panasonic vdr-d100 import to imovie 6, finalize video, then what?

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panasonic vdr-d100 import to imovie 6, finalize video, then what?

Hi, I'm trying to import video from my panasonic vdr-d100 onto imovie 6. i saw in the threads that if i didnt have a firewire and only had a usb, that i should finalie the video on the camera and then import it. I've finalized the video on the camera, but i dont know what the next step is. someone please help! i'd really appreciate it, thank you so much!

Posted on Oct 2, 2007 1:17 PM

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Answer 1

tilman

Level 4

1,235 points

Oct 2, 2007 2:20 PM in response to Amanda Gancayco

That's a DVD camcorder, right? iMovie '06 cannot import directly from DVD camcorders. Upgrade to iMovie '08 (which adds support for DVD camcorders), or search through the iMovie HD 6 forum for questions about importing from DVD camcorders. The most popular tool to convert DVD camcorder clips to DV format for use with iMovie '06 involves using the Quicktime MPEG-2 plugin ($19) with the utility MPEG Streamclip (free download).

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Answer 2

Oct 2, 2007 4:40 PM in response to tilman

So I've downloaded the Quicktime MPEG-2 plugin and the free MPEG Streamclip. Now what should I do?

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Answer 3

tilman

Level 4

1,235 points

Oct 2, 2007 4:48 PM in response to Amanda Gancayco

Connect your camcorder, with a finalized disc in it, containing video clips. Make sure the disc was initialized in Video mode, not VR mode. The disc should show up as a drive in the finder.

Start MPEG Streamclip, Click on File -> Open, navigate to the DVD, find the VIDEO_TS folder, and find the first large file with a .VOB extension. If MPEG Streamclip asks about opening additional files, or offers to fix timecode breaks, let it do that. Now you will see your clip in the MPEG Streamclip window. Click on File -> Export to DV. Make sure the 4:3 vs. 16:9 option is set properly, then export. When done, open up iMovie, and import the .dv file. That's it.

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Answer 4

Oct 2, 2007 5:38 PM in response to tilman

I tried to open the file using the MPEG streamclip and the movie file is a .vor file. There is no VIDEO_TS folder either, there is just one folder that says DVD_RTAV and when that is opened, the video file is the .vor format. When I tried to open that file, the MPEG streamclip program quit on me. What should I do now? And thanks for continuing to help me!

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Answer 5

tilman

Level 4

1,235 points

Oct 2, 2007 5:48 PM in response to Amanda Gancayco

Sounds like you initialized your DVD in VR mode in your camcorder. Mac OSX cannot read such DVDs. It can only read DVDs that were initialized in Video mode. That should be a choice in one of your camcorder menus. If you have a computer running Windows somewhere (including Windows running under Vmware Fusion or Parallels on your Mac), you can read the files from the DVD with it, and then copy them back to your Mac.

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Answer 6

Oct 2, 2007 6:24 PM in response to tilman

sorry to be a pain, but do you know if there are any particular programs that would open the file on windows? i plugged the camcorder into a pc and it couldn't read the files, so is there a particular program that can read them or convert them? i know this is the apple site, but hopefully you'll be able to help because you've been so helpful already.

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Answer 7

tilman

Level 4

1,235 points

Oct 2, 2007 6:37 PM in response to Amanda Gancayco

You don't need to open the files on the PC, but just use the PC to copy the files from the VR DVD to the Mac. Once you have the files on the Mac, you can convert them with MPEG Streamclip. The Mac just cannot get the files off the DVD directly.

I don't know how you are set up... if your PC and the Mac are on the same network, you can copy the files over the network using file sharing. Or you could burn them to a CD or data DVD on the PC, and then put the disk in your Mac. Or copy them to an external USB or Firewire hard disk connected to the PC, then hook up the hard disk to your Mac.

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Answer 8

Oct 2, 2007 8:01 PM in response to tilman

I have a pc and a mac. I hooked up the camcorder to the pc and I burned a copy of the files from the camcorder onto a dvd using the pc, but it records exactly the same thing, a .vro file, which my mac doesn't read. so how can i copy the files without having it be a .vro format from the pc onto a dvd?

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Answer 9

tilman

Level 4

1,235 points

Oct 2, 2007 8:47 PM in response to Amanda Gancayco

Did you try to open the .vro file with MPEG Streamclip? You still need to convert the .vro file with MPEG Streamclip into a DV clip for iMovie. MPEG Streamclip should have no problem with the .vro files. I have done this a couple of times myself until I learned that the whole process is much easier if you initialize your DVDs in Video mode.

P.S. Did you finalize the disc before you copied the files? That's important, too.

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Answer 10

Oct 2, 2007 9:09 PM in response to tilman

I tried opening the .vro file from the dvd i had copied using the pc by using MPEG streamclip and it said the file was too short. And I finalized the disc on the camcorder in the beginning. What else should I do?

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Answer 11

tilman

Level 4

1,235 points

Oct 2, 2007 10:04 PM in response to Amanda Gancayco

Ah, that problem. I ran into that once myself, but I don't recall how I recovered from that. Sorry.

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Answer 12

wagweb

Level 1

0 points

Dec 25, 2007 12:31 PM in response to tilman

This was very helpful advice Downloaded the Streamclip software and imported right into imovie 6. You don't even have to finalize - just download the .vob files and go.

Thanks for your help.

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