Imported DV is missing sound

I followed the tutorial here: Get iMovie 9 On Mac OS Sierra 2017! - YouTube to install iMovie 9.0.9 on my High Sierra iMac and then imported from my tape based DV camera to there and was able to retain all the sound and the time code. Plus the .dv file it creates works fine in the current iMovie.

Hi, Joseph,

The .dv may not have an audio codec that iMovie supports. Also, the Apple website doesn't list your camcorder as being a supported one, although if yours is tape based it may still be supported even if not listed.

iMovie supported cameras - Apple Support

Try importing to your desktop using the Image Capture app on your Mac, and then converting your .dv footage to Mp4/AAC. The AAC stands for Advanced Audio Coding. You can do the conversion with the free download Handbrake. After converting, drag the clips into iMovie and see if you get audio.

Another thing you can try after importing to your desktop, is to open and play the video in QuickTime Player. If you can hear audio, then save the vid, and that will give you a .mov file that you can drag into iMovie and see if it plays properly.

-- Rich

This is probably a long shot ,but thought it might be worth a mention.

Several posts in FCPX have talked of import problems since High Sierra 10.13.2 .

One or two concerning no audio when importing AVCHD and others with importing Mini DV in general.

The advice has been to uninstall Perian and A52.

I don't know much about these , only what I read in the posts.

The following is copy/paste of sections from 2 posts.

Luis Sequeira1Dec 21, 2017 3:40 AM in response to Mickeyfilm

Level 6 (19,586 points)

Mac OS X

Dec 21, 2017 3:40 AM Re: When I import a .mts files, also known as AVCHD, only the picture appears, no sound.in response to Mickeyfilm

To uninstall Perian, I think you have two things to delete: the preference pane, and the Quicktime plugin.

And then RESTART your mac!

The preference pane is inside your Library folder: ~/Library/PreferencePanes

The Quicktime plugin is either in ~/Library/Quicktime or /Library/Quicktime.

Don't forget to RESTART.

Luis Sequeira1Jan 25, 2018 10:05 AM in response to ericalex47

Level 6 (19,586 points)

Mac OS X

Jan 25, 2018 10:05 AM Re: Import of Sony Avchd filesin response to ericalex47

Do you have Perian or A52 installed?

You may not realize it, as it may have been there for years.

Perian would appear in System Preferences, in the last row.

The A52 codec may be present in /Library/Quicktime or ~/Library/Quicktime.

Both of these are known to cause sound disappearing in AVCHD material.

Some posts say that removing Perian has cured their fault whilst others say that it hasn't, so this may not work for you, but worth a look to see if you have Perian or A52 .

@smarie: I suspect it is a Sierra issue. I was able to do the import on 10.11.6 (El Capitan) on an old iMac (2007). Then I transferred the .dv files to my newer mac and iMovie was able to export them to mp4 with sound. Not ideal, but that old iMac will never be going to Sierra or High Sierra, no matter how many times Apple prompts me.

@Apple: any help? Or at least confirmation? Seems pretty bad that all firewire video import is failing and no fix is offered.

I followed MarcGoat's link to install iMovie 9 and ran a test import: audio is there. Looks like iMovie 10 is the issue?

Just had the same problem myself. I bought a new MiniDV to Firewire 800 cable and put it into the back of my thunderbolt display. Imported a bunch of DV material only to find no audio on the clips. Thought at first it was the cable but looked into it to discover others saying similar things with different configuration of cables etc. Then realised I could download Adobe Premiere on my CC account and that fixed the issue. Expensive if you don't already have a Creative Cloud account. Proved though it's an iMovie issue. Premier makes .mov files so it is possible to reimport to iMovie if you don't want to work with the massive Premiere package.

Try using the free download MPEG Streamclip to convert the clip. Just drag it into the MPEG Streamclip window and do File/Export to MPEG-4. I mention this because MPEG Streamclip was successful in converting a .dv file I had when neither Handbrake nor VLC could do it.

-- Rich

Try importing into the Photos app, and from there drag to your desktop.

-- Rich

Try exporting from iMovie at Best Quality (pro res). For some reason that seems to resolve some problems, hopefully this one.

Also, you could try exporting from iMovie at any other setting but Best Quality (pro res), that would give you an Mp4 file. If it still doesn't play sound, try uploading it to You Tube and see what their converters do with it.

If you have iMovie 9 on your computer, try importing into that version.

I realize that this is a little like shooting in the dark, but since nothing else seems to be working, it can't hurt.

-- Rich

I'm having the same problem on Sierra 10.12.6. I've tried iMovie 10.1.8 and LifeFlix DV Importer 2.5.4 (and the Lite version). I've tried 2 different macs (MBP mid2010, MBP 2012), 3 different cables (using macs with firewire ports) and 2 different camcorders (Canon ZR45 and Canon ZR950). I've also tried using QT record video. iMovie and LifeFlix import with no errors but the clips have no audio, even after exporting from iMovie (using Best/ProRes quality). The QT results are also the same: audio meters show input corresponding to the video I'm importing and yet no audio after importing. This was working at some point since I have about 10 of my tapes imported and converted and audio is working on all of those.

I've checked the ~/Library/PreferencePanes dir and it's empty. ~/Library/QuickTime does not exist and /Libary/QuickTime contains:

# ls -l /Library/QuickTime

total 0

drwxr-xr-x 3 root wheel 102 Jul 30 2016 AppleIntermediateCodec.component

drwxr-xr-x 3 root wheel 102 Jul 30 2016 AppleMPEG2Codec.component

I've also tried this on an iMac (2007, firewire 400 port) with iMovie ('08 - 7.1.4) and it imports with audio, but the video quality is dramatically worse.

@Apple: Help.

I'm having the same issue. Importing from an old Canon camcorder into iMovie. Getting an image, but no audio. Does anyone know if this issue exists in FCP? I'm also on High Sierra 10.13.2

New development...I've been sifting through old tapes all day, trying to import each one. Out of a dozen tapes, 1 tape actually worked, and I captured video and audio for it through FCPX. I have no idea what the difference is, and why it's just this single DV tape. I've attached screenshots of the file properties for some of the media from FCP. One is a file that didn't capture audio, and the other does have audio. They look identical though...

This might be a media related problem. Is it possible that the song that won't play is DRM protected, whereas the song that will play is DRM free? DRM protected songs will download into iMovie but they won't display waveforms and they won't play. iTunes songs from 2009 and earlier were DRM protected. iTunes abandoned DRM protection after that date.

-- Rich

Just adding another voice to the field. Trying to import miniDV from a Canon ZR45. No audio.

I tried the quicktime option and had the same experience - audio meters seem to recognize the native audio, but nothing on playback.

Same set up worked in the past, but haven't used it since upgrading to High Sierra. I'm hoping that this is a glitch somewhere that can be corrected.

Thanks for all the ideas, everyone.

I am experiencing the same problem with mid 2015 iMac and HS 10.13.3 and canon GL2 mini DV camcorder...I purchased 2 thunderbolt to firewire adapters and multiple firewire cables 800 to 400....and imovies 10.1.8 with high sierra will import the video into iMovie but no audio files...I have a mid 2011 iMac with the previous iMovie and i have no problems....i am still researching alternatives to iMovie.....I am hoping someone in the community has found a solution....I have a couple other mini dv cameras that i can try later in the future....But it sure is frustrating to say the least....