Downloading from Sony DCR-DVD405

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Downloading from Sony DCR-DVD405

Hello all
I have a Sony DCR-DVD405 and I found out after I bought my iMac a couple weeks ago that the Mac doesn't recognize the camcorder when I plug it into the Mac using av out / USB. As a workaround, I downloaded the video files from camcorder to my old clunker PC using the Sony supplied software (they downloaded as mpeg files), saved them to a removable hard drive, and plugged the hard drive into the iMac using USB. Then, I found out that the mac didn't recognize the mpg files (even though they showed up as mpeg movie icons with the quicktime logo) and wouldn't let me open or download to iMovie?

Any help you can provide on how to get my DV content off my camcorder into iMovie would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks

imac, Mac OS X (10.4.10), 24"

Posted on Aug 26, 2007 9:05 AM

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Answer 1

bigdomer

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Aug 26, 2007 9:58 AM in response to mikechoe

Your usb should work. I have a DCR-DVD505, which is essentially the same camcorder as you have. I may have an extra bell or whistle, but functionally, I believe they are the same.

Set iMac preferences to launch iMovie when a DVD is detected. Open iMovie. Make sure that the have the camcorder plugged into an electrical outlet. Then connect the usb to the iMac. Turn on the camcorder. Press play on the camcorder and it should bring up the window on the camcorder screen that has a few icons. The top left icon is the PC video transfer (hit this button). It should then link to the iMac and you should get a dialog box on iMovie to import.

This worked like a charm for me yesterday. However, I found once I edited my video and re-burned through iDVD, the compression is so bad it is not even worth using. Thus, I need to scan this forum a bit more to see how not to lose so much video quality in the edit/re-burn stage.

Hope this helps.

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Answer 2

mikechoe Author

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Aug 28, 2007 7:11 AM in response to bigdomer

Thanks very much - I think there must have been a patch between the 405 and the 505 because I had done exactly what you described and for whatever reason the Mac doesn't recognize the PC video input. I think I'm going to have to call Sony to see if there is a workaround for the 405... I called mac support and they had no clue either and said "sometimes Sony just does that"

Hard to believe that two major companies like Sony and Apple can't sort this stuff out!

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