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Level 1

8 points

iMovie and Canon ZR60

I am trying to help out a buddy in connecting a group of Canon zr60 camcorders up for his digital media studio at a local school. The camcorder worked fully with iMovie when they were initially purchased, but shortly after they stopped working. Canon has nothing to say to me since the camcorders are "not supported for downloading video on OSX." I cannot get iMovie 6 to recognize any of the camcorders. I have tried multiple firewire cables, multiple computers (eight different eMacs, one powerbook, and one iBook), multiple camcorders (different brands and models), and multiple versions of iMovie (4.0, 5.0, and 6.0). I have also tried using a DV converter box. In every single case the camcorder is not recognized. I have tried the GarageBand fix, resetting the camcorders to their factory settings, setting the camcorder to the exact time of the computers, rebooting with the camcorder on, resetting the computers to factory settings, repairing permissions, running disk fisrt aid, tech tools pro, and even analyzing the console messages as well. The console message seen is kernel[0]: FireWire (OHCI) Apple ID 31 built-in: no valid selfIDs for more than 2 minutes after bus reset, whenever I check to see if the camcorder or DV box is being seen in the system profiler. I think I have exhausted every possible idea that I can come up with. Anyone have any ideas or suggestions? Does anyone know of any other OS X compatible software that could extract the video from a firewire camcorder? If that exists, I simply can import the movie from there to iMovie. Are their GIMP drivers that anyone knows of either? I am loosing mind... HELP!

PowerBook 12" 1.33Ghz Mac OS X (10.4.8) 768mb RAM

Posted on Nov 5, 2006 1:20 PM

33 replies

Leshbob Author

Level 1

8 points

Nov 8, 2006 6:38 AM in response to Bob O'Halloran

Bob, you are completely correct. I have searched high and low and the most evidence presented on posts and other forums states that you cannot daisy-chain connections. I don't plan on connecting that way anyways. For clarification for others, I am not connecting multiple devices to my firewire ports. I have another question or another possible inquiry for a work around that I was wondering about. Is it possible to plug DV tapes into a device that will import correctly into any mac? Does such a device work? Or are there any alternative importing programs for the Mac that could be used to extract the video footage? I am a fairly knowledgeable and advanced user, but Video editing is something I have never dabbled into. Forgive me if my additional question is labeled as a dumb question. Thanks again everyone.

SDIllini

Level 6

16,675 points

Nov 8, 2006 7:13 AM in response to Leshbob

I have never used one, but perhaps the PYRO A /V Link (API-558-EFS) would work?

Look here

Sue

Nov 8, 2006 8:13 AM in response to SDIllini

Well, for capturing DV the workhouse deck is the Sony DSR 11 ( http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=Search&A=details&Q=&sku=212935 &is=REG&addedTroughType=search). But at that price, you may want to consider a different and cheaper camcorder. The advantage to the deck is that you can shuffle around the tape much faster and it is a sturdier build than a camcorder. This being designed for, and thus saving the camcorder, wear & tear. Again, not too much an issue with camcorders under $1000, you just get a new camcorder.

The other,
Mike

Nov 8, 2006 9:03 AM in response to Leshbob

Hi,

Sorry to hear that the FW port on the ZR60 is dead. One other possibility (that is fairly inexpensive) that you could try would be to get an inexpensive camcorder (some run as low as $150 or less new)or get one off ebay that is used but still working. This way you can still use the old ZR60 for shooting and the use the new camcorder to do the importing into iMovie. The other way to go is to buy a dvr that connects with FW and uses mini tapes. This option is usally much more expensive.

My son had a camcorder that had a cracked lens so what he did was to but a newer camcorder to do the shooting and then used the old one to do the importing. This way he didn't put wear and tear on the newer camcorder. I have learned that all I do with my ZR60 is shoot and import. I also do a fair amount of converting vhs tapes into dvd's for family and friends and I use the ZR60 in pass thru mode w/o problems. What I have found out is that the stress is put on the camera when you do a lot of fast forward/rewind, etc as oppsed to just using the camera for shooting/passthru. That doesn't really put any serious stress on the motor. Also I take care of the FW port on the camera by treating it with kid gloves as that is a small delicate port.

Good luck,

Bob

Dec 27, 2006 9:08 PM in response to Leshbob

Wondering if you got the Canon camcorder (ZR60) to work with iMovie HD (6.0.3??). I have access to both a Canon ZR65 and a Canon ZR100 but have not gotten either one of them to be visible to iMovieHD 6.0.3 using 4pin Firewire cable into the single Firewire port on my computer. Any info is appreciated as I am trying to get kids with special needs to be able to make simple DVD's to take home for functional living skills training.

iBookG4 Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Dec 27, 2006 9:31 PM in response to PattiInSped

I had a problem getting my ZR60 to be recognized on my Mac, too. Never got it to work. Tested on another Mac and still nothing. Finally assumed a bad FW port on the camera. Sold it to get some money towards a new camcorder.

