Panasonic MiniDV Camcorder

Usually the software that is provided with a digital camera or camcorder has nothing to do with downloading it into your computer. It is almost always a small suite of programs that will allow you to edit and burn the video to DVD.

From what I could see, the PVGS-300 lacks a FireWire port and uses and S-video connection. You will need an interface to import it into your Mac to edit and the transfers will be slow to say the least.

You might want to look for a camcorder with FW like the Panasonic PV-GS65. I have read good things about it and it costs about the same as the VGS-300.

Michael, I use the Panasonic GS-200 and have no problems importing footage (via firewire) to FCP5. It will also import your photos directly from the SD card into iphoto. The included basic photo editing/importing software on the CD is for PeeCee's only which is why they give you this disclaimer - Panasonic are notorious for not including Mac alternatives, but their cameras are so good you have to forgive them, besides, I probably wouldn't use it anyway!

Panasonic's work great with Apple's iMovie. You will not even want to use their software.

PV-GS300 does have Firewire port, it's labelled DV. There's a good first impressions review at camcorderinfo.com. I have a GS400 which works brilliantly on the iMac without needing to load any Panasonic software. (I didn't bother to load the Panasonic software on my Windows PC, either.)

By the way, if you want great help for your Pana 3CCD cam from a very active and enthusiastic community, head on over to www.pana3ccduser.com.

Ken.

Please let me know if you are successful at importing clips from the PV-GS300 to your Mac. I have a Mac mini, OS 10.4.6 and iMovie 5.0.2. I have been trying for 2 days. Here is what I get...

1. When I set the PV-GS300 on PC connection mode, IMovie can't "see" the camcorder. It says no camcorder attached. When I set PV-GS300 to "playback mode", then iMovie can detect it. It says camera connected in the window. I even checked with system profiler and it also "sees" the camera as a Firewire device. I can even use the buttons in iMovie to rewind, play, pause, stop the PV-GS300 when it is set to playback mode. However, when I rewind to the beginning of the video and hit "import" button, nothing happens onscreen. The IMovie monitor screen remains blue even though I can see my video playing on the monitor of the PV-GS300. No matter how long a wait, no clip is created in iMovie.

2. So then I tried the "magic movie". When I click "create" iMovie rewinds the tape, I see "camera playing" on the blue screen, the video is playing on my camcorder monitor in playback mode. Meanwhile, "looking for video" is displayed forever in the window on the right in IMovie, but nothing happens. No clip is made.

3. I tried HackTV, but can't get it to work, either.

4. I'd rather not spend the $$$ for something like Final Cut Pro 5, because I really don't need anything that fancy to make the kinds of movies we do. Is there any other free/shareware software that will import video from the PV-GS300?

Anyway, please let me know what happens with your importing and, if successful, how you did it. After two days of trying, I'm out of ideas.

Mac OS X (10.4.6)

PC Connection Mode is for transferring still images from the memory card and works over the USB connection. As you determined, you need to set the camera to Tape Playback mode to transfer video over the Firewire connection.

I'm not sure how to fix the problem with iMovie not showing the video. Are you able to try importing to another Mac, or even (ugh) a PC? When you create a new project in iMovie, have you checked the iMovie settings to make sure they look okay? I'm using iMovie HD 6 and my GS400 works fine with it. It's been a while, but I think what I did was start iMovie first, then connect the camera.

Ken.

I spent some time on the phone with Apple tech support. They determined that I wasn't doing anything wrong and suggested I upgrade to iMovie 6.0. That will come in a few days,and I am hoping it works. I played around some with Final Cut Pro and it will import OK with their "log and capture" mode, but I really don't like FCP, so I am hoping the iMovie 6.0 upgrade does the trick.

There is a software update for iMovie 6, it's currently at 6.0.2.

Ken.

1. ....When I set PV-GS300 to "playback mode", then iMovie can detect it. It says camera connected in the window. I even checked with system profiler and it also "sees" the camera as a Firewire device. I can even use the buttons in iMovie to rewind, play, pause, stop the PV-GS300 when it is set to playback mode. However, when I rewind to the beginning of the video and hit "import" button, nothing happens onscreen. The IMovie monitor screen remains blue even though I can see my video playing on the monitor of the PV-GS300. No matter how long a wait, no clip is created in iMovie.

Cedric, I have a very similar Pansonic DV camera which works perfectly when used in the manner which you describe here with iMovie (any version from 4 onwards at least, in fact).

My first suspicion would be that you have a defective firewire cable, or need to reset your firewire port (disconnect and power down all FW devices including the camera from the Mac and remove the power cord from the Mac for 15 minutes) , or both.

I don't think this is an iMovie software issue. I think its a problem with data flow from the camera to the computer. You might want to try posting in the iMovie forum with this one. Plenty of video buffs there!

Another great place for assistance with these cameras is the Panasonic 3CCD forum at http://www.pana3ccduser.com/

Cheers

Rod

The solution to the problem was to upgrade to the '06 iLife to get iMovie 6.0. Not only does it import from my PV-GS300, they have made some fantastic improvements from iMovie 5.0 in many other areas. It costs $79 to upgrade and it is worth every penny. This is not a paid endorsement -- just a very happy customer!