OS X does not see my Sony DCR-PC110 video camera?

The current Easy Setup may not be a DV selection.

Change the Easy Setup to a DV choice that matches the footage from the camera, PAL/NTSC, 12 or 16 bit audio that will match 32 or 48kHz respectively and 4:3 or 16:9 aspect ratio (anamorphic)

Then try again.
Also check View>Video Out>Refresh Video Devices.

Al

Hi

As I see it - it should work.

See my list (most should apply)

*NO CAMERA or A/D-box*

Cable
• Sure that You use the FireWire - USB will not work for miniDV tape Cameras
FireWire - Sure not using the accompany USB-Cable but bought a 4-pin to 6-pin FW one ?
• Test another FW-Cable very often the problem maker.

Camera
• Test Your Camera on another Mac so that DV-in still works OK
• Toogle in iMovie pref. Play-back via Camera (on<->off some times)
• Some Cameras has a Menu where You must select DV-out to get it to work

Does Your Camera work on another Mac ?
Sorry to say it is to easy to turn the 6-pin end of the FW-cable 180 deg wrong.
This is lethal to the A/D-chip in the Camera = needs an expensive repair.
(Hard to find out - else than import/export to another Mac ceased to work
everything else is OK eg recording and playback to TV)

Connections
• Daisy Chaining most often doesn’t work (some unique cases - it’s the only way that work (some Canon Cameras ?))
Try to avoid connecting Camera <--> external HD <--> Mac but import directly to the Mac then move
the Movie project to dedicated external hard disk.

Mac
• Free space on internal (start-up) hard disk ? Please specify the amount of free space.
(Other hard disks don't count)
I go for a minmum of 25Gb free space for 4x3 SD Video - and my guess is 5 times more for 16x9 HD ones
after material is imported and edited.

SoftWare
• Delete iMovie pref file may help sometimes. I rather start a new account, log into this and have a re-try.
• Any strange Plug-ins into QuickTime as Perian etc ? Remove and try again.
• FileVault is off ? (hopefully)

Using WHAT versions ? .
• Mac OS - X.5.4 ?
• QuickTime version ? (This is the heart in both iMovie and FinalCut)
• iMovie 8 (7.1.?) ?
• iMovie HD 6 (6.0.4/3) ?

*Other ways to import Your miniDV tape*
• Use another Camera. There where tape play-back stations from SONY
but they costed about 2-4 times a normal miniDV Camera.
• If Your Camera works on another Mac. Make an iMovie movie project here and move it
over to Your Mac via an external hard disk.
(HAS TO BE Mac OS Extended formatted - USB/DOS/FAT32/Mac OS Exchange WILL NOT DO)
(Should be a FireWire one - USB/USB2 performs badly)


from LKN 1935.
Hi Bengt W, I tried it all, but nothing worked. Your answer has been helpfull insofar as all the different trials led to the conclusion that there was something wrong with my iMovie software. I therefore threw everything away and reinstalled iMovie from the HD. After that the exportation of DV videos (there has not been any problem with HDV videos) to my Sony camcorders worked properly as it did before. Thank you. LKN 1935


from Karsten.
in addition to Bengt's excellent '9 yards of advice' .. 😉

camera set to 'Play' , not rec/computer/etc.?
camera not on battery, but power-line?
did your Mac 'recognize' this camera before...?

a technical check.
connect camera, on, playback, fw-connected...
click on the Blue Apple, upper left of your screen ..
choose 'About../More..
under Firewire.. what do you read..?

More
• FileVault - Secure that it’s turned off
• Network storage - DOESN’T WORK
• Where did You store/capture/import Your project ?
External USB hard disk = Bad Choise / FireWire = Good
If so it has to be Mac OS Extended formatted
----> UNIX/DOS/FAT32/Mac OS Exchange is NOT Working for VIDEO !

mbolander
Thanks for all your suggestions. What I learned is that I had a software problem. I had something called "Nikon Transfer" on my Mac that was recognizing my Canon camcorder as a still camera and was preventing iMovie from working properly. After uninstalling Nikon Transfer and doing a reboot, everything worked great.

I never liked the Nikon Transfer software anyway--I guess I'll get a cheap card reader and use that to transfer photos in the future.

*No Camera or bad import*
• USB hard disk
• Network storage
• File Vault is on

jiggaman15dg wrote

if you have adobe cs3 or 4 and have the adobe bridge on close that
or no firewire will work
see if that halps

DJ1249 wrote

The problem was the external backup hard drive that is connected, you need to disconect the external drive before the mac can see the video camera.

Yours Bengt W

Have the cable and sockets been double checked?
Settings seem OK.

Al

Hi

Not teasing - but just to be very clear.

It is the FW-cable (my PC-330 came with an USB-Cable = Will not work)

This FW-Cable has to be bought separately.

Sometimes the most obvious can be the culprit.

Yours Bengt W

Are there any other devices connected? A lot of people seem to be having problems with these cables.

Ozzie,

There have been some reports of the newer FW800-only Macs not seeing miniDV camcorders when they are connected. Try this and let us know if it fixes the situation -

• Shut down your Mac and all peripherals connected to it (camcorder, external hard drives, scanners, iPod, etc.)
• Disconnect your Mac from power. (Turn off the power strip, or disconnect the power cable to your Mac - the FW ports in your Mac are live whenever your Mac is connected to power, even if your Mac is shut down.
• After disconnecting power, disconnect all FW devices from your Mac. Then wait a few minutes.

• Place a tape in your camcorder and turn it on in VTR mode.
• Make sure the camcorder's menu setting for AV-DV OUT is OFF
• Then turn your camera off.
• Connect your camcorder to your Mac via your 4-pin to 9-pin FW cable. Make sure your camcorder is the only FW device connected to your Mac.
• Reconnect power to your Mac
• Turn on your camera in VTR mode.
• Restart your Mac. Log in to your account.
• Go to +Apple > About This Mac > More Info > Hardware > Firewire.+ Does system profiler show your camcorder?
• Exit System Profiler.
• Start FCE. Does FCE see your camera when it starts up? Or do you get an error message?

Ozzie,
You need to follow the sequence of actions as written. Your note indicates you did the steps in a somewhat different order. The order matters.

Also, did you verify the AV-DV OUT setting in your camcorder setup menu?

Second, if possible, take your camera & FW cable to the Apple store and try it out there on one of their Macs.

The purpose of these steps is to localize exactly where the problem is by eliminating the more common issues. (My guess is that it's the FW cable - even new cables can be bad - or the FW port in your camera, but I don't want to just jump to that conclusion. You need to check & test things.)

Take your Mac, camera and cable along to the store to try isolate the problem. The Apple people will be able to try a few configurations to try fire it up.

Firewire boards can burn out from hot swapping, this may be a slim possibility!!!

FWIW: A few users (you are not the only one) have had similar trouble with newer Macs and FW800.
At this stage it's not known if this is just a fluke or if a problem really exists somewhere.

The Apple Store guys might nail something on the matter.

Al