong with the disc or the camera???

It sounds like it is mistaking the camera for a DVD disk. So my best follow-up question is to ask:
1. Who is the manufaturer of your camera
2. What is the model number of this camera.
What happens when you quit DVD player. Does iMovie still fail?

Hard-Drive video camera compatability

Hi all,
On the Final Cut studio page there is a hardware compatibility utility...is there something similar for Final Cut Express? If not, can anyone tell me about hard-drive-based video cameras which can work with FCE?
Thanks

The only hard drive based cameras that FCE works with without third party support are cameras that shoot AVCHD.

Video Camera Compatibility?

How can I find out if a Video camera is compatible w/ my computer? I figure it has to have an output cable of some king, (I see most use firewire).
How can I know if I will be able to capture video from a specific video camera?

> How can I know if I will be able to capture video from a specific video camera?
Compatible Video Cameras:
http://www.apple.com/macosx/upgrade/camcorders.html
Compatible Digital Cameras:
http://www.apple.com/macosx/upgrade/cameras.html
Firewire or USB 2.0 will be fine, look for 'Mac/OSX/Univeral Binary' if the bundle has software included.

Video source to firewire and mini DVI ports simultaneously

Hi
Can anyone tell me if the MacBook Pro will take simultaneous video feeds through the firewire and mini DVI ports. I want to do live video mixing using USTREAM or BoinxTV.
thanks

http://kineme.net/forum/Discussion/DevelopingCompositions/FloggingdeadhorseStere oAnaglyph has some relevant snippets, I think, hotmagicpickle.
Not sure how relevant this is , but I decided to experiment and can certainly simultaneously view digital video coming in from my FW camcorder and my USB Elgato DDT TV, so you could certainly "get the stuff in there" at the same time using a mixture of FW and USB. Never tried to mix them, though!
Cheers
Rod

Video Cam compatability, FireWire and iMovie

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