iMovie 10.0.4 won't recognize my camcorder

Sony called it iLink and it's the same as Apple's Firewire.

Depending on the ports on your machine you'll need a 4 pin (camera side) to 6 pin (Firewire 800 port). A 4 to 4 pin will not work.

QuickTime 7 can import DV.

Installing QuickTime Player 7

If all else fails try the above route, not ideal but it may give you what you need.

Once you have imported the DV via QT7 you should be able to import the DV files into iMovie 9.0.4 or 10.0.4

If you can go with the Firewire then do so rather than the Thunderbolt with adaptor.

Another thought.It may be better to go with iMovie 9.0.4 as I think you may have an issue with 4:3 video in 10.0.4 ( assuming that the HC 62 shoots in 4:3 )

Worth a try.

firewire ports can fry (no pun intended)

a few things to set-up:

• connect cam to land-line, not 'battery' only
• set cam to Play, not rec
• variate scheme: launch iMovie/launch cam/hit import; or launch cam, launch iM ........

if optional, test cam on a diff. computer ...

Hi

There can be so many things - may be my notes can give any idea.

NO CAMERA or A/D-box

Cable

Are You sure that You are using the FireWire Cable - USB-Cable will not work for miniDV tape Cameras FireWire - Sure not using the accompany USB-Cable but bought a 4-pin to 6-pin (or 9-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

Toggle 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

Camera set in Playback mode - NOT Recording mode

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 e.g. recording and playback to TV)

A/D-box

Is the dip-switches set right ?

Set to same standard as recorded/editing e.g. NTSC 29.97fps or PAL 25fps

Try resetting it

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.

FireWire-port - Can be re-setted by - Turn off Mac and disconnecting Mac from Mains/Power for 20-30 minutes

External device’s (hard disk’s)

Should be FireWire as USB/USB2 performs badly and so does Airport or Net-work connected ones too.

MUST BE - Mac OS Extended formatted - UNIX/DOS/FAT32/Mac OS Exchange - DO NOT WORK for video due to 4Gb barrier.

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 minimum 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. No Camera or A/D-box

GarageBands fix - Close iMovie, Open GarageBand, Play some notes, Close GB and iMove can now be OK

Does Your Mac have a FireWire Port

White MacBooks - don't

MacBook-Air - don't

if not then a few Mac’s has a PCM-CIA slot and there are FW-Cards that makes a FW-port this way

else - NO SOLUTION

Only option as I get it is either

Use another Mac to Capture material (to an external USB2 - Mac OS Extended formatted hard disk - or -

Change to another Camera that can be used with Your Mac (no there are no miniDV tape Cameras that can)

If Your Mac-Book has a PCM-CIA Card place - then there are FW-port-Cards and then

You can import via this - but I've not seen this on more modern Macs. My PowerBook G4

has one and this FW-Card-port works greatly.

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)

Screen Saver - OFF

Energy Saver - OFF

Using WHAT versions ? .

Mac OS - X.5.4 ?

QuickTime version ? (This is the heart in both iMovie and FinalCut)

iMovie’08 (7.1.?), 09 or 11 ?

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 helpful 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 Choice / 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 un-installing 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 helps

DJ1249 wrote

The problem was the external backup hard drive that is connected, you need to disconnect the external drive before the mac can see the video camera.

MaryBoog wrote

Maybe your problems is solved in the meantime, but for all others this might help as I had the same problem, also have the Sony HDR-HC7, but the 7e (Europe, PAL). I found this link today and it works perfectly

//support.sony-europe.com/tutorials/dime/videotransfer/vtransfer.aspx site=odw_en_GB&sec=DVH&m=HDR-HC7E

What I exactly did.- put camera in play mode - open guide - choose connection guide - choose comp./printer (where to transfer movie to) - select connection.- i-link (on my camera) but equal to firewire - OK - choose HDV - choose NO for conversion of i.link.

Settings are shown then (VCR HDV/DV.- HDV and i.link-conv..- OFF), press OK, OK, END.

Switch camera off. Connect firewire cable to camera & Mac. Switch camera on, in play/edit mode.

Open i-movie, choose import from camera. On screen below the camera connection is shown.- DV (HDV). Now you can import, automatically or manually.

This worked perfectly for me. Took me 2 days to find out. Could not find any clear thread explaining what I had to do on the camera and the manual was not clear either.

Yours Bengt W

Jinbun wrote:

… perhaps the problem is in my computer settings?

there's nothing to 'set'.

my diagnosis from remote:

fried fw-ports - at the Mac and/or the cam.-

as mentioned before: test on a diff. computer, if the fw-/iLink port of cam is functional.

To check your Macs fw-port,you need another fw-connected device.for instance a drive with a fw-port. Or, give your Mac/cam to some shop, checking the ports.

My sony DCR-TRV 30 camcorder has been working beautifully with all versions of iMovie since 2007 tis now I just upgraded to El Capitan and IMOVIE 10.1 and now My camcorder isn't recognized by my mac via firewire. I tired several cables. did SMC reset and PRAM reset got it to work for a minute then it stopped again. I have an 2010 macbook pro and thought maybe the firewire port fried. Tried the same camera on a new macbook air using thunderbolt cable and new fire wire cable to my camera and it isn't recognized there either. Maybe the camera fire wire port is fried? Strange it all happened with the update, but perhaps DV TAPE Cameras no longer work with iMovie.

LeslieVilla wrote:

… perhaps DV TAPE Cameras no longer work with iMovie.

I don't doubt your personal experience, but the latest incarnation of iMovie still supports various tape formats:

http://help.apple.com/imovie/mac/10.1/?lang=en#/mov6af9c94c1