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#1 2006-11-22 9:19 pm
- rbinet
- Member
- Registered: 2006-11-22
- Posts: 4
My camcorder doesn't work with my mac, any workaround or fix?
Hi,
I have a Sony MiniDVD Handycam Camcorder that I got for my birthday about a year ago. I went to the sony website for help and it said that it wasn't compatible with a mac. It has no firewire cable just USB, and nothing happens when I plug it into my computer. I was wondering if anybody knew of anything I could do about this.
Any help would be greatly appreciated
Thank you,
Rob
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#2 2006-11-22 9:55 pm
- Aqua OS X
- Shark Sandwich
- From: Oakland, CA
- Registered: 2000-06-05
- Posts: 12669
Re: My camcorder doesn't work with my mac, any workaround or fix?
I think you're up a creak with that camera. There have been a few forum threads about Sony's MiniDVD handycams.
http://www.macaddict.com/forums/topic/85198
All in all, it doesn't look like they are very standards compliant. I don't know why Sony does stuff like this time and time again. You really need a camera that supports MiniDV (not MiniDVD) and FireWire (not just USB). Regardless of whether you're using a Mac or a PC, that's the industry standard.
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#3 2006-11-23 10:31 am
- Czachorski
- Member
- Registered: 2002-12-20
- Posts: 5592
Re: My camcorder doesn't work with my mac, any workaround or fix?
Not knowing much about the format sony is using - but because it is on a mini-DVD, it must be a digital video file on that disc. There must be some software out there that would convert it. You need to convert it to DV stream, which is the standard codec for NTSC video and the codec that iMovie will edit in. Once it is converted to DV stream, open iMovie, and then just import the file.
Good luck.
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#4 2006-11-23 12:58 pm
- icebook1
- That college kid
- From: Virginia
- Registered: 2001-05-27
- Posts: 1384
Re: My camcorder doesn't work with my mac, any workaround or fix?
Hate to burst your bubble, but I've been told that it's near impossible to get the video off of those mini-DVDs to edit on a Mac. I think the camcorder records straight to MPEG-2, which is the DVD standard. It doesn't go to like, MP4 or something first. I believe these are the mini-DVDs that you can pop straight into a DVD player after you record, correct?
Sorry, dude. You gotta get a new camera or use some sketchy-illegal tools to convert your movie files (which we can't talk about on here).
Oh, and if you have a slot-loading Mac, DO NOT insert the mini-DVDs into the optical drive! They'll get stuck and bust the drive. At least this used to be the case, anyone know about the new Macs/drives?
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#5 2006-11-23 3:52 pm
- Czachorski
- Member
- Registered: 2002-12-20
- Posts: 5592
Re: My camcorder doesn't work with my mac, any workaround or fix?
icebook1 wrote:
Hate to burst your bubble, but I've been told that it's near impossible to get the video off of those mini-DVDs to edit on a Mac. I think the camcorder records straight to MPEG-2, which is the DVD standard. It doesn't go to like, MP4 or something first. I believe these are the mini-DVDs that you can pop straight into a DVD player after you record, correct?
Sorry, dude. You gotta get a new camera or use some sketchy-illegal tools to convert your movie files (which we can't talk about on here).
Oh, and if you have a slot-loading Mac, DO NOT insert the mini-DVDs into the optical drive! They'll get stuck and bust the drive. At least this used to be the case, anyone know about the new Macs/drives?
Link. Mpeg2 in those discs would be good news. There are tons of programs that will take that to DV stream.
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#6 2006-11-23 5:14 pm
- FuturDreamz
- President of Starship Enterprises
- From: Athabasca, AB
- Registered: 2006-10-02
- Posts: 32
Re: My camcorder doesn't work with my mac, any workaround or fix?
icebook1 wrote:
Hate to burst your bubble, but I've been told that it's near impossible to get the video off of those mini-DVDs to edit on a Mac. I think the camcorder records straight to MPEG-2, which is the DVD standard. It doesn't go to like, MP4 or something first. I believe these are the mini-DVDs that you can pop straight into a DVD player after you record, correct?
Sorry, dude. You gotta get a new camera or use some sketchy-illegal tools to convert your movie files (which we can't talk about on here).
Oh, and if you have a slot-loading Mac, DO NOT insert the mini-DVDs into the optical drive! They'll get stuck and bust the drive. At least this used to be the case, anyone know about the new Macs/drives?
yeah, if you push it in with another cd or whatever, it is automatically ejected. there is problably an option in the camera to convert into a diffrent format.
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#7 2006-11-23 5:50 pm
- Aqua OS X
- Shark Sandwich
- From: Oakland, CA
- Registered: 2000-06-05
- Posts: 12669
Re: My camcorder doesn't work with my mac, any workaround or fix?
