Imac does not recognize my mini dv camcorder?

mcintoshmc wrote:
My imac does not recognize my mini dv camcorder....any suggestions?

Hi,

first suggestion would be:

provide more informations, like model and maker of the camcorder; which connection do you used; which iMac do you have etc.

Stefan

Hi,

I am not familiar with that specific camcorder, so only general advices:

- Make sure the camcorder is not running on batteries, but running on AC power.
- Connect it directly to your iMac, do not use a hub or connection through another firewire device (harddisk) - known as 'daisy-chain'
- Try another firewire cable in case the one you use is defect
- Try the camcorder on another computer to rule out defect of the firewire connector of the camcorder

Regards

Stefan

Canon camcorders and Macs have a habit of not connecting unless all other firewire devices are disconnected (not just dismounted from the desktop but actually off). I had this problem with my Canon Optura 50. Try turning off any other firewire devices. If you have no others, ????

The same thing is happening to me. I used to import all my footage via firewire into iMovie. Now I've moved up to a new iMac and FCP 7 and it won't recognize both DV cameras -not even iMovie.

I've tried 2 separate cables and 2 different cameras with no luck. Seems it's something in the OS that broke old Firewire DV?

Of course, the day I have a lot of time to get started importing old tapes, and this throws a monkey-wrench into it.

Anyone find a solution to this yet? I'm using the Canon ZR80 on a new iMac v10.6.2. I've connected with an 800-400 adapter and then a 400 cable.

Is the Canon ZR80 the only device on the Firewire bus? Is the camcorder powered by its own power supply? I don't know if it is helpful, but I use only one cable that connects to my Canon HV20 FW400 mini port on one end and the other end connects directly to the FW800 port; so I'm not using an adapter.

I have yet to test this on my i7 iMac but I should be doing that in the next day or two to verify it works. Sorry I cannot test immediately because I am running a very long job on the FW external drive so my FW800 port is busy. I don't want to risk causing a problem on the FW800 disk so I am not going to daisy-chain my camera to the external disk until after I have verified the camera connects correctly as the only FW device on the bus.

I have the same problem as the earlier person. I have a Canon HV20 connected to the fall 09 series iMac. The imac doesn't recognize the video camera (not just imovie -- i checked system profiler as well). I am hoping the issue is the cable adapter I am using - FW800 to FW400 and then another FW400 to FW400 into the camcorder...

Krafty: "I have a Canon HV20 connected to the fall 09 series iMac. The imac doesn't recognize the video camera..."

Presumably everything works though on the Mac mini. When you connect the Canon HV20 camcorder to the iMac, is the camcorder running off its own power supply? Are there any other FW devices connected at that time? I still cannot do my own test on the iMac for a couple of days but I never had any problem connecting the HV20 to the old Power Mac so I expect it will work. Surely the technology advances, not regresses!

I haven't tried this on my mac mini as its my media center machine in the other room. There are no other firewire devices connected, the hv20 is connected to power, I've tried plugging and unplugging...no go. I can only guess that its this adapter that somehow is the culprit. Others seem to be fine but I am making no progress. To make things worse, it seems that a 9 pin to 4 pin cable is an uncommon commodity here in the Vancouver area. What a hassle. Just converted from PC to Mac and thought all of this tedium was behind me...

Krafty: "it seems that a 9 pin to 4 pin cable is an uncommon commodity here in the Vancouver area"

Sorry I do not recall where my cable came from; probably was one of the Apple Resellers. I would think Best Buy or Future Shop would have these too. Good luck with that.

Just adding another view here, not very helpful though, more of a 'mee too'

I've a Canon MV750i with firewire cable

Plug it into my pc and windows opens the 'import video dialogue'

On my new imac, nothing happens and it can't be seen by FCE, it doesn't pop up onto the desktop etc

If I click on the apple, then About this mac, then more info, I can see the Camera listed under firewire

but can't see any way of importing video

Mine does.

This was my experience - I have an old Sony DCR PC101, almost 12 years old. Using a firewire 400 4 pin to firewire 800 9 pin cable I got off of Amazon http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000VEOIDK/ref=ossT15product
Initially would open iMovie and put the camera into VCR mode. Would recognize but not record on the computer initially - after a restart, works fine. Hope you get it working.

Ben

Wow, this is something I did not know. I have a Samsung Mini DV Camcorder & the only way I can trick iMovie into recognizing it with my current Mac Mini Setup, is to flash from Camera Mode to VTR Mode and Press Play Immediately. This needs to be done quickly & I guess it is a Hack I found on a Forum, which is annoying but once it shows up, all is fine. Of course NOW I'm getting a new iMac for Christmas & forgot that I will only have the Firewire 800 Port. I planned to use that FW800 for my MyBook HD using a FW400 to FW800 Cable I just bought. But now I'd have to Daisy Chain the Mini Dv Cam off of the back of the MyBook. That may not work since the MyBook is where all my iMovie Video is Captured to. Even before I read this Post, I should have thought about this dilemma. But now after reading this, I am twice as worried & nervous.

Dino1956 wrote:
Wow, this is something I did not know. I have a Samsung Mini DV Camcorder & the only way I can trick iMovie into recognizing it with my current Mac Mini Setup, is to flash from Camera Mode to VTR Mode and Press Play Immediately. This needs to be done quickly & I guess it is a Hack I found on a Forum, which is annoying but once it shows up, all is fine. Of course NOW I'm getting a new iMac for Christmas & forgot that I will only have the Firewire 800 Port. I planned to use that FW800 for my MyBook HD using a FW400 to FW800 Cable I just bought. But now I'd have to Daisy Chain the Mini Dv Cam off of the back of the MyBook. That may not work since the MyBook is where all my iMovie Video is Captured to. Even before I read this Post, I should have thought about this dilemma. But now after reading this, I am twice as worried & nervous.

I know others have said to avoid hubs, but I can't help thinking: would a hub help?