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Budget camcorder recommendations please... (iMovie 08)

chrzis

chrzis

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 10, 2009
25
0
Hi, I've been doing research for a few hours today looking for a SD camcorder on a budget that will work effortlessly with iMovie 08.

Unfortunately, everyone that I've found requires the format to be changed or something or other. Very annoying. The Panasonic SDR-S26 looked great for what I want, and they even advertise on the Panasonic website that it is compatible with iMovie! But it's not, you still need to do an extra process to change the format from .MOD to whatever it is that iMovie 08 recognizes.

Any recommendations anyone? The SD card reader thing sounds good. No moving parts. I have no interest in a fancy HD camcorder. I don't need the extra quality or a higher priced camera.

I am a fan of Canon & Panasonic, but I'm open to suggestions. Thanks.
 
I found that list of recommendations earlier today, and here's the thing... THEY ARE NOT ALL COMPATIBLE!!!

Who would think that apple would not realize this. Some of these camcorders (all the ones that I'm looking at) need to get extra software to convert formats before iMovie 08 will touch it. Strange?

I have now spent the best part of 4 hours researching, and the best solution I have, is to buy a 2nd hand camcorder from ebay with firewire DV capabilities. This fits both my budget, and my purposes.

I would appreciate any suggestions/comments!
 
Alright - I've done a tad more research, and this is what I've found.

http://www.macworld.com/article/133...mia_ow=t0:s0:a38:g2:r9:c0.142312:b23850578:z0

It looks like miniDV is the way to go at the moment. Apple is lagging behind as many formats are unable to be used on a mac. Interesting article, because they found the exact same problems I did...

So, I think I'm doomed to buy technology that is about to be outdated. I have no intention of jumping through hoops to change formats constantly. I want something that plugs in, and works. Period.
 
I can vouch for the Canon Vixia videocams. I have the HF11 and it works flawlessly with iMovie 09.

Apple is not lagging behind with support of new formats. The article you have reference was published in June 2008, that's a lifetime ago in the computing world.

I suggest upgrading from iMovie 08 to 09. You will be doomed to outdated technology, if you are using outdated software.
 
Canon HV30

Check out the canon HV30

yes, it is HD but damn it is sexy and pretty cheap for the amount of quality you get.
And I have used it with imovie.
 
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