Mac-compatible DV camcorders - ???

[Catanea]

Hello. I have read a lot of threads on this subject, but my question seems unanswered.
We have a new Intel MacBook.
My husband had (it just died) a Sony IP1E Handycam.
He has worked around the limitations (muxed recordings-inability to import ambient sound with video images), &c. for the two years he's had the Handycam, but loved its size and discretion (people get all hammy when they realize he's filming - they forget the Handycam).
Obviously now we need a new one. So I am trying to find out.
What camcorder will allow us to (easily? automatically?) import the ambient recorded sound WITH the video into iMovie?
And the second question: is there such a camera AS SMALL AS the Handycam?
For two years he has never left the house without the camera in his pocket. Now for a week he is handicapped by its lack.
Is there a genuinely Mac-compatible DV recorder that fits in a pocket?
Please, somebody help me. I get delegated the "shopping" job, but I am drowning in a sea of specifications.
Can you help?
Thank you,
Catanea😎

 

[GregE]

This might help.

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=306171

 

[ftaok]

For two years he has never left the house without the camera in his pocket. Now for a week he is handicapped by its lack.
Is there a genuinely Mac-compatible DV recorder that fits in a pocket?

The Canon TX1 is pretty small and records 1280x720/30fps. It's slightly larger than a Digital Elph (which is very small). It records in M-JPEG format and I believe that it is compatible with iMovie, but you'll have to confirm that.

Sanyo has a few small camcorders in their Xacti line. All are HD capable and again, I believe they are Mac compatible.

Panasonic has a small AVCHD camcorder that records onto SD cards. I think the new one is the SD5. This is definately compatible with Macs/iMovie.

I've seen a Samsung SD Camcorder that records onto SD cards. I'm not sure of the model number or whether it's Mac/iMovie compatible. But I do think that it's very small.

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[Catanea]

Thank you both - now I am collating all the camcorders on that list with the manufacturer's specs...and if I can narrow down my question to just a few, maybe I can ask here and find someone with experience using those. I'll be back when I've done more homework. Thank you!
c😎

 

[messa]

Panasonic HDD camcorders are compatible..

We had the same issues, trying to find a hard drive camcorder that was compatible with our imac. We purchased a Panasonic HDD SDR H40 40 GB camcorder. Because we have imovie '08, all we had to add to our imac was MacOSX.5 Leopard. Our Panasonic works just fine. We are able to transfer video from the camcorder to our imovie, no problem. We had heard over and over again, to not buy Sony products. They don't bode well with mac computers. Both the people at Best Buy and our local mac store helped us.