Using Sony HDR-HC3 HDV Hanycam with iMovie

my mac did´t recognice the camara could some one help, how can i see the recorder image in the tape to computer?

Mariocom, may I presume you're talking about the G5 that's having trouble? If it's an older G5, it's a common problem to not recognize HDV cameras (DVs are OK, though) and the only reliable solution I know of is to connect your camera through a separate FireWire card. If it's happening to both Macs, then I'd guess the problem is probably in your camera settings -- page 75 of your HC3 manual should cover the two important settings you need to check. It could also be your cable -- I have an older cable that works with the camera in DV mode, but not for HDV, but a new LaCie "i.LINK" cable works. Hope one of these works.

I am also having all kinds of trouble with this camera. I followed some of the advice in the postings. I can get iMovie to know there is a camera attached to the computer but it doesn't let me import anything. The screen seems to show some bizarre lighting which I have no clue where it is capturing from. None of the controls on the bottom work, so I can't even get the camera to rewind or anything. I went by to Best Buy where I bought it and they plugged it into a PC and it immediately recognized it. I shouldn't be having this problem with a Mac when a PC has no problems! I mean, what about the commercial?!
Anyway, anybody come up with a new solution? I've checked all the settings in the camera, I redownloaded Quicktime, I opened an HD project in iMovie... I'm about ready to return this camera and call it good riddance!

I understand your frustration. After years of Macs always "just working" it's a like a mental kernel panic when something as straightforward as this doesn't work. You may need to manually select the HDV camera in the list when you switch from edit to import mode. I may also be something as simple as a cable. I hope that helps.

I have a hunch the problem isn't specific to the HC3, but with HDV in general. If you were to return it and get a different HDV camera (there are still some HC1s available), I'd bring along your PowerBook and check that camera, too. If you find another model works on your current setup, please report back so others will know. Best of luck!

Hi all,

talking about compatibility issues:
Anybody an idea if the HDR-HC3 HDC Camera is working fine in HD mode with a 12" 1.5Ghz PPC G4 PowerBook with 1.25GB of RAM (bought October last year)?

Or should be now the moment to upgrade to a DualCore Macbook (Pro) ?

Cheers and thanks for the replies,

Z-1

I think you're safe. It imports video from my HC3 on my 768 MHz PB G4, even though the 12" PB technically doesn't have the horsepower to support HD. I did, however, have to use a different cable. My trusty old Apple camcorder cable didn't work, but a GE brand cable I bought at Target did. Be aware, though, that HDV video takes up almost a gig a minute, so you'll need lots of hard drive space.

But maybe, Rick, your PowerBook imports HDV rather slowly, at about half the speed of "real time", or even slower..?

Oups, sorry Guys,
I opened a Topic just for my question, so please, write something there so I can award you with the points you deserve:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=503128&tstart=0

I just bought the Camcorder yesterday, but didn't had time to test it yet.
After what you've said, I should considering buying a external HD with arround 250GB and a new(er) iLink/FireWire Cable.

I will do this ASAP, thanks for that Info 😉

Z-1

David, you bring up a good point. Yes, it imports at about 1/4 real time on the 768 MHz PB, at about 1/2 or 3/4 real time on a 1.6 GHz G5 iMac, and in real time on a dual 2 GHz G5 tower. When it imports at less than real time you have to watch the camera to know when to stop importing, not iMovie, because when you stop importing, iMovie keeps importing in slow-motion until it catches up with the camera. I don't know where or how the video stream is buffered, so importing long clips may be a problem.

The compatibility questions with HDV cameras tend to focus on whether iMovie recognizes the camera so I answered the question in that context. From a broader perspective, however, "Z-1" may find the storage and performance issues with his current PowerBook limiting enough to justify that MacBook Pro.

Man, you guys had me terrified. I dropped the loot for the HC3 today and then I came home and read this thread. I don't know what makes my setup special or whatever (I'm a switcher within the last year, so I consider myself a noob), but mine works. I made a 30 second movie to test it, plugged it in, launched iMovie, and I was off and running. It did import at 1/2 speed, but that wasn't so bad. Honestly, my biggest fear is hard disk space. Yippee for me I guess. shrug

Hi!

I also have this camera and never had importing problems. The only problem I see which is quite anoying, is encoding problems.

Either this is a PAL only problem or everyone here is less picky then I'am (or I have a problem with my setup):

Whenever it encodes HDV footage into something else (DVD through iDVD or adds some titles etc. to the movie and puts it back on HDV) things get jerky. Its best seen if you take some horizontaly scrolling shots. Like turning in a room. And encode this on DVD or add a title for half the time of the shot and put it back on the camcorder tape. IYou see the difference on the camcorders screen already...

Anyone had this and solved it?

The panning problem is due to the interlacing (the "i" in 1080i), which is why this type of camera isn't recommended for things like sporting events. I hope this problem will be minimized when we can burn real HD DVDs in the future, because I've noticed, too, that the panning problem is worse after burning to a DVD, even when playing on a 720p player and HDTV, which gives a very clear picture. I tried placing this same video in a standard DV project in FCE, reducing it to fit, and it twas unusable. I'm sorry to hear that simply adding titles screws up the HDV version.

My solution is to always pan very slowly, and if I must pan quickly, I edit that part out.

I'm curious how much of a problem this is for high-end HDV camcorders...

Hi!

Actually the ultimatively strange thing is the following:

If the camera does the HDV to DV conversion, its perfect. So why can't the Quicktime codex do a perfect conversion and why does the codec screws up HDV material when it should get like that to tape?

Especially when have of the panning is smooth the other half is jerky...

There must be a software issue with the codecs somehow.

Holger

I have used the HC3 for 2 days with iMovie and iDVD on my mac mini.
When i started to import the footage with iMovie, i started to do it manually, moving forward and backward between scenes. This caused iMovie to crash very frequently. I then chose to let iMovie import the footage by itself and everything went fine.
I then easily added the chapters, transfered to iDVD and created a DVD with menus in 1 hour. I am really exited about how fast i was able to create a very nice DVD.

However i am trying to convert the footage from iMovie into a small (100-200 MB) in a 16:9 format but I am getting very big files that are not as sharp as the original or some other examples i saw on the web such as the examples in this page about the Sanyo DMX-HD1:

http://www.akihabaranews.com/review-62-SanyoDMX-HD1%2C+everything+except+for+HD%2C+thedisappointment.html

Would you have any recommendation about the settings to export in quicktime or other format? Which video codec provides the best quality/size ratio? H.264? MPEG4?


~Antheo

I have the solution:

After reading this post and many other discussions on this subject, I contacted Sony. They were ZERO help eventually sending me to the Apple store for answers - why? I do not know. I tried ALL suggestions in this thread. No matter what I could not get my HC3 to import into my G5 Dual 2.7 through iMovie or through Final Cut Express HD.

Finally the solution: Bought a Belkin internal 6-pin firewire card and a new DV (i.Link) cable (card and cable come together - part # F5U501-APL). Popped card into free slot, pugged in and now it's perfect. If you're having problems, stop messing around - Go spend $40 and get a 3-port firewire card and a new DV cable. Problem solved.

G5 Dual 2.7 Mac OS X (10.4.6)