Transferring Mini DV tapes to iMovie on a Mac book pro

Make sure the camera is showing up in the FireWire section as reported by the “System report” of About this Mac in the Apple menu.

if the Sony camera is not being shown in the System report, as hardware currently attached under FireWire, the system software will never see it.

now why it sees one time and not the next is either a problem on the Mac FireWire port, the cable between, or the port on the camera.

See if your system sees any ‘other FireWire ‘ devices, and try not to connect Cam from a FireWire hub or in series with other FireWire devices. Plug cam directly to port on Mac.

Hope this helps. I’ve used the Sony cam in the past

If still no luck, try working through the instructions in this Apple link that discusses the issue of camera non-recognition:

If iMovie doesn't recognize or control your camera or camcorder - Apple Support

-- Rich

It might be that the cable input socket to your Mac is malfunctioning. You could try running the diagnostics program on your Mac to do a hardware check. Here's a link that explains the procedure:

Use Apple Diagnostics to test your Mac - Apple Support

-- Rich

Importing Mini DV tape into iMovie can be a bit hit or miss. It usually works but sometimes it doesn't.

Try rebooting and see if that triggers camera recognition. Sometime unplugging and replugging the connection does it. Also, starting the camera running before beginning the import has been known to work. Check that your connections and adapters (if any) are tight.

-- Rich

Hey, great that you got it working. As I said earlier, importing Mini DV into iMovie can be a bit hit or miss.

-- Rich