importing from JVC camcorder (analog) to ibookG4

[jennylee225]

Morning everyone,

A question to throw out there....I am trying to import analog video footage from my JVC camcorder into my imovie on my ibookG4. I have a firewire cable that has successfully connected - it says in my imovie viewer it is connected and I can control the camera through the computer. However nothing is importing - it is just playing on the camera. Is there some sort of "in vs. out" functionality - I feel as though the computer is communicating with the camera but the feed is not coming into the computer from the camera. Any thoughts? I greatly appreciate any help that is out there!

Thanks,
Jen

 

[killmoms]

If it's analog, you're screwed. I'm pretty sure most camcorders will only stream data out the Firewire port from the tape mechanism if the data on the tape is digital (AKA Digital Hi8 or DV). What's probably happening is that the Firewire connection is giving you deck control, but no video data is being streamed back to the computer (since there's no digital data to send). Since it's analog, you'll probably need a separate A/D video converter. Canopus sells a number of them, the lowest models are pretty affordable. basically you just hook up composites from your camcorder's A/V out into the box, and then Firewire from the box to your computer. Then you can capture with any software you like (like iMovie). Probably have to do live capture though, not logging and capturing, since you won't get a timecode track.

If the camcorder has the ability to convert analog to digital and stream out over Firewire internally, it might just be a setting in the camera is turned off? Consult the user manual, I'd say.