Sony HDV camera and iLink Conversion

Mmm, yes; sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't.

The program does continue to see an HDV camcorder ..I'm just trying to think.. Ahh! I think I remember (..though I'll test this tomorrow..)

As far as I remember, the trick is to put a clip of standard-def DV at the start of your project ..you could copy it across from some other project and drop it in at the start.

Connect the camera, then play that scrap of DV, and then start importing. That should "kick start" iMovie into realising that it can accept the DV that's coming down the cable from the camera, even though the camera identifies itself as HDV.

More tomorrow..

Mm, that was the answer. I just tried it.

Create a new project as DV Widescreen:



Click the little arrowhead alongside "Video format" and choose 'DV Widescreen'..



DON'T plug in - or if plugged in, don't turn on - the camera yet.

In this new project, import a known DV widescreen clip from your hard disc and place it at the start of the project and play it. If you don't have such a clip on your Mac, import a bit of widescreen DV - not HDV - from a camcorder. This lets iMovie know that this really IS a DV widescreen project. Now connect the HDV camcorder, with HDV>DV "down-conversion" selected in the camera's menu.



The letters HD should now NOT appear below iMovie's playback window, even though iMovie will sense that it's an HDV camcorder ..it'll now ignore the HD info.

Now press Play on the camcorder and click the Import button onscreen. iMovie will now import the down-converted HDV as the DV stream which is being sent from the camcorder.

Works for me with a Sony FX1 and HC1 (same as the A1)..

..NOTE that if you import a normal DV clip, instead of a DV widescreen clip, the down-converted HDV may be imported as squeezed 4x3 shape ..because iMovie takes its cue from the first clip in the project and shapes everything else to match ..so the choice of first clip can override the choice you made when you select the type of project when you create the project:

If the tone & bars clip was generated as 4:3 then it'll probably appear as 4:3 in iMovie. Even if it was generated as 16:9 in FCP (Final Cut Pro) then it may appear as 4:3 in iMovie if (a) FCP hasn't set the widescreen 'flag' (setting) in the clip and Saved it as widescreen, or (b) if you imported it into an iMovie project which had a 4:3 clip at its start.

If you have QuickTime Pro (..you can download a $29.99 'key' from here* which turns QT into QT Pro..) you can easily resize any QT .mov clip to any dimensions you want ..e.g; to 16:9 from 4:3:



..you simply type new pixel numbers into the relevant boxes. (Bob Whatsisname used to have a tutorial on this; the elements are still the same, but in newer versions of QuickTime some of the menu items have been moved to different positions from those in his video here.)

..Or see the QT Pro Tutorials here.

If you have iMovie '08, and if your first clip in an iM08 project is a DV Widescreen clip, then when you drag in a 4:3 clip - such as your bars and tone - that'll be automatically cropped to 16:9. Then just Save it and Export it as 16:9 to use in iMHD6.

For example, here's a 4:3 clip:



..dropped into an iM08 project which has as its first clip a 16:9 clip, and is set up as a 16:9 project, whereupon the 4:3 clip above is immediately cropped to 16:9..



..Simplest way of doing it, if you have iM08.

It's a while since I've used FCP HD (..iMovie can usually do everything which I want..) but I'll see if I have a few moments free today to do it for you and post the results ..or - you'll probably get a quicker response! - just post your question (..about ensuring that your bars and tone are exported as 16:9..) in the FCP Discussions!

(..NOTE* BEWARE of sites found via Google which offer a QuickTime download ..these usually contain viruses, spyware etc whose aim is to hi-jack PCs, and possibly Macs too..)