download video to iMovie from miniDV tape

Question

Level 1

8 points

download video to iMovie from miniDV tape

I have movies recorded on miniDV tapes. I would like to download them to iMovie on my 2 year old iMac. I have a Sony Handicam that plays the miniDVs, and I can connect it with a cable via the USB port. iMovie (v. 10.0.7) will not recognize the camera, however, iPhoto does recognize the photos stored on the camera. The Sony has a streaming mode, but iMovie does not recognize it. I would simply like play/capture the complete tape on iMovie. Do I need a different cable for camera streaming to be recognized?

iMovie '11

Posted on Mar 19, 2015 2:45 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Best reply

jeremy_v

Community Specialist

Mar 22, 2015 12:41 PM in response to gregmacosko

Hi gregmacosko,

Thanks for visiting Apple Support Communities.

Typically, video from a miniDV camera is captured using a FireWire connection. You can find some helpful information about importing from tape-based cameras into iMovie in this article:

iMovie (2013): Import from tape-based cameras

If your Mac doesn’t have a FireWire port but does have a Thunderbolt port, you can connect the FireWire cable using an Apple Thunderbolt to FireWire Adapter or an Apple Thunderbolt Display (which also has a FireWire port).

Best Regards,

Jeremy

Reply