[Keith2830]

I have iMovie '06 and iDVD '08 and want to import camcorder tapes into iMovie in order to produce DVDs. I don't have a camcorder, as they are so expensive. The Sony dcr-trv840 camcorder a friend lent to me does not transfer its tape recording to my Mac G4, OS 10.4, via a USB cable. The Sony manual says it only transfers to a PC, not a Mac. I see what looks like a Firewire portal on the camcorder, but I see no mention of it in the manual. Any ideas? Many thanks in advance! Keith

[albloom]

Which slot "looks like a Firewire portal," Keith? The one to the lower left
of the eyepiece? That's for a Sony memory stick.

[Keith2830]

I contacted Sony. They said a firewire on the port right next to the USB should work. It did to the extent of transferring the cam movie to iMovie in real - one hour for one hour. And I could edit it in iMovie to some extent, although the sound was just a straight line on the screen - no little vertical lines so show changes in volume. But the big disappointment was that I could make an iDVD from the iMovie, which is my ultimate need. iDVD just froze the Mac after several hours of attempted sharing, even though I had over 20G of free space on the Mac. Also, oddly, there was not problem sharing the iMovie onto QuckTime.

I know nothing of electronics, but am beginning to think that a 2002 Sony camcorder isn't fully compatible with 2008 iDVD. Any suggestions as to what to do not would be greatly appreciated. Keith

[DMurray431]

It is quite possible that you need separate cables for the sound transfer. The firewire may only transfer the video.(like the "S" cable) You might try a cable that has the red & white (l & r) RCA plugs on one end and the stereo microphone input (to the mac). This set up is necessary when the "S" cable is used with video cameras. it just inputs the video and needs the second cable to imput audio.

[marlon1985]

I have use a sony camera before with a firewire and I dont remember having problem with audio or video, now Ithing i use Imovie program,as far of use it or transfer to a idvd i dont rememer if I use it or not but you should`t have problem with,because fire wire will transfer audio and video, at leastmy did> good luck

[marlon1985]

I have use a sony camera before with a firewire and I dont remember having problem with audio or video, now Ithing i use Imovie program,as far of use it or transfer to a idvd i dont rememer if I use it or not but you should`t have problem with,because fire wire will transfer audio and video, at leastmy did> good luck

[Keith2830]

Seems like hard disk space was the basic problem. Once i cleared out over 30G and made sure the Mac didn't shut down for the almost 4 hours it took to share 1 hour from iMovie to iDVD, it worked.

Still not sure what, if anything, to do about the audio. Even though the iMovie audio is just a straight line, I can edit it in iMovie to the extent of changing the volume at any point. It just would be nice to see the usual vertical lines for a little more refined editing. (I still get those vertical lines when I do a voice over the original audio. Thanks for the idea of separate audio and video input from the camcorder to the Mac, but I don't see cables that allow that. The S cable and audio cables I see have 1/8" male plugs for going from the cam to a VCR or TV, but not USB or Firewire plugs needed to go to a Mac.

But I VERY much appreciate all input. It's great to have a community of help! Keith :)

[albloom]

Keith, in my limited experience, Sony movies are multiplexed (have one stream for audio
and video). QuickTime and its relatives (iMovie is one) choke on MUX'd videos. Do you
have something besides iMovie that'll read that camera? Or can you get a memory stick
that'll hold the movie? That way it'll show up in Finder, and all the video toys are right
there for you to use. My fave is VisualHub (discontinued, but released to the public
domain at Open Source - so you can get a perfectly legal copy from anyone while it
is being glommed together at OpenSource by Herve). VH will convert and de-MUX
in one easy step.

[Keith2830]

Al- thanks for your thoughts. The memory stick holds only about 1 minute of movie, and I need to do a bunch of 1 hour ones, so sticks won't work. It looks like I'll just firewire from the camcorder to the Mac and proceed with iMovie and iDVD. I checked out your suggestion of VisualHub, and it looks good too. Thanks. Keith :)