DV pass through to record VHS

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DV pass through to record VHS

Is there anyway to use my DV camera's pass through mode to record direct from a VHS player into my Mac?

I have all the physical cables and equipment and used to be able to do this with ease using iMovie4 (the easiest way being to set my camera up with no tape in when in VCR mode and getting its input from my VHS player)

Now with iMovieHD, it does not allow for import when there is no tape in the camera.

The tedious way around is to record from VHS onto miniDV, then import from miniDV to iMovie. But why can it not be done like it could be with iMovie4? Are there any work-arounds or 'patches' that can be installed to fix this negative development?

eMac, Mac OS X (10.3.9), 1 GHz G4, 1GB RAM

Posted on Nov 25, 2006 11:15 PM

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Answer 1

Nov 26, 2006 12:09 AM in response to Rob Ashcroft

Yes, sadly iMovie 5 and 6 broke that feature for some camcorders.

This is why I still have iMovie 4 installed for the occasional analog-to-DV passthrough sessions via my Sony TRV320E (I use v6.0.3 for all other tasks). Another alternative is to use BTV Pro for the import.

http://www.sjoki.uta.fi/~shmhav/iMovieHD_6_bugs.html#analogDV

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Answer 2

Rob Ashcroft Author

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Nov 26, 2006 12:54 PM in response to Matti Haveri

> This is why I still have iMovie 4 installed for the occasional analog-to-DV passthrough

So I can have both versions installed at once? I had iMovie4 come with the original install, then loaded HD as an upgrade. How can I load iMovie4 on as well (is it possible to drag the application file from an OSX install disk or something)?

Cheers

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Answer 3

Nov 26, 2006 1:19 PM in response to Rob Ashcroft

So I can have both versions installed at once?

Yes. Some people have iMovie 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 on their Macs 😉

How can I load iMovie4 on as well

The following page describes one approach to revert to some earlier version (v5 as an example) while keeping also the newer version:

http://www.sjoki.uta.fi/~shmhav/iMovieHD_6bugs.html#revert

Other method is to just copy an earlier installed version from somewhere else (rename the earlier version so you know which is which). I believe iMovie 4 can be moved like that but v5-6 may need additional resources to be properly installed in order to run.

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Answer 4

Rob Ashcroft Author

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Nov 26, 2006 5:22 PM in response to Matti Haveri

> Other method is to just copy an earlier installed version from somewhere else

Located my OS 10.3 install disks and found on CD#2 an iMovie package file that I copied onto my Mac. It would not allow an install onto my main drive because it recognised the newer version. Fortunately I have a 30GB external firewire drive, so was able to install onto that. It is iMovie3. Strangely though, this version now seemed to have to same restrictions on not importing if there was not tape in the DV Camera (although I remember being able to do it last year?)

Anyway, following your link through to download BTV Pro, since the 15day trial should be enough time for me to do my VHS archiving, and worth pating for I guess if I have more to do in the future.

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Answer 5

Rob Ashcroft Author

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Nov 26, 2006 5:33 PM in response to Rob Ashcroft

Any idea whether this update (dated April 2005) did the trick in resolving the problem or not. Obviously I'll download it and try it out, but you may already know the answer?

About iMovie HD Update
iMovie HD 5.0.2 update addresses issues related to video and audio synchronization for DV projects and other issues. These include:

-Audio in PAL widescreen
-Sharing (exporting) HDV to videocamera tape
-Synchronizing with HDV 720p content
- Importing video from a DV videocamera when using analog passthrough or recording live video -Compatibility with some analog-to-digital converter boxes
-Capturing video with Hi-8 (Digital 8) devices
-Placing titles over DV content
-Playing iPhoto slideshows that include protected content
-Opening iMovie 4 projects that use speed-adjusted clips.

Found at http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/imoviehd502.html

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Answer 6

Nov 26, 2006 9:58 PM in response to Rob Ashcroft

Any idea whether this update (dated April 2005) did the trick in resolving the problem or not.

Not for my Sony TRV320.

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