New Canon FS10, FS11,FS100

hello and please help if possible:

canon FS-100 connected to MacBook with iMovie 08

the camcorder does NOT appear to be recognized...I have re-started app, re-booted, etc

???

thank you
pac

The more video you have on your card, the longer it takes for iMovie 08 to recognize the camera. If you have, say, 4 GB of data on your card, it may take 30 seconds for the camera to "appear" to be recognized. It actually is recognized immediately and iMovie 08 is working in the background. But, for whatever reason the Apple engineers decided, the user only gets a message that the camera is connected more towards the end of the thumbnail process than at the beginning. So, it's likely your camera IS recognized, you're just not waiting long enough. Connect it, and force yourself to wait. It's not like with a tape camera that shows recognition suddenly. It's working as fast as tape, you are just not getting the connected message until iMovie 08 looks at ALL your clips on your camera. Patience.

Won't work with iMovie 06, but works beautifully on my intel Mac with iMovie 08. I also use Final Cut Express and I transcode with Streamclip first to either a DV Stream or to AIC. Actually, AIC seems to take less rendering in FCE than DV.

thank you charles, and I will try your input

however, with only 1 minute of test video on my card, it seems unlikely that this is the prob...

still scratchin my head and beard

pac

do I need the supplied Canon software installed?

I hope not, as I so not have admin rights on this MacBook

pac

Packim,
I'm really sorry you're having problems. I feel badly reporting that it works so easily for me. I have an intel Mac with Leopard. I've connected the camera before launching iMovie 08 and the reverse - launching iMovie 08 after connecting the camera. Works both ways.

I'm sure your turning the dial on the camera to the "blue" camera and then pushing the joystick to the PC side. Does the camera at least mount on the desktop for you?

tes, I get a noname file withvideo files on my desktop

(please read my above post reply to myself re: canon software)

thanks a bunch
pac

You don't need the Canon software installed. In fact, it's pretty awful. You might want it to manage the still photos, but even in that case, you can simply copy them from the camera using Finder, then use the camera to delete them.

When I connect the camera, it mounts to the desktop like any volume and it is named "Canon."

I just bought an FS 100, and ffound the same problem. After doing research, I an answer. You need to download the free MPEG streamclip program from www.squared5.com AND buy the QuickTime 6 MPEG-2 Playback Component for Mac OS X from Apple for $19.99 ( http://store.apple.com/us/product/D2189Z/A?fnode=home/shop_mac/software/apple&mc o=MTA3OTA2

Once I had both of these installed, it translated .MOD into iMovie compatible stuff easily.

A guy at Apple store told me that buying iMovie 08 would work, too, as it would translate .MOD. But I figured my approach was cheaper, and let me work with the machine I already have.

Does this series of camcorders have a pass-through for converting a s-video signal to digital?
I have many hi-8XR tapes I would like to convert. (I presently have to capture on the pc with 1 program, then convert/render with another, then transfer to the mac - by that time the compression is taking a toll on quality)

There are also a couple other free 'converters/re-coders': ffmpegX and handbrake. I haven't worked with the '.mod' files, but did convert some VOB files to work with iMovie 06.

I would more than likely convert to use iMovie 6; I haven't been able to make iMovie 8 work well for myself. Hopefully I'm not running into the same scenario as above with the multiple compressions...

I can't find anything in the manual about a pass-through and the only input/output is a USB port, a video port (but it's not S video) and a microphone port.

Charles, will the FS100 work with a 16G card? The Canon website only references the use of an 8G card on it's Specs sheet.

Technically, pass-through is really only possible with a Firewire camcorder, like a MiniDV camcorder. But even very few MiniDV camcorders these days still offer this feature. A USB camcorder (like all current flash memory, DVD, or hard disk camcorders) show up like an external hard disk in your computer. No streaming.

Hey! I'm currently using a MacBook OS 10.4.11 and I have iMovie HD 06. If I purchase that $20 playback component, will the FS series work for me? Have you found any problems transferring the media to your computer since you purchased that QT component?

Hi Charles,
Sorry for this delay. I finally contacted Canon. Besides connecting the camera to the mac usb, I also had to plug in the ac. Now everything is loaded onto the computer. Now I have to figure out how to
edit and prepare these images for cd, dvd or email.

I'll probably have to get a one on one lesson at the Apple Store.

Thanks again.