Old Sony Handycam Not Recognized

Click /About This Mac/More Info.../FireWire and see if the Mac sees the camera.

I just set my camera to playback mode and it worked. There is a mode where you can record from another device onto the camera, (DV In, maybe). You do not want that.

I think it is highly likely that the cable is the issue.
The other options are a bad FW port on your Mac or a bad FW port on your camera. These are much less likely and much more expensive to fix (unless under warranty). So I would try a new cable. If you Google "Firewire Cable 9 pin to 4 pin" you will see a lot of options.

Better still, if you have a friend with a cable that is known to work, try that.

Message was edited by: AppleMan1958

I agree with others who suspect the cable as the issue. I'm also using the Sony TRV-230 to move old tapes onto my Mac and despite it's age, it was immediately recognized by iMovie when I first tried it last weekend. Needless to say, I was impressed that my old hardware wasn't obsolete - regular 8mm, Hi8 and Digital8 all worked fine!

KWO

Funny...or just frustrating.

I just got a Sony DCRTRV320 for the same reason, and ran into the same problem you are/were having. The computer simply does not recognize the camcorder. In iMovie or FCE. I bought the same Dynex cable you were using.

Did you find that it was the cable or the camcorder? That would be very helpful to know. Thanks!

Hi

May be You find help here

*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
• Camera connected to "charger" (mains adaptor) - not just on battery

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

OK so you have proved that you have a good camera and a good cable. It must be something on your iMac. I would recommend that you call Apple (at the Contact Us number at the bottom right of this page), but what they will probably have you do is reinstall iMovie, reinstall OSX, and if those steps do not work, bring the computer in to an Apple Store for hardware diagnostics. I would call them and let them walk you through it so you don't have to reinstall something unnecessarily.

If you had a laptop, there might be a power saving feature that turns off the Firewire, but on a desktop, the FW should be on all the time.

Hi

You need a FireWire-Cable

on Camera it use to be a 4-pin connector

on Mac there should be a FW400 (6-pin) and/or FW800 (9-pin) connector
(Some Macs don't have a FW-port ===> Can't be used - near no way around)

FireWire - are/is also called
• Digital in/out - FireWire (Apple) - IEEE 1394 - i.Link (SONY) - DV Terminal (by Panasonic)

Yours Bengt W

Not according to it's Manual

Top
• S-video connector
• RCA - Video out
• RCA - 2x Analog out

AND

Under this a small Squarich connector iDV in/out - THIS IS FireWire (4-pin) !

Yours Bengt W

I have the Sony DCR-TRV230 (similar) and it works. Is it plugged in? This will not work on battery power, because of going from 9 pins to 4 pins. Also, you said 8 pins, but I assume you meant 9 pins.

Would you tell me exactly what cable is needed? I have DCR-TRV315 Handycam Digital8 which I am trying to load into iMovie. It appears that there is an S video cable on the Handycam. Thanks.

Thanks - even though it is a digital8 Handyman, I guess it is too old because the only outputs I can find are an S cable and the component videos.