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I have connected my Sony DCR TRV-22 camcorder using an iLink cable and adapter to my 2017 MacBook Pro USB-C port. The camera's memory stick appears in Finder, but the DV tape does not show up in Finder or iMovie. How do I access the DV tapes? Thank you.
Hi, TTMT,
Importing from tape can be a bit hit or miss with iMovie 10. Review your owner's manual that contains instructions on how to transfer digital tape to your Mac. It requires a standard fire wire to USB connection to the Mac. A USB-c port I believe is Thunderbird 3. Not quite sure whether it adapts to a standard USB. The owner's manual also says that a USB driver needs to be downloaded from the CD-ROM that came with the camera. I don't know if that still is necessary with the newer Macs.
Also, here's Apples help instruction on how to import from a digital tape recorder. You might want to review it as a checklist.
https://help.apple.com/imovie/mac/10.1/#/mov6af9c94c1
You might try starting the tape running before doing the import, as sometimes that triggers recognition. Another thing that frequently causes problems is the adapter used or a faulty cable. You might try changing out the adapter to use Apple's if that's your situation.
-- Rich
Hi, TTMT,
Importing from tape can be a bit hit or miss with iMovie 10. Review your owner's manual that contains instructions on how to transfer digital tape to your Mac. It requires a standard fire wire to USB connection to the Mac. A USB-c port I believe is Thunderbird 3. Not quite sure whether it adapts to a standard USB. The owner's manual also says that a USB driver needs to be downloaded from the CD-ROM that came with the camera. I don't know if that still is necessary with the newer Macs.
Also, here's Apples help instruction on how to import from a digital tape recorder. You might want to review it as a checklist.
https://help.apple.com/imovie/mac/10.1/#/mov6af9c94c1
You might try starting the tape running before doing the import, as sometimes that triggers recognition. Another thing that frequently causes problems is the adapter used or a faulty cable. You might try changing out the adapter to use Apple's if that's your situation.
-- Rich
The cables that you require are listed in the following link.
The adapter that you refer to would not have been supplied with the camera from new as USBc is a far more recent concept than Mini DV camcorders.
Your USBc 2017 Mac would require the 2 adapters mentioned but your older Mac might only require the one, depending on it's age. Better still if your older Mac has a FireWire 800 port then all you need is the FireWire 800 cable, sometimes referred to as 4 pin FireWire to 9 pin FireWire cable, as in the link.
In any case of course you need the FireWire 800 cable to connect to your camcorder.
In this link the OP refers to VCR tapes (they mean Mini DV tapes) and also FCPX but the cables are the same for iMovie.
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/251304950
And yes you may have more success with an older version of iMovie on an older Mac with older OS.
Thank you very much. I'll take a look at the link. I believe the cable and adapter are those provided with the camera and specified in Sony instructions. Turning on the camera doesn't work.
I have an older Macbook Pro, so I'll try that, too.
Again, thank you so much.
You are welcome.
If your older MacBook Pro works with iMovie 9, you might have more success importing into iMovie 9. Then you can export out and import into iMovie 10.
-- Rich
Transfer Sony mini DV tapes to MacBook Pro
