Panasonic NV-GS120??...help me

[jacklatimore]

Have bought the PANASONIC NV-GS120 and understand that I need a firewire cable to use it with my Mac ( why didn't the pinhead at the store inform me of this when I told him what I wanted to use it for?). Where I'm confounded is: Where does this cable attach to the camera?? Since the supplied USB cable and disc driver doesn't seem to run on Mac, is it useless to me??? Do I need to acquire some kind of Mac friendly disc driver now to get camera and computer on working terms?? And any other relevant information from your learned minds would be appreciated. And please, I am a Mac idiot. Please please simple instructions/advice.
Cheers

 

[blackfox]

Have bought the PANASONIC NV-GS120 and understand that I need a firewire cable to use it with my Mac ( why didn't the pinhead at the store inform me of this when I told him what I wanted to use it for?). Where I'm confounded is: Where does this cable attach to the camera?? Since the supplied USB cable and disc driver doesn't seem to run on Mac, is it useless to me??? Do I need to acquire some kind of Mac friendly disc driver now to get camera and computer on working terms?? And any other relevant information from your learned minds would be appreciated. And please, I am a Mac idiot. Please please simple instructions/advice.
Cheers

I will try to help, but I don't own a Panasonic Camcorder, so I can't tell you definitively. As far as educated guesses, the firewire connection might be hidden under a removeable (or flip-top) piece of plastic (my old sony does this). Look for a small rectangle with a slight indentation on the left side ( I believe it uses the 4-pin connection).

As for the supplied USB cable, if your Mac is new and has a USB2 port, then you should be able to use the cable for high-speed transfer of your PHOTOS, taken with the still camera function. I believe that the cable (and function) is backwards compatible with regular USB (1.1), so you should still be able to transfer photos, just at a slower rate.

The software you received is probably useless to you on a Mac, but I am not sure what you are describing exactly.

All you need is iMovie to capture your video (via firewire) and iPhoto to capture your still photos (via USB). You should have both of those available since they come with OSX.

Hope this helps and is mostly correct.

Good luck.

 

[jacklatimore]

Alrighty...

Thanx Blackfox. That does clear some things up and ease my mind (I was going to hunt that sales boy down). As for the Frewire port, I've pried back all the plastic flaps and have found a DV input, the USB input, AV in/out and of course the mic and phones and the S-Video in/out. Do I use one of these? Because there aren't any others and in which case I shall have to resume the hunt. the software disc contains the USB driver, webcam Driver, SD viewr, DV Studio, and Arcsoft photo type stuff. Should I throw this at the sales boy?

 

[caveman_uk]

I've got one of these cameras!

You need a 4-pin to 6-pin firewire cable. The socket for the 4-pin end is on the camera under a cover. It's called DV-in I think - it's the only one the cable will fit. It may be a bit tight - mine is. To use the camera as a video camera that's all you need - apart from a tape Once you've filmed some stuff turn the dial thing to play back (not record) and attach the camera to the mac via the firewire cable. Either iMovie will start up or just click the icon for imovie. You can then import the footage for editing.

The USB cable is for getting still images off of the SD card. It isn't used for video AFAIK. I've never bothered actually trying but it may 'just work' like a normal camera and iphoto.

Basically ignore the software disc.

 

[blackfox]

As cavemanUK notes:

A. The DV port is your firewire connection. You need a 4 pin/6 pin cable (basically big- small).

B. Do throw the Disc at the sales boy. It is otherwise useless.

 

[jacklatimore]

Cheers Folks

Thankyou Blackfox and UKcaveman. All crystal now. Had a bad experience with Panasonic D-Snap a while back. Have flashbacks every time I buy new equipment.