Canon HF-10/imovie '09 help

[Moejinator0244]

Hi,
I have been using my Canon Vixia HF-10 with iMovie '09 for a year now, and it has been working beautifully. That is until roughly two months ago when my iMovie stopped recognizing my camera out of nowhere. Every time I connect my camera to my iMac, my camera will pop up on my desktop like normal. However, when I open iMovie, my camera does not show up. There isn't even an error message of any sorts as if iMovie is just completely not seeing my camera.

I have already taken my computer out to the genius bar. They diagnosed the problem as Apple had accidently dropped support for my camera in a recent update and I would just have to wait for an update.

Is anyone having this same problem or can you offer solutions?

 

[RickSchmelz]

One possible solution

I don't have experience with the HF10, but I do support some Vixia HG20s and have seen this happen.

What's worked for me is to have the camera do a complete format on the storage meda (internal memory, SD card, whatever.) DISCLAIMER: I make no guarantees, your mileage my vary, back up all of your footage before doing this, etc.

The Mac apparently relies on both the specific directory structure and some individual files on the mdeia to recognize it as a camera. In my case, a student deleted a bunch of random stuff from one of our cameras, and iMovie stopped recognizing it.

I know it's a giant PITA to have to back up your footage so the media can be wiped, but it should restore the camera to being recognized by iMovie.