iMovie HD and Sony HDR-FX1

Hi Andy:

Welcome to the discussions!
looks like there are several folks out there with the same problem. look at these links:

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=1191326&#1191326


Fix for Final Cut may help you ...

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=1063600&#1063600

Sue

Today, I tried a different FireWIre port on my PowerMac G5, and importing from my Sony HDR-HC1 1080i camcorder is now working.

A few months ago, after purchasing my PowerMac G5, I added a non-Apple 3 x FireWire 400 PCI card for extra connectivity. It was when I plugged into one of these ports today that importing began to work.

My earlier unsuccesful attempts to import had been through the FireWire 400 port on the front of the CPU, which had worked fine for importing from my regular def Sony VX-1000.

FYI, I also tried importing through the FireWIre 800 port on the back of the CPU, using a 9 pin FireWire 800 to 4 pin FireWire 400 cable, which delivered the same earlier results (i.e. iMovie HD saw and mechanically controlled the camera, but would not import).

Prior to arriving at this fix, over the course of the last week I deleted iMovie HD and QuickTime preference files, played a few notes in GarageBand on the keyboard, did a reinstall of OS 10.4.3, iMovie and QuickTime, and ran all the updates; I even installed just OS 10.4.3 and iLife applications on a virgin HD and made it my startup -- all of the above to no avail. Then I stumbled across the solution of changing FireWire ports by trial and error.

I hope this is of some help.

PowerMac G5 2 x 2.67 GHz Mac OS X (10.4.3)

I hope this is of some help.

Indeed it was! I had the EXACT same scenario (new internal firewire card/front port used to work now only SD). All it took was switching to a FW port on the PCI card to make it work. Thanks msimpson, for saving me DAYS of troubleshooting.

P.S. My PCI card was a SIIG model NN-400M12-S6. I have no idea whether that makes a difference, just another data point.

G5 2.0 DP Mac OS X (10.4.3) iMovie 5.0.2

After much effort, here's what seems to be working for me. Upon 'creating a new project', and selecting the drive you'll be using, click the small directional 'arrow' at the bottom of the dialog box to indicate which video format you'll be using. (in this case, HD) This may not apply to your problem, but it seems to have been the one step I had overlooked.

Hello all,

This seems like a great board and I hope I can
finally get an answer to my question.

I cannot for the life of my get my iMac G5 to
recognize my Sony FX1.

I am an advanced user and I cannot figure it out. (it
is not a simple matter of a bad firewire cable or
anything like that)

Nothing I do works. My Canon XL1S (which is for sale
by the way) works perfectly and can import and export
with no problems, but the FX1 will not even show up.
"No Camera Attached" is all I get.

If anyone has had this problem or knows the solution
PLEASE let me know. I am falling too far behind
because I can't import any of my HD stuff.

Thanks a lot for all your help.

...Andy

Hello Andy,
If I understand your problem correctly, I also had the export, import
problem you have. My problem was to import from the FX1
footage that was recorded in HiDef and export from Fx1 in SD, to the
G5 iMovie HD.
" WORK AROUND,"
1.Create a new project in iMovie, set to DV widescreen.
2.Set up your FX1 export menue to export DV, before firewire connect.
3.Plug in firewire, and try to import, does not work but, right ?,
this sets the G5 to default mode.
4. Unplug firewire, and set FX1 export menue to auto., and ilink conv on.
5. Plug firewire in again, should be able to export with no problem.
Probably by now you have already fixed your problem but just in case
I thought you might be able to use this.
Let me know if this fix fits your situation.

Sam

G5 Mac OS X (10.4.3) Dual 2 GHz G5, 2GB DDRAM