Cant import from MV940/30

[anneke2000]

hi, i am making a movie and have never had a problem with the camera (Canon mini dv MV940) before in iMovie but now the mac/camera aren't recognizing each other. It might be the fire wire lead or the port on the camera as the as the dv-in isnt coming up, we tried it on a few different firewire leads but it didnt appear or it flashes (not sustained as it should be) this could be because the fire wire port on the camera might have been damaged but looks fine.

We then borrowed another similar canon mini dv MV930 but this one doesn't even flash when plugged in with firewire. We tried it with USB but imovie doesn't recognize it... any suggestions? Thanks

 

[JediMeister]

Mini-DV camcorders only import video through FireWire. I think only the hard drive / mini DVD disc camcorders import via USB. Things to isolate where the issue lies, whether with the computer's FW port(s), the cable, or the camera: if you have another computer, Mac or PC, hook up the camera with the same cable/setup, does it work? If not, try a different cable? If it works with another computer, without requiring a different cable, consider a PRAM reset on the Mac, and have iMovie open before connecting the camera. Make sure that iMovie is fully updated as well. Create another user account on the computer, and try importing with that as well. If it doesn't work on either account, original or the newly-created one, may be time to consider reinstalling iMovie...

 

[anneke2000]

cool, thanks, i've tried it on 3 difeerent macs (have no pc's) and it doesnt work, i think it might be the leads or the connection on the camera as only one of them gets any response on one camera and it still seems dodgy as the camera dv-in icon flashes which means the computer is fine... i tried using another almost idenical camera but none of the leads triggered any reaction... i cant see why out of 2 cameras and 4 leads and 3 computers (one brand new) although it seems unlikely that two camera's firewire ports will just stop working..
none will make a proper connection when they were fine a couple of days ago..
i'll try updating imovie but i dont think its a software thing as i've tested multiple computers (with the same leads) and its worked fine before and nothings changed

Is there any alternative way of importing dv tapes which isnt too expensive, a hub or video jack or usb converter for mac (as i think its a firewire problem)?

Thanks again

 

[anneke2000]

also the camera can play on tv through the video jack so it is sending an output... i can record it to dvd then use handbrake to improt it but that it quite a long way around...

 

[anneke2000]

dont worry, i now think the cameras broken as it wont turn on (even when plugged in) although it still seems strange that the other virtually identical camera wont reconise the mac either but maybe the firewire never worked on it as it was always used with usb on pc... thanks for your help