I have an Everio GZ-MG330 camera and when I connect it via USB, and set it to "playback from PC", iMovie doesn't respond to it, iPhoto launches (???), and the camera shows up as a device in Finder. Also, when I open the camera import window, all I get is the iSight camera. I've tried different combinations of connecting, turning on camera, etc. Does anybody know why this is happening, and how I can get iMovie to import from this camcorder?
You must first open iMovie, then plug the camera (set to playback on PC) in via USB. iMovie will come up with a screen filled with you movies thumbnails giving you an option to choose the movies to import.
You can turn off iPhoto from opening when you attach a camera by going into iPhoto > Preferences > General and un-checking "Connecting camera opens > iPhoto" - choose instead 'no application'.
If you cannot get iMovie to import directly and your camera shows up on the desktop as an external device then just copy/paste your video files onto your desktop or into a new folder on your desktop then eject your camera and open iMovie.
In iMovie click on File > Import > Movies... and then navigate to your video files on your desktop.
You will be able to import them that way.
Z.
Your GZ-MG330 is designed to work very nicely with iMovie '09. No file conversion of any kind is needed, and there is no special software you need to install. Here is all you need to do:
1. Connect the GZ-MG330 via USB
2. At this point you will see a USB menu on the camcorder screen. Choose "Playback on PC".
3. Next, you need to launch iMovie '09. On some Macs, iPhoto may launch. If this is the case, simply close iPhoto, and launch iMovie '09. You can also follow the suggestion from Zyfert above to keep iPhoto from launching automatically.
4. Next, choose to import from camera and then you should see a series of icons showing each video recording on your camcorder. You can either import everything, or select manually the scenes that you want.
It should be this easy. If this does not solve your problem, I would recommend taking the camcorder to the dealer where you purchased your Mac, and try it out there using one of their demo Macs & iMovie.
If the camcorder works as described on the Mac in the store, then you know that there is a configuration issue on your Mac. If the camcorder does not work, then either the camcorder or the cable is bad. If you have a spare USB cable you can try, that might be a good idea too, although bad USB cables are pretty rare.
I hope this helps.
Chris
p.s. Please note that I have not been successful following the other suggestion from Zyfert in the post above on this thread. I have not been able to take .mod files and copy them to the desk top, and then import them. I have done this with some other file formats, but not with .mod. Just my personal experience.
Hi there, I need some help. I also have a jvc gz-mg630 camera. I can get iMovie 09 to recognize the camera when attached but when it imports the files it says "generating poster images", the import window is open but I cannot see any thumbnails (there are blank thumbnails that appear) and when I import no movies go into the event folder that I created. The camera and cable import fine on a PC but I want to use my Mac.
I have a JVC GZ-HM550 and at first I couldn't get iMovie 09 to read the files. Here's what I had to do.
1. Plug in via USB (just close iPhoto if it pops up) The Mac will show up as a new disk mount in Finder.
2. Open iMovie and select File > Import > Camera Archive
3. Select the Everio disk mount and click import.
It will import the photos.
Note: don't go looking in the subfolder for the actual MTS files. Just import the camera from the root disk mount folder.
I believe "Generating Poster Images" is just iMovie's way of saying that it is creating a thumbnail image of every file it finds on your camcorder.
You should also be able to select one of the thumbnails and do a preview playback right from the import window. The only reason it should show up blank (or black) is if that was what was recorded at the start of the scene.
If possible, I would encourage you to try it on a different Mac.
The GZ-HM550 records high definition video in the AVCHD format. Please make sure that your Mac has an Intel processor. That is required to work with AVCHD.
If you have the Intel processor, it should be no different than using any other JVC Everio.
