importing from a sony dcr hc28

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Level 1

9 points

importing from a sony dcr hc28

Hey!
We are trying to import videos from a Sony DCR HC28 but my mac won't recognize the camcorder. We have a cord that hooks into my Firewire port, but it isn't showing up. Any ideas? I tried searching on here but it looked like nobody had their question answered? If anyone has any clues, help!!!

iBook G4, Mac OS X (10.4)

Posted on Mar 20, 2008 7:05 PM

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Answer 1

J Keller

Level 4

2,750 points

Mar 20, 2008 11:11 PM in response to Ann Leonard

Hey!

It's a miniDV camcorder with a Firewire cable, so the essentials are there. Firewire cables can be confused with USB so make sure that part is correct. The camcorder needs to be in playback mode with a good battery charge (better yet, plug it into the wall). Connect it all, then start the camcorder. What happens?
John

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Answer 2

Ann Leonard Author

Level 1

9 points

Mar 21, 2008 8:21 PM in response to J Keller

hey! It is in playback mode but it is not showing up as being connected to my computer?

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Answer 3

J Keller

Level 4

2,750 points

Mar 27, 2008 7:45 PM in response to Ann Leonard

...and for sure you're using a Firewire cable? (camcorders often just come with a USB cable) Are you connecting directly to the computer, or to a hub?
John

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Answer 4

crtrbr

Level 1

0 points

Mar 30, 2008 6:56 PM in response to Ann Leonard

I've had similar issues with my Sony DCR-HC28), as have many others with many kinds of camcorders (see http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=188067).

One day it was working fine without any problems. The next day imovie didn't recognize it. I tried various recommendations: turn camcorder on before starting imovie, turn it on after starting imovie, make sure it's plugged in, run software update, repair permissions. No luck.

Then I found some ideas from Apple:

iMovie '08: Cannot see or control camera
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1059

What to do if your computer won't recognize a FireWire or USB device
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=88338

I opened System Profiler, clicked on Firewire (w/ the device plugged in and on) and it didn't recognize it. Then I followed some of apple's instructions. Turned off computer, unplugged it from wall for five minutes, disconnected all usb/firewire things (printer, etc) except for the keyboard. Then rebooted. Plugged in camcorder to firewire. Turned on camcorder. Opened System Profiler, clicked on firewire and sure enough, it recognized the camera. Opened imovie and I was back in business.

It's been working fine since then. Hope this helps you.

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