Connecting Sony HVR-V1E Semi Pro HD Camera to Imovie 6 HD

lorddlm1 wrote:
.. Sony HVR-V1E High Definition Semi-pro camcorder. .. Is there anything Im doing wrong (ie. wrong cable, wrong settings etc) ..

any miniDV/HDV does work with iMovie6..
but those semi-pro-'beasts' do offer zillions of settings well-hidden in their menus..
silly sounding, but: read camera's manual.. 😉

on a consumer camera: connect to power-line/not battery, and switch to 'Play'..

.. a 3.5k€ device with a 20€ edit app .. pffeww.. 😀

"..a standard mini Firewire to 9 pin Firewire cable.."

That 4-pin-to-9-pin FireWire 800 connection usually won't work. You need a 4-pin mini FireWire to 6-pin FireWire 400 (also called DV or i.Link or IEEE1394) cable.

You may find that - if it imports progressive scan at all - iMovie will play any progressive scan recordings at twice the normal speed, as it expects to handle interlaced ( i) video, not progressive ( p) video.

Normal interlaced DV, DVCAM and HDV should be just fine, though.

"..This cable is just a normal one that came with one of my hard drives.."

..That's very odd; a hard drive usually uses a 6-pin-to-6-pin cable, because that carries power as well as data. I've never seen a FireWire hard drive which used only a 4-pin-to-6-pin cable (..and, presumably, a separate power connection). Are you certain that you're not using a USB cable?

"..a proper Ilink cable.." is just another name for exactly the same thing as a 4-pin-to-6-pin FireWire cable. It's also sometimes called a DV cable, or even an IEEE1394 cable, and "i.Link" is simply Sony's own name for exactly the same cable. They come in different lengths, and sometimes a 4-pin-to- 4-pin cable (for a camcorder to a PC is also called an i.Link cable. But you want the 4-pin-to-6-pin version.

It'll look like this:



The small end is the 4-pin (camcorder) end, and the larger end is the 6-pin (Mac) end.

I think that you're using a USB cable (..your camera also has a USB socket..) but that won't work for video; you must use a FireWire cable ..which looks like the picture above.. and NOT a USB cable ..which looks like this:

Well, if it works with iMovie '08 it should certainly work for iMovie HD 6.

I'm not at my editing Mac at the moment, so I can't check some of the differences between the two versions of iMovie. But perhaps you can 'reset' iMovie HD 6 by using the Finder on your Mac to go to the following folder: <your Home folder>/Library/Preferences and then remove the file called "com.apple.iMovie.plist" and put it in the Trash.

(..The next time you start iMovie Hd 6 it'll rebuild this preference file, so don't worry..)

It might also be that you have some QuickTime plug-in which is interfering with capture from the camcorder, so check in the folder called <the name of your hard disc>/Library/QuickTime. You should see "AppleIntermediateCodec.component" there. But if there are any other weird codecs, temporarily remove them to somewhere else, then restart the Mac.

Early versions of 'Flip4Mac' (..a plug-in to allow QuickTime to play back Windows files..) can interfere with QuickTime and iMovie, as can some others.

Apart from those items, I can't think why your Sony can import into iM'08 but not into iMHD6.

Sonys are usually well-behaved and work perfectly with iMovie ..especially as yours is a tape-based DV/DVCAM/HDV model, and that's what iMovie was designed for!

The only thing which may make your camera incompatible with iMHD6 is that iMovie 6 may not properly import any progressive footage you may have shot, but it should work perfectly with normal DV, with DVCAM and with HDV.

But make sure that you select the correct kind of new project before trying to import: when creating a new project, click on the little right-pointing triangle next to 'Video format'..



..and then choose the correct type of project for the material you've shot:



(..Note that you should choose DV or DV Widescreen - depending whether it's 4:3 or 16:9 shape - for material shot in DVCAM mode. DVCAM is identical to normal DV, except that the tape runs faster through the camera to produce wider tracks on the tape, making the recordings more robust and more compatible with other hardware ..as 'professional' material is usually edited on different machines from the ones which actually shot the video..)

And as you've got an 'E' version (European) camera, make sure that you choose the correct frame rate in your iMovie Preferences. Your camera shoots at 25fps (PAL) instead of American 29.97fps (NTSC).

See if any of that helps, as you're certain that you've got the correct cable..

So that's a miniDV camera?

Geoff Kirkland wrote:
So that's a miniDV camera?

Google kaputt ..? 😉
e.g. http://www.digitalcamcordernews.com/2006/09/sony-hvr-v1e-hd-digital-camcorder

..and http://www.sony.co.uk/biz/view/ShowContent.action?logicalname=HVR-V1E-Microsite
..and http://www.dvuser.co.uk/content.php?CID=141

Yes, it's a miniDV camcorder, which also shoots normal miniDV at 'DVCAM' (professional) tape speed, for more reliable replay in other machines, and it shoots HDV.

The main difference between that and the FX1 or Z1 is that it also shoots a better version of Sony's 'progressive' (everything in one frame, instead of two interleaved fields) scan.

Otherwise, it's just like any other miniDV camcorder ..plug it into a Mac and iMovie, and it should easily import straight away through a 4-pin-to-6-pin FireWire cable.

No, I did Chrome that.

I get confused when a camera is listed as blah blah blah HD. Does the HD mean High Definition or does that mean Hard Drive (as in record to internal hard drive).

HD usually refers to High Definition; HDD should be 'Hard Disc Drive'. But some people do mix n match those.

(..Sitting at a cafe in Rome, Piazza del Popolo, and writing this on my iPhone. I just can't keep still in one place.. Heaven knows what the roaming charges will be!..)

Glad it worked for you.

"..Are you experienced with Sony HDV cameras?.." ..Yes, ma'am. I use a Sony FX1, and a Sony, erm, what's it called? ..The one-chip HDV camera, now discontinued except for the so-called 'professional' HV1 version ..AV1, was it? No; it's an HC-1, and the 'semi-pro' version is the AV-1, I think.

I also use a Canon XL1H (..is that what it's called?..) HDV camera sometimes. But my beloved's just given me a Sanyo Xacti for my birthday, so I'm fiddling around with that at the moment..

Some specific question you had about Sony HDV camcorders?..

(..P.S: I may not be able to reply immediately, as I'm in the wilds at the moment, without a great internet connection..)