i have sony dcr-trv330 camcorder. i used to be able to download my movies with a firewire connection, to iMovie, but no longer. is there any way this connection can be re-established? i use a mac mini (late 2014).
From your post it appears that you are not getting a connection (i.e, no camera recognition), rather than getting recognition but not able to get it importing. Correct?
Camera recognition problems are often caused by issues with the cable, adapters, or Mac socket. Are they all Apple cables and adapters? Possibly you may need to change them out. Check your cable connections and make sure they are all tight. If you have another Mac handy, see if they work on another Mac. Also, try starting your camcorder to see if you can trigger recognition.
Try connecting a different camera or camcorder and see if it gets recognized. If recognition is established, that would show that the cable connections are O.K.
If still no luck, try importing into the QuickTimePlayer app on your Mac. Plug in your camcorder, open QuickTimePlayer, and do a File/New Movie recording. Beside the red recording dot you will see a little v symbol. Click on that and it should show your camcorder as an external camera option. If it is recognized, select the external camera. Then start your camcorder and click on QuickTime's red record button. You may need to start your camcorder to trigger recognition.
If none of the above helps, follow thesurreyfriends' good advice. More knowledgeable than I about camcorder imports.
-- Rich
-- Rich
From your post it appears that you are not getting a connection (i.e, no camera recognition), rather than getting recognition but not able to get it importing. Correct?
Camera recognition problems are often caused by issues with the cable, adapters, or Mac socket. Are they all Apple cables and adapters? Possibly you may need to change them out. Check your cable connections and make sure they are all tight. If you have another Mac handy, see if they work on another Mac. Also, try starting your camcorder to see if you can trigger recognition.
Try connecting a different camera or camcorder and see if it gets recognized. If recognition is established, that would show that the cable connections are O.K.
If still no luck, try importing into the QuickTimePlayer app on your Mac. Plug in your camcorder, open QuickTimePlayer, and do a File/New Movie recording. Beside the red recording dot you will see a little v symbol. Click on that and it should show your camcorder as an external camera option. If it is recognized, select the external camera. Then start your camcorder and click on QuickTime's red record button. You may need to start your camcorder to trigger recognition.
If none of the above helps, follow thesurreyfriends' good advice. More knowledgeable than I about camcorder imports.
-- Rich
-- Rich
Yes the method you describe above is going through several levels of conversion.
First the camcorder is converting the digital signal on the tape into an analog signal out of the RCA connectors.
Then your capture card is converting this analog back to digital and then you are converting this to a Mac compatible file.
As you no doubt know the method you used successfully with the FireWire cable plus adapter ,some time previously, was a direct copy of what was on the tape, hence a big difference in quality.
Unfortunately a FireWire to USB adapter will not work for what you want to do here.
Have you tried capturing with QuickTime Player as mentioned by Rich?
Also Rich asked if your Cam' was recognised by iMovie .
Is it recognised but just won't import. Details would help.
What version of iMovie and what OS are you using now.
Can you remember what iMovie version and what OS you used when it worked before.?
Give QT Player a try.This sometimes works where iMovie may not on newer hardware and/or OS.
Rich has covered it above but here is the link from Apple.
https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/quicktime-player/qtp356b55534/mac
Read the details in the link but the main points are covered in this screen shot from the link.
I have a late 2015 iMac which has the same Thunderbolt ports as your Mini and I had the same problem as you when I bought it some years ago in that I needed to connect an older Firewire device and an old Camcorder. You can see the Thunderbolt port on this page and the note that it was on the Mac Mini introduced in 2011 through 2014.
You can get this adapter which connects with the Firewire 800 cable on one end and the Thunderbolt plug on the other goes into the Mac. The compatibility note for the adapter lists Mac mini (Late 2014).
An added complication for me was that I also needed to get a Firewire 400 (6 pin) to Firewire 800 (9 pin) adapter so I had two adapters in sequence. You might have to do the same depending on the camera cable's Firewire type.
This one, which is the same as the one I put above
https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/quicktime-player/qtp356b55534/mac
Let me know if clicking on this link does not take you to the QuickTime Player User Giude
thanks for your suggestion. however, i am still having a problem. i have the adapter you recommend. this is how i did connect my sony dcr-trv330 camcorder to my mac mini(late 2014). it used to work fine. now it does not. apparently updates caused this situation. is there anything you could recommend? thanks for your help.
" it used to work fine. now it does not."
Are you saying it worked fine on your Mac mini or another Mac that only required a FireWire cable and no adaptor?
What version of iMovie and what OS were you using when it did work?
What version of iMovie and what OS are you using now ( where it does not work) ?
Knowing what you had then and have now may help solve this.
here is where i am currently. with the RCA patch cord coming from my camcorder, with a video capture card inline attached to my mac mini by usb, i am able to finally record audio & video. in sound preferences i went to audio input and selected usb and i got sound. then i took my saved file and used a video converter to make a mac compatible file. this i was able to import into iMovie with audio & video. my only problem is the quality of my image is more like vhs standards than something crisper.
in the past i was able to connect my camcorder with cables such as David described to the thunderbolt port on my mac mini(late 2014). however, updates have apparently made that method no longer workable. would it be possible to use my fire wire cable from the fire port on my camera to a usb adapter to connect to my mac mini? if this worked would it give me any better image?
thanks very much for all your assistance.
thanks for such quick responses and offers of assistance. neither finder or iMovie now recognize my camcorder. i currently have version 10.3.1 of iMovie and i am running monterey 12.2. my computer does not have a builtin camera and i don't have an external one. what external camera would you recommend and do you think it would improve my image quality? again thanks to all. i am glad i have at least gotten to the point where i can can at least salvage my old tapes to some degree. the last time i successfully was able to import from my camcorder with the firewire was probably almost 3 years ago. i have no idea as to what software version i was using for my mac or iMovie.
" what external camera would you recommend "
If this is in connection with the suggestion of capturing your tapes with QuickTime Player then the "camera" would be your
Sony 330 camcorder.
Connect your Camcorder to your Mac using the FireWire cable and the adapter that you have used before and follow the instructions in the link .
If you have any questions, come back here.
i have tried to connect my camcorder with the fire wire to my mac mini(late 2014) thunder port. however, iMovie does not connect to my camera. what link did you want me to follow? i don't see one. thanks again.
very good ...
thanks again
i have sony dcr-trv330 camcorder. i used to be able to download my movies with a firewire connection, but no longer. is there any way this connection can be re-established?