SDIllini

Level 6

16,675 points

Dec 28, 2006 6:16 AM in response to Jeff Rease

iMovie: Cannot see or control camera
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=43000

Macintosh: FireWire Issue With Some Canon Mini-DV Cameras
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=61603

(Even if your specific Canon Model is not listed-do what it says)

:)Sue

Dec 28, 2006 6:24 AM in response to SDIllini

Yeah...I tried all that...

SDIllini

Level 6

16,675 points

Dec 28, 2006 6:29 AM in response to Jeff Rease

Try resetting your Audio Midi (this is the easiest way to do that)

*Open Garageband
*Play a note or two
*Close Garageband
*Open iMovie
The camera should now be recoginzed.

:)Sue

Dec 28, 2006 11:14 AM in response to Jeff Rease

I also have an older tiBook running OS 9.2 with iMovie 2.0.3 which both the ZR65 and the ZR100 cameras are recognized. It also runs OS 10.2.08 with iMovie 2.1.2 on it in which both cameras are recognized. However my tiBook does not have a iDVD or a built in DVD burner making it quite the challenge to make a quick DVD for student home use. It is disheartening to finally get the new computer (G4) and the new software and have it glitch like this. Does iMovie 2.0, 3.0, 4.0 or 5.0 work with iDVD 6.0.3? Does anyone know how to go about getting an older program?

iBookG4 Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Leshbob Author

Level 1

8 points

Dec 28, 2006 2:18 PM in response to Leshbob

I originally posted the question on the camcorder and after tons of trouble shooting and arguing with canon and talking with the genius bar at my local apple store; we came to the conclusion that the firewire port got fried. The initial set up on my camcorders initially was going between several eMacs. One of the eMacs had a firewire defect and fried 5 different zr60, 3 zr100, and a pair of sony cameras. The camcorder is compatible with iMovie 2 all the way up to version 6. The camera just has an extremely fragile firewire port that can screw up way to easily. The solution for this was to purchase a cheap compatible camcorder of of eBay and use it to transfer the tape to your mac. Hopefully, this is helpful for others.

Dec 28, 2006 4:57 PM in response to Leshbob

I have just made my switch over to the MAC world because Windows is frightful when it comes to actually completing a video project.

I just received my iMAC yesterday and tried to start on a project today -- to show my wife it was worth the money when we have a perfectly "good" PC. My Canon Elura 50 wouldn't be recognized by iMOVIE.

I tried a few things, new cable, turning both on at various times etc (felt like I was back in my "normal" world of windows. I was downhearted.

This post however is spot on. I FIXED MY PROBLEM by taking my Gdrive off of the other FW port. My camera is now connected and working. It appears to be a problem with the bus, which ***** because I wanted to write the video to the harddrive.

Thanks to the poster who showed this. You saved me hours of frustration and internal I told you sos. My wife would never do that to me, but I would.

Dec 28, 2006 6:30 PM in response to MacManimus

Not sure that it invloves the bus. I do know for sure that the Canon ZR60 and maybe Canons in general DO NOT like to "share the same FW port with any other FW device. The way I got around it was to install a FW PC I card which increased the number of FW ports I have and also created a SEPARATE FW port and that works well for me.

Glad you were able to solve your problem and welcome to the world of MAC.

Bob

walquis

Level 1

0 points

Mar 17, 2007 9:07 PM in response to Leshbob

Hi,

I think I'm experiencing similar problems with the ZR series camcorder.

Just bought a refurbished Macbook Pro. I love my Mac, love Parallels on it--what a timesaver, to just transport my whole PC over for a virtual hardware upgrade and migrate at my leisure!--love Darwin (as a Unix guy transplanted into a DotNet environment). I love the hardware, it's a very solid, reliable machine, no problems at all...until now...

After watching all the "I'm-a-PC-I'm-a-Mac' commercials with my girls this morning and ho-ho'ing the poor PC's struggles with multimedia, I took digital video of my 10-year-old daughter's birthday today, and then sat down to make those easy movies and photo albums I'd heard so much about.

I didn't even get to first base. My Mac didn't even blink when I plugged in my ZR65MC. I read the online help docs, rebooted my camcorder, upgraded my OS, rebooted my Mac, went out and bought a new FireWire cable. Still nothing.

I tried playing with AUDIO/MIDI settings in Garage Band too, still nothing.

I'm pretty sure the ZR65's FireWire port is OK. I haven't tried to use it 'til now.

Sounds like older versions of iMovie may have a chance. Does anyone have instructions for downgrading iMovie from 6.0.6-HD to 4.0 or below? I tried simply installing 4.0.1, but it complained that 4.0 wasn't found in /Applications, and I wasn't able to find a 4.0 iMovie download.

Thanks!
-chris

2GB, 160GB disk, 17" screen, 2.33GHz Intel Core 2 duo

Smtr

Level 5

5,450 points

Mar 17, 2007 10:00 PM in response to walquis

Have you launched iMovie and switched from edit mode (the scissors) to camera mode (the little camcorder)?

I apologize if this is obvious to you, but it stumped me when I first began using iMovie.

Does your camcorder show up in the System Profiler under Firewire devices?

iMovie and Canon ZR60