Resend --how do download video from a Panasonic GS500 camcorder?

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Resend --how do download video from a Panasonic GS500 camcorder?

This is a resend, I put in the wrong model camcorder the first time. I have a Panasonic GS500 miniDVcamcorder and haven't been able to figure out how to download to imovie. I'm using a firewire. Any suggestions? I'm new at this and very confused at the moment, even after reading the support topics.

powerbook g4, Mac OS X (10.3.9)

Posted on Jul 3, 2007 4:43 PM

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Answer 1

Jul 3, 2007 8:03 PM in response to jek1

Hi Jek

1. Camera turned off - connect firewire to Mac and camera.
2. Open iMovie and create a name for your clips.
3. Be sure cam is set on playback -NOT PC mode
4. Turn on cam. At this point your Mac should recognize your cam and will
show in the iMovie screen as "ready to capture", or words to that effect.
5. Use the on screen controls to start the capture process. The computer will
control the camera.

Your Mac captures the video in real time, meaning that if your total clips are 45 minutes of tape, it will take 45 minutes to capture to your Mac. Hope that helps you. Nice cam, by the way. Lucky are those of us that got one before Panasonic discontinued it and dummied down their consumer line of miniDV cams.

Forest

iMac G5 20" 1.8 GHz - 400GB HD - 2GB RAM Mac OS X (10.4.8) 300 GB & 160GB Ext drives, QT 7.1.5 Pro

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Answer 2

jek1 Author

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Jul 4, 2007 4:48 AM in response to Forest Mccready

Forest, I tried your suggestions, but still no luck downloading. iMovie searches for the camera, but can't find it. I'm getting concerned that the GS500 is not compatible with Macs. Any other ideas?

Hi Jek

1. Camera turned off - connect firewire to Mac and
camera.
2. Open iMovie and create a name for your clips.
3. Be sure cam is set on playback -NOT PC mode
4. Turn on cam. At this point your Mac should
recognize your cam and will
show in the iMovie screen as "ready to capture",
or words to that effect.
. Use the on screen controls to start the capture
process. The computer will
control the camera.
ur Mac captures the video in real time, meaning that
if your total clips are 45 minutes of tape, it will
take 45 minutes to capture to your Mac. Hope that
helps you. Nice cam, by the way. Lucky are those of
us that got one before Panasonic discontinued it and
dummied down their consumer line of miniDV cams.

Forest

iMac G5 20" 1.8
GHz - 400GB HD - 2GB RAM Mac OS X (10.4.8)
300 GB & 160GB Ext drives, QT 7.1.5 Pro

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Answer 3

SDIllini

Level 6

16,675 points

Jul 4, 2007 8:09 AM in response to jek1

hi jek1;

This camera is definitely compatible to a Mac and imovie. As long as you are using a 4-pin to 6-pin firewire to connect, there should not be any issues.

Take a look here for more suggestions:

iMovie: Cannot see or control camera
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=43000

And read what Bengt says here:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1018153&tstart=0

:)Sue

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Answer 4

Jul 4, 2007 2:45 PM in response to jek1

Hi Again Jek1

My GS500 works fine with my Mac. Did you follow step 3 in particular?? This is where most people fail to get a connection. The camera MUST be set on Playback.

I have had the odd occasion where my Mac failed to recognize my GS500, very rarely, and I disconnected the firewire from both ends, shut off the camera and restarted the Mac, then reconnected everything. This helped on those rare occasions.

Forest

iMac G5 20" 1.8 GHz - 400GB HD - 2GB RAM Mac OS X (10.4.8) 300 GB & 160GB Ext drives, QT 7.1.5 Pro, Panasonic GS-500 3CCD miniDV cam

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Answer 5

jek1 Author

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Jul 5, 2007 4:01 AM in response to SDIllini

OK, thanks, you've given me a lot to work with. I'll let you know what happens.

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Answer 6

jek1 Author

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Jul 5, 2007 4:04 AM in response to Forest Mccready

Forest, yes, I did have the camcorder in the playback mode, and it still hasn't worked yet. I'm going to try cleaning up my hard drive (I'm near capacity now, and that seems to affect other things, so perhaps downloading too). I've tried downloading to a backup hard drive that's got lots of space, but that hasn't worked.

jek1

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Answer 7

Jul 5, 2007 9:37 PM in response to jek1

Jek1,

Also check out those links that Sue provided here. If that doesn't get you connected maybe you have a bad firewire cable???

Video does take a lot of hard drive space. I think one hour of video is about 13 GB. Good luck and persevere because it should work.

Forest

iMac G5 20" 1.8 GHz - 400GB HD - 2GB RAM Mac OS X (10.4.8) 300 GB & 160GB Ext drives, QT 7.1.5 Pro, Panasonic GS-500 3CCD miniDV cam

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Answer 8

Jul 6, 2007 3:52 PM in response to jek1

One easy thing to try is to reset the FireWire Port.

Turn off your Mac *and unplug it* for a half hour or so. Then plug it back in and try again.

(I imagine that these are listed somewhere in the other docs, but this is quick and easy)

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Answer 9

jek1 Author

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Jul 7, 2007 1:08 PM in response to Keith Barkley

My camera is connected now. It turns out that I did not have a Firewire, it was a USB cable. I showed the cable to the guy in the camera store when I first got the camera and he told me it was Firewire, but I later found a picture of a real Firewire online. So, all of you who suspected it was a USB connection (Forest esp.) were right.

Thanks for the help.

JEK1

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Answer 10

Jul 8, 2007 12:13 AM in response to jek1

Hi j

To make things easier now when download/import works.

1. You need lots of space on internal hard disk to work smoothly

25Gb after You imported Your movie is very good

10Gb can work
< 5Gb and You'll have problem

2. If You move Your movie project to an external hard disk (eg for space)
- IT HAS TO be - Mac OS Extended or Mac OS Extended (journaled)
DOS/FAT32/UNIX/Mac OS Exchange - Will not do !!!!
- Should be a FireWire hard disk - Apple has implemented USB/USB2 in a way
that makes them speed down = not working as it should with video.

Yours Bengt W

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