All in all, you're going to need to rip the mini dvds to your mac using something like DVDxDV:
http://www.dvdxdv.com/DVDxDV.overview.htm
Although, if you have a slot-loading Mac you're not going to be able to insert a Mini DVD.
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#8 2006-11-23 8:29 pm
- rbinet
- Member
- Registered: 2006-11-22
- Posts: 4
Re: My camcorder doesn't work with my mac, any workaround or fix?
Thanks for your help guys. Looks like I am going to have to get a new one.
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#9 2006-11-23 9:30 pm
- pottymouth
- Uncreative
- Moderator
- From: JP, MA
- Registered: 2002-02-06
- Posts: 17411
- Website
Re: My camcorder doesn't work with my mac, any workaround or fix?
What you want is a DV camera, nothing else.
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#10 2006-11-23 11:26 pm
- 333imacman
- Disappointed
- From: Minnesota
- Registered: 2002-05-26
- Posts: 2171
- Website
Re: My camcorder doesn't work with my mac, any workaround or fix?
didn't companies that made miniDVD recorders used to sell little disc holders that would allow slot loading drives to load mini dvd's correctly?
i don't understand most things
i don't really want to
i just want the strength
to keep fighting it
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#11 2006-11-24 10:02 am
- fuzzynormal
- Member
- Registered: 2001-03-26
- Posts: 1083
- Website
Re: My camcorder doesn't work with my mac, any workaround or fix?
You can run an analog signal out of the camera, through an analog/dv converter to get DV into your Mac, but the video quality won't be all that great. MPEG2 has lots of compression artifacts.
I use a Sony converter for converting analog signals, but it's discontinued. I think Canopus makes one though... google it.
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#12 2006-11-24 10:05 am
- fuzzynormal
- Member
- Registered: 2001-03-26
- Posts: 1083
- Website
Re: My camcorder doesn't work with my mac, any workaround or fix?
The Canopus ADVC55
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#13 2006-11-24 5:27 pm
- Ice Cream Man
- With QP technology
- From: Mesa, AZ
- Registered: 2002-04-17
- Posts: 1324
- Website
Re: My camcorder doesn't work with my mac, any workaround or fix?
icebook1 wrote:
Hate to burst your bubble, but I've been told that it's near impossible to get the video off of those mini-DVDs to edit on a Mac. I think the camcorder records straight to MPEG-2, which is the DVD standard. It doesn't go to like, MP4 or something first. I believe these are the mini-DVDs that you can pop straight into a DVD player after you record, correct?
Sorry, dude. You gotta get a new camera or use some sketchy-illegal tools to convert your movie files (which we can't talk about on here).
Oh, and if you have a slot-loading Mac, DO NOT insert the mini-DVDs into the optical drive! They'll get stuck and bust the drive. At least this used to be the case, anyone know about the new Macs/drives?
Dude you've got to be kidding me, you have the Handbreak icon for your avatar. And you are telling him that he needs a new camera. The most he would need is a tray loading dvd drive. To read the media, and he could use Handbreak and make it into mp4 (at 100%) which is also importable to iMovie.
He doesn't need a different camera unless he's not willing to wait for the transcode in Handbreak. Only if speed is a real issue will he need a standard DV camera with FW.
Part of the inhumanity of the computer is that, once it is competently programmed and working smoothly, it is completely honest. -- Isaac Asimov
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#14 2006-11-24 10:17 pm
- Czachorski
- Member
- Registered: 2002-12-20
- Posts: 5592
Re: My camcorder doesn't work with my mac, any workaround or fix?
Ice Cream Man wrote:
icebook1 wrote:
Hate to burst your bubble, but I've been told that it's near impossible to get the video off of those mini-DVDs to edit on a Mac. I think the camcorder records straight to MPEG-2, which is the DVD standard. It doesn't go to like, MP4 or something first. I believe these are the mini-DVDs that you can pop straight into a DVD player after you record, correct?
Sorry, dude. You gotta get a new camera or use some sketchy-illegal tools to convert your movie files (which we can't talk about on here).
Oh, and if you have a slot-loading Mac, DO NOT insert the mini-DVDs into the optical drive! They'll get stuck and bust the drive. At least this used to be the case, anyone know about the new Macs/drives?Dude you've got to be kidding me, you have the Handbreak icon for your avatar. And you are telling him that he needs a new camera. The most he would need is a tray loading dvd drive. To read the media, and he could use Handbreak and make it into mp4 (at 100%) which is also importable to iMovie.
He doesn't need a different camera unless he's not willing to wait for the transcode in Handbreak. Only if speed is a real issue will he need a standard DV camera with FW.
I was thinking the same thing, but trying to be a little more polite. 
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