Will my Canon camcorder work with iMovie? Help!

[buffalo]

Well first I'm a newb to digital camera editing and iMovie......

I just recently bought a nice new 17" iMac (superdrive). My parents have a Canon ES8200V 8mm video camcorder. I have the task of making some home movies into DVD.

Is this camcorder even compatible with a Mac? If so, what do I need to buy to connect the camera or tapes or w/e to the iMac? My dad bought a program called Dazzle which looks like it could do the job, but I don't think it will work with mac's. Am I correct or misteaken?

Your help is very greatly appriceated!!!
Thanks all.

 

[buffalo]

Again, comming from a total noob...

Would this cable allow me to connect to my iMac? Is this even the right kind of cable or am I toally off?

 

[njmac]

I believe the canon camera that you listed is a hi8 camera not a digital camera.

To get the movies from hi8 to miniDV or into iMovie you need to convert the analog tape into digital. One great way to do this is to buy a digital camcorder (they use miniDV tapes) and pass through the signal. In other words you would connect the canon to the new digital camera, then connect the new camera to the iMac.

 

[njmac]

I see you mention Dazzle. that I believe will do the trick, but only on a PC.

You can buy analog to digital converters for the mac too. One is Canopus but they are rather pricey. At those prices you may as well just buy a digital camcorder so all of your future movies will be digital.

 

[buffalo]

thanks njmac,
this camera is getting kind of old and dazzle was bought a few years ago, before having a mac was a possiblility. i guess i'll have to tell my dad that it's either time to upgrade, or do the work on our PC, .

just out of curioustiy what does the cable I have linked do? is it for newer cameras???

 

[njmac]

Yes. That is the same cable that I use to connect my Canon DV70 to my 12" powerbook. Chances are that is the cable you would use if you bought a new camera.

 

[buffalo]

Yes. That is the same cable that I use to connect my Canon DV70 to my 12" powerbook. Chances are that is the cable you would use if you bought a new camera.

Oh. Well thanks for the help njmac. I'll post back tomorrow if I have anymore questions.

 

[buffalo]

Ok, I'm bringing my old thread from last year back to life.

It finally looks like we're getting closer to an new video camera purchase. I'm looking at this Sony HD Camcorder. Would this work fine with my G5 iMac with iMovie '07? And back to my original question, would I be able to connect my Cannon to the Sony and transfer my Hi8 tapes to the computer? I tried explaining this to the Best Buy dude, but he didn't seem to know what I was talking about.

 

[marioman38]

That'll Deffinatly work with your mac, and its an excellent camera!!!

I'm not sure is it has A/D passthrough though... A quick google will tell you...

 

[buffalo]

and 8 months later...

So last November I wrote about us possibly buying a new camera soon. Well... That just didn't happen.

A few questions...
Will this Canopus ADVC110 Digital Video Converter get the Hi8 video onto the iMac / MacBook? If so, this is a $270 investment. I would still rather invest that into a new camera rather than this converter if the new camera can pass the video through. How am I able to tell which camcorders will be able to get the Hi8 tape onto the mac? Will the Panasonic SD1 AVCHD camera that Steve was bragging about be able to do the trick?

Thanks!

 

[VoodooDaddy]

I bought a Dazzle Hollywood Bridge off Ebay a while ago for about $80 which is an analog to digital converter that works right in iMovie. I don't think these are still made so ebay is about your only way to get one. I've also seen people talk about some elgato product that is about $150.

As far as which camera allow you to connect an analog camera and then do the conversion for you, good luck. They are def few and far between. Actually the only ones I found were Canon ones.