MOD to iMovie 11

My Panasonic SDR_S26 records MOD with a small MOI. How do I upload to iMovie 11 ver9.04? I have the recorder hooked up by USB and sometimes iMovie sees it as a Camera. Sometimes as an external hard drive and in this case won't upload. I have read the posts elsewhere and have not been able to get the "tricking" solution to work e.g. get iMovie to think the SD card (taking it out of the Camcorder and inserting into iMac) etc. is really a camera. Any easier solutions? Much appreciated.