iMovie support for a Sony Digital 8

Is it plugged in? Will not work on batteries only.

I have a Macbook Pro and am trying to import video from a Sony DCR-TRV130 Digital 8 camcorder using iMovie. I've done successfully this a few times already. Suddenly iMovie no longer sees my Sony. But I did do it a few times before it stopped working. I'm pretty frustrated because this is the primary reason I bought this Macbook Pro!

I "think" that I read somewhere recently that the newest iMovie no longer supports or allows importing from either Digital 8 or Hi-8, I forget which. Anyone hear anything like this? I'm trying to find that post.

I successfully import into iMovie 09 from a digital 8 Sony DCR-TRV350, which I got off e-bay to read my old analog 8mm tapes. It's a "bridge" camera capable of dealing with either analog or digital tape.

Anyway, I recall that it can be tricky to set the CAMERA to put out a signal that iMovie will see. It needs to be in tape mode, not memory card mode, and you cannot use the "USB streaming" feature - iMovie needs to see a firewire connection for importing from a tape-based camera.

I have a Sony Digital 8 camcorder and it works great, although to import analog tapes I have to switch the camcorder to "analog mode only" rather than "auto" in order for video to appear in iMovie. But in any case the camcorder itself is always recognized. I have the latest version of iMovie '09.

Have you tried testing it with iMovie HD 6? If it doesn't work there either, perhaps your camcorder is broken somehow...

AppleMan1958 wrote:
Is it plugged in? Will not work on batteries only.

?? Mine works fine, as long as the battery will play the tape. Camera playing = full capabilities.