Sony DCR-PC9 connected with Firewire, iMovie not recognizing camera

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19 points

Sony DCR-PC9 connected with Firewire, iMovie not recognizing camera

Hi I need some help.

After getting the answer I needed on a previous post, I went out and purchased a firewire cable for my camera. I picked up the 9pin to 4pin cable as seen here:

http://images.monoprice.com/productlargeimages/35412.jpg

I connected one end to my iMac and the other to my Sony DCR-PC9 Mini-DV camcorder. I turn the camera to the VCR position (this is how I used to transfer in pinnacle studio when on my PC) and the iMAC is not registering the camera. On the videoscreen of the camera it is flashing DV IN, so I am assuming I have it in the right position. I just cant get it to transfer over the video.

Can someone out there please give me some insight on how to get this iMAC and iMovie to recognize the camera? Do I need to reboot the mac, now that I have a cable plugged into that firewire port? Do I need to do something else??

Any info would be greatly appreciated. I have an important video that I must get off this camera.

Thanks so much!!!!!

iMac 24", Mac OS X (10.5.7)

Posted on May 29, 2009 7:54 PM

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Answer 1

May 29, 2009 8:50 PM in response to Parisi2274

What you want your camera to say is DV Out. DV in would be if you wanted to record something on your camera through the firewire cable.

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Answer 2

Parisi2274 Author

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19 points

May 29, 2009 10:09 PM in response to AppleMan1958

I thought I had put it into DV OUT Mode, but it still says DV IN. I was speaking with Sony support and the tech person said that DV OUT would be if I wanted to connect it to a TV, and that since its connected to a mac, it needs to say DV IN (Which makes no sense to me).

Its weird, because when I connect the camera to the mac, I dont even see it listed in my System profile under firewire.

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Answer 3

May 30, 2009 5:05 AM in response to Parisi2274

I have a sony and it does not have a DV In, but it has a A/V->DV Out which has two settings, Off and On. You use Off if you want analog signals out, and you choose On if you want digital (firewire) signals out. But my Sony may be a lot older than yours.

However, you can eliminate the other possible causes one at a time.

1) Is it a bad firewire controller on your Mac? Connect a firewire device that is known to be good and see if it registers. A hard disk, another camera, etc.
2) Is it a bad firewire controller on your camera? Hook your camera up to a different Mac and see if it works. If you are near an Apple Store, you could make an appointment at the Genius bar.
3) Is it a bad cable? Find a cable that is known to work and try it.

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Answer 4

Parisi2274 Author

Level 1

19 points

May 30, 2009 7:07 AM in response to AppleMan1958

Thanks AppleMan...

1. I only own one firewire device and that is this Sony camcorder.
2. I only own one mac. What I am going to do is take the camera and the cable to my nearest Apple store and try it on one of their iMac machines.
3. I just purchased the cable from monoprice and the only other firewire cable I own is a Firewire 400 cable, so the connector for the mac end is different.

I am going to go to an Apple store and try the camera with my cable on a mac there, then I am going to see if they will allow me to open a belkin cable and use that to see if its my cable. In regards to #1, I might have to ask a friend to borrow his camcorder to see if its something with my camera.

I will update this thread when I get more info.

Thanks

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Answer 5

kooshman

Level 1

0 points

Jun 5, 2009 7:53 PM in response to Parisi2274

Hi,

I have the same issue with my sony dcr-pc9 on the newly purchased mac mini. iMovie says there's no camera connected. Wonder if anyone got this to work. Really appreciate your help.

Thanks.

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Answer 6

Calce

Level 1

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Jun 6, 2009 10:21 AM in response to Parisi2274

I have the same issue with USB linking a Sony DCR-SR290...
in iPhoto it shows up, but does not import any MPG

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Answer 7

anninA2

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Jun 6, 2009 11:54 AM in response to Parisi2274

I have a Sony DCR-HC85 mini DV camcorder. Since I updated my iMac to iLife 09, the camera will not connect with my computer. It does not recognize it at all. Before the update, everything was working fine. Since I have videos on cassettes that I would like to use, I need to be able to upload them to iMovie. I took the camera and iMac to the Apple Store for a One on One appointment. The man who helped me tried to connect to the store's computer, tried different cables, etc. He finally said it was the camer's fault and that I would have to buy a different camera or DVD player to get at my videos on the cassettes. C'mon, there must be some other way I can access my camera. It's not THAT old! Help!

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Answer 8

Jun 14, 2009 9:18 PM in response to anninA2

I too have a Sony DCR-HC85... I just got an iMac 24" and was surprised to see that iMovie is not recognizing the camcorder. I would hate to have to connect this to my PC just to get the movies from the cassette. Is there another way I can test the connection? I specifically bought the iMac for this purpose and would be disappointed if the latest iMac couldn't handle this camcorder.

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Answer 9

Jun 17, 2009 5:15 PM in response to sasaldivar

GO FIGURE... As luck would have it, I bought a new cable and iMovie works! Strange because the cable that won't work with iMovie works with my external HDDs!!! Oh well, at least I'm happy now...

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Answer 10

LF4

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Aug 13, 2009 2:32 PM in response to sasaldivar

What did you end up doing and buying that worked?

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Answer 11

TripL

Level 1

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Aug 17, 2009 7:25 PM in response to Parisi2274

Parisi2274,

I have a Sony DCR-PC9 NTSC and could not get my IMac to recognize the camera. What did you end up doing after you took your video camera to the Apple store and how successful were you in getting a result?

Thanks,

TripL

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