Problem with IMovie not recognizing Sony Digital 8 Video camera

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Level 1

8 points

Problem with IMovie not recognizing Sony Digital 8 Video camera

I am trying to connect my Sony DCR-TRV530 Digital video camera to our MacBook so I can edit my old videos using IMovie 11. Unfortunately IMovie does not recognize the camera. I found a posting in the Support Community from a gentleman named Jerry Kaplan who was having the same problem, and indicated that he called Apple Care and got an “Apple software update” which fixed the problem. His posting is from Sep 2011so I’m wondering if rather than an update I would have to get an earlier version of whatever software worked for him back then. I tried calling Apple Care and they were very considerate but insisted instead that I first update my OS to the latest version (Catalina 10.15.7) that is still compatible with our Mac. I love all things Apple (including their very solicitous Support people) but that doesn’t make any sense to me. Why would the latest OS update help me with a problem recognizing an aging video camera? Does anyone out there have any suggestions for me? I really would like to use IMovie to make the most of my nice old videos. Thanks.

MacBook Pro

Posted on May 14, 2021 6:17 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Jan Hedlund

Level 7

23,491 points

May 15, 2021 7:21 AM in response to thaddeus244

Hi,

Which exact MacBook or MacBook Pro model (year) are you using?

Transfers must be carried out using FireWire.

https://www.sony.com/electronics/support/camcorders-and-video-cameras-tape-camcorders/dcr-trv530/articles/00029443

If a computer does not have a FireWire port, a connection may be possible in some cases via one or two (Thunderbolt) adapters.

There have been some reports about problems with transfers through later versions of iMovie. If possible/necessary, you could perhaps borrow an older Mac with a built-in FireWire port, an older operating system, and an appropriate earlier iMovie version.

https://www.sony.com/electronics/support/res/manuals/3065/30652621M.pdf

iMovie for macOS supported cameras - Apple Support (in fine):

"iMovie works with most mini DV tape-based camcorders using DV and HDV formats. Use FireWire port for tape-based devices."

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Answer 2

thaddeus244 Author

Level 1

8 points

May 16, 2021 10:30 AM in response to Jan Hedlund

The Thanks for getting back to me so quickly. We have a MacBook Pro mid 2012. Our OS is Mojave 10.14.6. It does have a FireWire port and that’s what I am trying to use to connect it to our Sony camera. As you may have noted my DCR TRV 530 is not listed as one of the cameras supported by IMovie... that is why I was pleased to find the Support note I mentioned above, which seemed to confirm that there was a way around that “problem” even for “unsupported” cameras, (wish I knew what that was.) I will keep pursuing the Apple Care support folks to see what other recommendations they have beyond updating to Catalina. Thanks again.

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Answer 3

May 16, 2021 11:11 AM in response to thaddeus244

You can ignore anything Apple says about "supported" cameras.

Virtually every camcorder made will work with iMovie but there is no way Apple can test all the many thousands of different models that exist. So they just test a comparative handful which is really a waste of time.

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Problem with IMovie not recognizing Sony Digital 8 Video camera

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