Please help transfer from sony

[Stacy~75]

I’m trying to figure out how to transfer my digital video from my Sony camcorder to my Mac. I was told by Mac to upgrade to QuickTime pro and go from there. I have done this and still have no idea what I’m doing. When I plug in my camera Iphotos starts and Imovie does not recognize. QuickTime tells me that it cannot parse it. I’m just so confused.
Can someone help an armature please? 😱
Thanks

 

[Cromulent]

Plug your camera in. Start iMovie, hit capture. It is done.

You say iMovie does not recognise it, which model camera do you have?

 

[Stacy~75]

the DCR-SR100 30gb handycam .
I just don't get it. a few weeks ago i brought my camera into the mac store and it worked there.

 

[LethalWolfe]

That camera (and any consumer camera that shoots to a HDD, miniDVD, or memory stick) shoots in a format that isn't supported by iMovie. If you do a search of the Digital Video area looking for things like "MPEG2" or "HDD camera" you'll find other threads discussing how to transcode the footage into a codec that you can work with on a Mac.


Lethal

 

[teleromeo]

the DCR-SR100 30gb handycam .
I just don't get it. a few weeks ago i brought my camera into the mac store and it worked there.

Why not pop in there with your configuration and ask them what you should do to get ik working... If you bougt everything over there they should give you some basic explanation.

 

[-DH]

the DCR-SR100 30gb handycam .
I just don't get it. a few weeks ago i brought my camera into the mac store and it worked there.

Step 1: Transfer the recorded files from the camera's drive to a hard drive on your Mac.

Step 2. Use a program like MPEG Streamclip to demux and/or convert the files into an editable format that iMovie will accept.

Step 3: Import the converted files into iMovie.

- OR -

Return the camera and exchange it for one that records to tape so you can capture normally.

-DH

 

[Stacy~75]

Why not pop in there with your configuration and ask them what you should do to get ik working... If you bougt everything over there they should give you some basic explanation.

this is my next step. i was hoping to figure it out on my own with a new baby at home. what a pain.

 

[ChrisA]

the DCR-SR100 30gb handycam .
I just don't get it. a few weeks ago i brought my camera into the mac store and it worked there.

So you camera records to MPEG-2 format. This is what DVDs use. It is not the format to record in if you plan to do much editing but you can convert it to DV format and then import that to iMovie. Just get the files into the mac and then use something like Handbrake o do the conversion.

 

[Stacy~75]

Thank You

Thank you all for your input and advice. I'm starting to figure out what i need to do to make this work. We all start somewhere, right?

Thanks Again,
Stacy

 

[Anonymous Freak]

At present, the only camera formats that work well on a Mac are standard-definition 'miniDV' cameras, and high-definition 'HDV' cameras. Both record to tape. Avoid camcorders that record to mini DVD, or that record to hard drive (standard or high definition,) because they have formats that the Mac doesn't presently support.

I am hoping that iLife '07 will add support for the new 'AVCHD' high-definition format, which would add high-definition DVD and hard drive camcorders to the 'works' list. But I'm going to wait until then to buy a new camcorder, just to be safe.

 

[whenpaulsparks]

copy it to your hard drive and then use the free MPEG Streamclip utility (google for it), and then you can do File/Export to DV... and it will convert it to a DV file that you can drop into iMovie or FCE/FCP.

 

[gkarris]

Make sure has Firewire Out

Some cameras, though record to hard drive or DVD, have a firewireoutput that converts it to DV and streams it out the firewire port. There maybe a setting in your camera that makes this happen if you have the port.

My Sony DVD camcorder doesn't have a firewire, only USB. But, I have a nice Pioneer DVD recorder that not only has input on the firewire port for recording, but firewire DV output when playing an unencrypted DVD. That goes right into the Mac...