JVC HDD Camcorder

Hi - I also received one of these for Christmas. Let's start with the basics...battery charged? Have you tried plugging in while the camera is connected to a power source?

When I connected the camera, it did not immediately mount as I have experienced with my digital cameras. I connected (with a charged battery) and I had to flip open the miniscreen before I was given a list of options. I chose "Connect to Device" and then it mounted.

I don't have iLife 08 so while I have saved the files, I haven't been able to view them on my Mac.

Good luck!

I have not tried it on my Windows platform as of yet, but I also have been having problems loading it onto the MacBook Pro, Mac OS X Version 10.5.1, Leopard.
After reading the JVC manual, I discovered that this camcorder DOES work with MAC, but only the MAC OS X Versions 10.3.1 to v10.3.9, v10.4.2 to v10.4.8.... So, I made a bad buyer's mistake and didn't check out the Versions of Mac that the camcorder could adapt to. I have seen other bulletins, though, where others have been able to operate their GZ-MG155 camcorders WITH the version 10.5.1.
Be sure that when you are trying to access the files on the hard drive in the camcorder that you have the camcorder on the platform that comes with it. The platform should be plugged into the wall and should be feeding the camcorder power. Plug the USB connector directly into the laptop- not into an extension USB port, and the other end into the PLATFORM- not into the camcorder itself. Once it is connected in this way, you should turn the power switch to ON on the camcorder and flip open the screen. Once you see the Everio logo on the screen it should bring you to the option of "connect to PC". Choose this option. The Everio hard drive will appear on your desk top.
From here, you open imovie '08. The JVC website has a search box in the upper right hand corner. If you type in the camcorder model a list of applicable articles, FAQs, etc will appear. In this list (search 'site') will appear a link to a tutorial to using the GZ-MG155 with Mac OS X.
I will research that link and post it when I find it again.
Remember this one very important fact: If you have more than 50 movie files or if the total data size exceeds 4300 MB, then your imovie '08 may end up crashing. I don't know if you will end up losing the movies along with it- so be careful with this!
Again, I have yet to get mine to work, but I don't have my platform with me, so I can't try it just yet.
Good luck with this and I hope I've helped!!
I'll reply with that link when I find it again.

Okay, I went and got the platform. After attaching the camcorder to the platform with the power off, I plugged the platform into the wall and connected the USB wire to the platform from the computer. I then turned the camcorder ON and hit the SELECT PLAY/REC button on the side (where the display closes, it is the large, near circle button). A list came up on the display screen and I selected "Playback on PC" with the toggle button. An image of a camcorder with an arrow pointing to an image of a laptop appeared and the EVERIO_HDD hard drive appeared on my laptop desktop.
After opening the Everio hard drive from my desktop, I opened imovie. It automatically generated thumbnails and opened a window for me to import images from. I hit "select all" and created a new event to save it under (instead of an existing event).
It began importing each video clip one by one, so if you have a lot of video clips to import, this may take a while.
From here, it's all about using imovie, but that would be a different discussion question.
I hope this helped you!! Oh, and I never did find that tutorial link again, but I didn't look very hard before deciding to just go home and get my platform.
Happy movie-making and good luck!

riotgirl

Hey guys,
I bought the GZ-MG155 JVC camcorder and tried to use it with Imovie on my Intel Mac Mini with Mac Ox X ver 10.4.11 and iMovie version 6 (I believe). At first it just didn't see my Camcorder. I came to the conclusion that I needed a newer version of iMovie, which of course only comes with iLife. So I paid $79 for the latest version of iLife. It still didn't work. Was getting frustrated. After piddling around on the Mac support site I found that there was an update for iLife and 2 updates for iMovie (version 7.10 and 7.11). After installing all these updates I said a prayer and rebooted. Low-and-behold it worked. iMovie could see my camcorder and transfer files.

It shouldn't be this hard, but at least it worked in the end.

I hope this helps someone!

J