[verakot]

Did you find a solution so HF10 wouuld work on a PowerPC iMac like yours and mine? Thanks!

[tswerv]

I ended up purchasing the HF10 because Best Buy had an incredible sale during the holiday! At first, I was just as happy with the Canon HF10 as I had been with every other Canon product i've owned. It was extremely user friendly and the HD video was excellent during playback on my Samsung 45in 1080p (even though I'm pretty sure its only running at 1080i). However the HF10 froze up and the display went blank. After numerous failed attempts to reset and calls to Canon's helpline, it simply started working again... for only a few days. When it froze a second time, I returned it to the store where i purchased it. I haven't decided on the next purchase.

[xStep]

For those with non-Intel Macs, look at using VoltaicHD; http://shedworx.com/?q=volmac-home

[verakot]

Thanks for your suggestion regarding VoltaicHD. I tried VoltaicHD on my iMac PPC. It took 90 min to convert my 1min HD video into MOV format movie. The resulted video file did not fit my iMac screen and there was not options to resize the screen. Also, after 1-2 ftames the video stops and I can only hear the sound from the video. Tried to convert to other formats, such as MPEG4 etc. however the quality of converted video becomes really bad.

I am really frustrated that I can not do anything with the HD videos on my Macs. Any other suggestions?

[genebeley]

I read the MacWorld review that sold me on the Canon HF10 camcorder, because it indicated it would work seamlessly on a Mac. However, the article writer did not qualify that you need a newer Mac with an Intel processor to have it work. I have an older PowerBook G4 laptop. Imagine my disappointment today when our local computer shop gave me the bad news. They told me I'll have to buy a MacBook Pro for either $699 rebuilt, or a new one for $1999, or an i-Mac stand alone with the 20" screen for $599 rebuilt or $1199 new to download the video I've already shot.
So when you are budgeting, take all this into account with the newer camcorders if you do not have the newer Macs. Tis a bad sin of omission on the article writer's part. I do like the Canon HF10 and will probably go for the newer Mac to begin writing a new chapter in my education, but ouch! Lack of this knowledge hurts deep in the pocketbook. Also, you must have the i-Photo 08 to download your video.

[verakot]

genebeley, I played a little more with my HF10 and iMac G5 PPC and I found a way for it to work on PCC. I also tested HF10 on the latest Intel MacBook Pro with Leopard installed and it actualy worked seamlessly. Here what you need in order to work with your PPC G4:
- latest iMovie from iLife 09
- VoltaicHD software to convert HD movies from your HF10 camcoder to MOV format.

When using VolaticHD, use the default settings to convert your videos to MOV files. Copy them from your camcoder to a local drive, then convert them using this program. It will take a lot of time and processing power, so leave it for a night. It took me almost 2 days to convert 1 hour of HD video to MOV format, and I could not use iMac during that time.
Anyway, you can then import those converted video files to iMovie and create DVDs (strangely you would need to use iDVD for that, since there is no option to write to DVD directly from iMovie).

[genebeley]

Before I wait two days to download anything, I would return the Canon HF10 camcorder. Today I ordered a rebuilt MacPro 17" laptop with the Intel chip from my Stockton Computer Link store and Mac specialist. I also ordered the software suite with iMovie 09. However, after reading others' comments on future storage problems, I'm nervous about keeping the HF-10 and am still on the fence about going back to getting a Canon HV 30 from Wolf Camera. Fortunately, I bought at Costco, which gives buyers a 90 day return policy. I, too, would like to store something more like the MiniDV casettes, which I'm told are only about $6 each. Sometimes "progress" is questionable. However, I've loved the change to digital for my Canon Rebel, so that is what keeps me hanging in there to give this new video chapter in my life a fair trial.

[genebeley]

After using my new Canon HF10 video camcorder for several weeks now, after I bought a 17" MacBook Pro laptop, with i-Life 09 software, it is working seamlessly, as the review stated. However, I am not totally sold on using a tapeless camcorder, because it sucks up so much memory that it will be much more expensive buying Smart Disks to store movie clips on than buying $6 tapes. Also, if I am shooting a birthday party of my four year old granddaughter, then I could just store a tape easier than having to download it and take up hard disk space. So I remain on the fence with this new technology of the tapeless camcorder.