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Imovie Firewire Help

L

lilrichie

macrumors regular
Original poster
Feb 13, 2007
126
0
Hello I have recently been given a Panasonic SDR-H20EB-S camcorder for capturing the first years of my first child, i have also bought a Powerbook G4 and Ilife '06 to edit and create some dvd's on,

the problem i have is that my camcorder has a USB out and dosent have a firewire and ImovieHD requires a Firewire cable to work this is the port i have on the camera;

does anyone have any ideas how i can connect my camera to the computer i have had a look around but can't find a cable sutible anywhere.

Many Thanks
Richard
 

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That is really weird I thought all digital camcorders had a FireWire port. You could try an EyeTV and use the RCA style plugs to capture the video. Use S-Video if your camera and the EyeTV that you get support it. The EyeTV is made by a company called El Gato.
 
Hmm is that the easiest option?!

I will look into it but if anyone else knows of something easier and cheaper i would be greatful.
 
There should be other ports on there. Look for one called DV or HDV.

Then go out and buy a 4-pin to 6-pin firewire cable. Best Buy has them. The 4-pin end fits in there.

cam-1394connector.jpg
 
I have used a Sony HDD HD camcorder with only a USB port.
I found that it required iMovie 08 and an Intel Mac because it was in AVCHD format, but seeing as your camera is not HD, it may just mount as a disk when you plug it in to your computer.
You could then just copy the video off the disk and drag it into iMovie HD.
Hope that works!
 
ClassicBean said:
There should be other ports on there. Look for one called DV or HDV.

Then go out and buy a 4-pin to 6-pin firewire cable. Best Buy has them. The 4-pin end fits in there.

cam-1394connector.jpg
Click to expand...

Their is no port on their like that i have looked and i looked on amazon and it says that it dosent support firewire, so i dont know how i am going to get my films off it.
 
Newbie here (to the forum, NOT the mac or video...) I have experienced the same problem as lilrichie, here is what I have found out....lilrichie, the port in your picture is a 5 pin USB, google a 5 pin to firewire adapter, I think they are about 10.00....I have the same problem..... used my canon gl1, like forever, absolutely no problem with the 1394 connection, bought a new Sony and as I have discovered the hardware/circuitry in the camera was not designed for firewire....ONLY USB, I am at a real crossroads with how to handle this without the intermediate step of transferring the video to something the mac recognizes.....can anyone offer any thoughts????
 
mobjack68 said:
Newbie here (to the forum, NOT the mac or video...) I have experienced the same problem as lilrichie, here is what I have found out....lilrichie, the port in your picture is a 5 pin USB, google a 5 pin to firewire adapter, I think they are about 10.00....I have the same problem..... used my canon gl1, like forever, absolutely no problem with the 1394 connection, bought a new Sony and as I have discovered the hardware/circuitry in the camera was not designed for firewire....ONLY USB, I am at a real crossroads with how to handle this without the intermediate step of transferring the video to something the mac recognizes.....can anyone offer any thoughts????
Click to expand...
I've never heard of a 5-pin USB to Firewire adapter. Doesn't mean it doesn't exist, but I think you might be thinking of a USB-A to USB-B cable.

Anyways, a USB to Firewire adapter wouldn't work since the camcorder doesn't have the necessary processors to drive the Firewire connection.

Anyways, to answer the OPs question.

That model number indicates to me that it's a Panny SD-HDD camcorder using MPEG-2. The Panny SDR-H200 is compatible with iMovie'08, so yours might be too.

You need to upgrade to iMovie'08. If you have an apple store nearby, just drop in and test it out.
 
ftaok said:
That model number indicates to me that it's a Panny SD-HDD camcorder using MPEG-2. The Panny SDR-H200 is compatible with iMovie'08, so yours might be too.

You need to upgrade to iMovie'08.
Click to expand...

There inlies another problem, he has a G4 PowerBook.

iMovie'08 only works on Intel Macs.

As for transfering the footage, You should be able to plug the camera in to the PowerBook with the USB cable and see files that can be transfered.

They will then need to be trancoded to something your iMovie or another program can edit.

I did a lot of research on this site and others back in January, so I know the information is out there to tell you how to do it. (Google is your friend.)

Worse case, trade up to a MacBook or even a MacMini or find someone who has a firewire camcorder and make a trade...
 
rjphoto said:
There inlies another problem, he has a G4 PowerBook.

iMovie'08 only works on Intel Macs.
Click to expand...
Not true. iMovie'08 works on G4 Macs and up. The only feature that's Intel exclusive is working with AVCHD footage ... which the OP doesn't have.
 
ftaok said:
Not true. iMovie'08 works on G4 Macs and up. The only feature that's Intel exclusive is working with AVCHD footage ... which the OP doesn't have.
Click to expand...

Umm, have you tried? When I installed iLife 08 on my powerbook it didn't let me install iMovie 08.

From apple.com
iMovie requires a Mac with an Intel processor, a Power Mac G5 (dual 2.0GHz or faster), or an iMac G5 (1.9GHz or faster).
 
gauchogolfer said:
Umm, have you tried? When I installed iLife 08 on my powerbook it didn't let me install iMovie 08.

From apple.com
iMovie requires a Mac with an Intel processor, a Power Mac G5 (dual 2.0GHz or faster), or an iMac G5 (1.9GHz or faster).
Click to expand...

You're right. I glanced over the requirements for iLife, not iMovie.

Hmmm, so that's what my foot tastes like ... ;)
 
Some cameras work as disks if you plug them in to the computer via USB. So then you could find the video files and just do a drag and drop into iMovie HD. That is probably not the convenient fix, but it is much cheaper than getting a new computer.
 
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