Importing video from Panasonic PV-GS300

I believe you need a Firewire Cable for this camera. Double check that your camera has a firewire port. It may be labeled ieee 1394.

You will need a firewire cable that is 6 pins on one end to fit your mac, and 4 pins on the other end to fit your camera.

Do a google on firewire cable, and you should see many places where you can buy this cable at a reasonable price.

You will need to have your camera plugged in to AC power when you import. Open iMovie. Connect the cable to your camera. Now turn on your camera. Follow the instructions for your camera. It may be playback mode or PC Mode (but not PictBridge Mode). See your manual to be sure.

Now the iMovie capture window should pop up.

I'm using a GS-500 myself, one step up from the 300 and they do require a 6 to 4 pin Firewire cable. You do not need to have the camera plugged into AC for importing, as long as the battery is charged.

Here's the sequence I use and it works fine. Connect cam to iMac with the cam turned OFF. Set the cam to playback, NOT PC. Open iMovie and turn on the cam. The computer will recognize the cam is connected and display the import button and away you go, as the cam starts playback and the clips start to show up in the clips panes. Couldn't be any easier. Pay attention all those that are considering buying a hard drive or DVD camcorder!

Speaking from my experience with the GS-500, I can say the video quality is excellent. Many consider it to be near broadcast quality. I am not sure about the differences between your 300 and the 500, vis a vis the CCD size, so I can't say how the two compare. If you want to pick far smarter Panasonic knowledgeable brains than mine, go to this Panasonic user's website. Amateur and professional videographers frequent this site.

http://www.pana3ccduser.com/forumdisplay.php?s=8b722d3c98c5012437a68ecef324cdfb& daysprune=&f=6

Of course, a HD cam will get higher quality video, but from what I have read here, there are other editing/DVD burning obstacles to overcome with HD. You would probably want to be using Final Cut software to work efficiently with that. I'd say give your 300 a chance to see what it can do first. Unless you have all the expensive equipment needed to produce, edit and playback HD content, you will probably see little difference in the final result. Others more knowledgeable about HD might have comments here.