Importing from JVC GZ-HD7U Hard Disk Video Camera to iMovie HD

Your best bet is to update to iLife 8 which supports (some) hard disk cameras.

Any other method involves much extra software (not all free) and considerable quality loss.

These are the programs Klaus was referring to:

MPEG Streamclip http://www.alfanet.it/squared5/mpegstreamclip.html is free and Apple's QuickTime MPEG-2 Playback Component http://www.apple.com/quicktime/mpeg2/
is about $20.00. They are the tools that you need to download to convert these files.
Once you have done that, export to DV Stream (.dv) and import it into iMovie.

Sue

I have brought footage from my HD7 into iMovie HD and edited it, after much trashing around.
The procedure is,
Connect via USB.
Power up your HD7, Playback on PC/ Backup window should come up on the camera. Choose Playback on PC.
Everio HDD should appear on your desktop.
Open iMovie>File>New Project (Set to HDV 1080i)
From file menu choose Import (the button is not the same)
Select>Everio HDD> SD Video> PRG> all TOD files.
Open. This will take some time, it is converting everything before bringing it in.

You can choose Backup instead of Play on PC. This will backup the TOD files without converting them and will take much less time, but you will eventually have to convert them to work on them.

When I posted my reply I had forgotten that I also downloaded and installed Quicktime Component for Everio from http://www2.cli.co.jp/products/ne/eng_products.htm

I have successfully imported video clips from a JVC hard drive camcorder into iMovie 06 by converting the MOV files to DV files with ffmpegx (Google it, free download). (As I recall, I may have had to rename the MOV files to end in MPG first?) Anyhow, ffmpegx can convert almost any type of video file to almost any other type of video file. Going from a DVD or HDD camcorder to iMovie-friendly DV files works well, though the conversion takes some processing time.

Whoops, that should be "MOD" files in my previous post. MOV files should work without conversion!

Check out this topic. "Topic : Anyone using .TOD files and/or the JVC GZ-HD7? Will it work with iMovie'08?" I found it under "Apple.com > Support > Discussions > iMovie > iMovie '08"

This is where I found the solution to the same problem you are having. Unfortunatly it still requires you to do a real-time conversion, but until 08 can fix the issue with the TOD files this is the best solution I have found. Beats having to buy another program converting than trying to convert back into iMovie. To much work.

Topic : Anyone using .TOD files and/or the JVC GZ-HD7? Will it work with iMovie'08?

Hello I got A JVC HD7U as a Present and wanted to get a Mac to play around with some of the video programs like fincal cut. I've been reading the disscussions on how terrible this camera is. Well I can't return it but want to go on working with it as a hobbie. Well the problem now is I don't have a mac and I'm in the market to get one but don't really know what I'm getting into. I;ve checked out this place called craigs list and some dude there is selling a mac for about 1600 with change. I plan to get a laptop but don't know if I should get a base unit instead. I've been reading about the dual core G5 and don't know if I need all that power. Since I'm working with HD video I fig I need the speed and the ram and the Hard drive. Any reconmedations would be greatfull

Thanx

Maybe I'm missing something, but after installing the QT plugin from JVC, I've connected the HD7U via USB2.0, pressed the button and selected 'backup' (threby causing the HD to appear in the finder), opened the camera HD from the Finder, select the TOD files, and dragged them directly to the Clips frame of iMovie6 HD. Takes some time for the transfer, but so does playback via Firewire and a miniDV, and at lower resolution!

Pulling out the TOD files from the other files on the HD is usually easy as the other files are much smaller, so doing a sort by size usually brings out the TODs all together. Once selected, I go back to the name sort (hoping to transfer them by chronological order) and drag over the bunch. However, whatever you do, DON'T create a folder on the camera to hold the TODs...the camera REALLY doesn't like this and it gave me a 'had to run a file diagnostic program to fix your screw-up' message.

Problem I have with this is that as iMovie has some magical way of loading in the files (certainly not chronological) and the JVC labels file name sequencing in hexidecimal, I end up spending a fair amount of time sorting through the files to get them back in the original order. Am getting my HEX thinking back, though...

My only complaints with the camera is this HEX file naming and the relatively ineffective optical 'stabilization', but I don't know how much visible shake is a side-effect of the higher resolution. This is my SECOND camera, as the first had a very visible cluster of dead pixels, and it also seemed to have a lack of resolution that I couldn't explain. The new one is MUCH better. For optical image stabilization, my 'old' Canon Optura 50 is by far the best camera I've ever had, but it's flakiness with turning itself off at times during taping (never could get that fixed) and lower resolution has me now using only at work and my all-important videography with the kids' sports is the full-time job of the JVC 🙂