Panasonic HDC-SD9 and iMovie 08 - summary of current issues

It feels like Apple thinks the fault is at Panasonic's end, and Panasonic think the problem is with Apple.

Somebody call Henry Kissinger..

The Panasonic SD9 is a very cool digital camcorder, it should work with the Mac.

I get the same impression - this *****.

In the reviews over at SimplyDV this camera worked just fine - I think Panasonic switched around the firmware on the shipped models and now we are where we are.

All we can do is continue to call both companies and make noise.

This may no be the right forum, but can anyone assist regarding HS9 and Final Cut Express 4? FCE4 recognises the camera but crashes immediately during Log & Transfer... I'm running the right spec model / OS, etc. Is this the same compatibility problem as SD9 and iMovie 8? Thanks for any guidance...

have just bought sd9 and it is a great camera , after steve jobs highlighting how good the avhcd format is , i am amazed this problem hasn't already been addressed. Get to it apple this is not good enough!!!!

Wanted to add my support to this thread.

Apple : I'd like to buy the SD9 camera based on the fact it is the latest and coolest piece of camcorder kit out there and don't want to compromise my choice based on speculation about future compatability.
I bought into the whole Apple Mac thing on the basis that everything just works. I'd like to continue on this basis - please fix this issue.

Theres been a lot of suggestions of using Voltaic as a work around.
Their website mentions that it will only convert the first 2gb of the movie files. Is this a problem for full definition shooting of more than short clips?

I'd recommend taking at hard look at the soon to be released Canon HF10 due out in a month. Got a incredibly positive review for an AVCHD camera. hoping it will be compatible... (cancelled the Panasonic SD9 order after reading this thread)
http://www.camcorderinfo.com/content/Canon-Vixia-HF10-Camcorder-Review-34711.htm
http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/controller?act=ModelInfoAct&fcategoryid=177&mo delid=16186

Learn from this experience. Neither Apple or Panasonic's support teams are owning up to the issues. I'm hopeful that behind the scenes the engineers are working to provide compatibility. BUT, neither company officially supports the other's environment, and conversations with support from both companies are washing their hands of the problem.

All I personally want is an acknowledgement from either company that they are aware of the problem and an engineer is investigating to provide either official support or official non-support of the products.

But, if in the meantime you go ahead and buy a Canon HF10 camera please note that Apple does not support that camera and if you ever have a problem their support team will dismiss you entirely. So, at the very least confirm that Canon officially supports the Mac as a movie editing environment.

And as we learned compatibility with pre-release products isn't sufficient information to base a purchase on (there are several reviews of the early SD9 review models working with iMovie). My discussion with Panasonic's support was not successful as the support tech stated that the User manual says it works with Mac's only for digital picture import (I find it interesting that there is no way to find out this information before making a purchase - Panasonic does not state any officially supported software environment on their website (no mention of Windows or Mac).

Latest information (rumors?!) from SimplyDV:
http://www.simplydv.co.uk/simplyBB/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=20496

Has anyone tried dropping the raw video files from the SD card into Apple's Compressor to convert before importing to iMovie or FC?

Also just bought the HDC-SD9; of-course experiencing same problems with iMovie. I am quite confident that a solution will pop up, the SD5 is one of the most popular camera's and the SD9 will be even more considering its price point. I hope I am not too optimistic; your thoughts?

S Pance wrote:
Download Perian 1.1 and it works with both iMovie 08 and FCP 6.0.2.

Amazon Review of HDC-SD9:
I'm writing this review really to point out to the Mac users that it works fine with Macs as long as you use http://www.perian.org/#detail as this fixes the issue at the moment. The camera is indeed superb and I agree with others that point out these people have knocked stars off the rating for the wrong reason.

I'm surprised their hasn't been more feedback on the above comments given the number of us on this thread waiting for a fix.
Can someone confirm if Perian is indeed a fix, or if it is just a cumbersome workaround.

I'm planning on buying the camera today anyway (expecting twins any day now and can't afford to miss any footage...!!), but would love to be reassured that the £500 is going to be a sound investment for the future in terms of making family movies.

Thanks.