Imported DV is missing sound

Apple stopped listing specific model numbers of DV and HDV compatible camcorders some years ago.

They currently make a statement at the beginning of each manufacturers list for DV and HDV like this...

Also the iMovie help says that DV and HDV formats are supported.

You are the second person in about a week to report that no audio accompanied the video

when importing DV and I believe they also were using High Sierra so this could be the reason.

You could try to import using QuickTime Player ( Record function)

How to use QuickTime Player - Apple Support

Try a short test first and see if it plays back OK in QuickTime with audio.

If it does, import test piece into iMovie and see if audio is present.

The audio may still not import but may be worth a try.

It would be interesting to know if the recording using QTP,record function, does in fact include the audio.

Don't know what version of High Sierra you are on but version 10.13.2 was released

about 10 days ago, just in case this makes a difference.

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...

Hi, Joseph,

Your Canon ZR25MC is not listed as a supported camcorder on Apple's website. Here's the link where you can check it out in case I missed it:

iMovie supported cameras - Apple Support

That might explain why the sound is not importing. The audio might be in a codec not liked by iMovie. iMovie supports AAC (Advanced Audio Coding), aiff, Mp3, and Wav. AAC would be the one I would choose.

Instead of importing directly into iMovie, try importing the video to your desktop using the Image Capture app on your Mac. Then see if you can import it into iMovie from there. You can drag it into iMovie or use the iMovie import button. If it doesn't import, you might need first to convert the DV into Mp4/AAC. You can use the free download Handbrake to convert it by default.

-- Rich

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 .

I went back to using iMovie 9.0.9 as suggested and it didn't work out. After all the hassle of loading it and installing it I found the video quality was so incredibly low that it was of no use to me even for basic home movies.

I am in the process of working with my first import with LifeFlix DV Importer and Editor, available in the App Store.

itunes.apple.com/us/app/lifeflix-minidv-importer/id630212114?mt=12

Seems like it will be easy to export to iMovie when I get to that if I want to. I may just leave them in LifeFlix though as I won't want to deal with iMovie. Why not just keep everything in the one that works? If you do want to move them over:

www.lifeflix.com/pages/using-lifeflix-with-imovie-final-cut-premiere-pro-and-oth er-editors

www.lifeflix.com/pages/using-lifeflix-with-imovie-final-cut-premiere-pro-and-oth er-editors

That's interesting. The video contains AAC, an iMovie compatible audio codec, but there is no sound when played in iMovie even when re-converted to Mp4/AAC, also iMovie compatible. You might be right that this is something that Apple will need to address.

-- Rich

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

Hmmm. Well, since there is no sound on two different video editor apps and two different computers it might be that your camera is not exporting properly (or unsupported on the new operating systems) or it is media related. As I mentioned before, the original poster's camera does not appear on the supported camera list. You might click on the link I gave and see if your camcorder is supported. I can't explain why one DV tape worked out of the 12 you tried. At this point I am out of ideas. If you find the solution please post back in case it might help others with this problem.

Good luck with this.

- Rich

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