iMovie does not recognize DV to Macbook Pro - Mac-Forums.com

djames210 · 10-22-2009, 10:17 PM

Hi everyone,

I'm attempting to download digital video from my JVC camcorder (GR-D290U) to my macbook pro via a monoprice firewire. For some reason, iMovie does not recognize my camcorder. The trainer at the Apple Store also had great difficulty trouble-shooting. After many tries and ruling just about everything out (computer okay, firewire okay, camcorder okay), we finally got the macbook to recognize the camcorder and it worked fine. He said it just took awhile for no logical reason. Of course when I got home, it didn't recognize the camcorder again!

Does anyone know if there is a "special trick" to get the macbook to recognize the camcorder (maybe a special sequence of events to follow, or something?)

One additional bit of info: he used a different firewire cable, it didn't work. He used the different cable on a different macbook, it didn't work. He tried again, it did work. Then he tried my cable, it worked. Very quirky. Sorry for the long post, this has been very frustrating.

Thanks!

KingJon53 · 10-22-2009, 11:56 PM

in iMovie, there is a preference setting for 'Disable VTR' do that and it won't try to find a timecode...

in doing this you may experience dropped frames or out of sync audio... but it works!

casper69 · 10-23-2009, 03:54 AM

kingjon53

You said dropped frames and out of sync audio, would this just be on the downloading of the film or would it be on the final file

xstep · 10-23-2009, 05:10 PM

KingJon53, where is that preference in iMovie. I couldn't find it in either 09 or HD.

Casper69, if you drop frames during the import, that will affect the output. Ditto for time sync issues.

I'd plug the camera in, set it to playback mode, turn it on, then go into System Profiler and look under the Firewire option to see when the camera appears. Use refresh until you see it. Perhaps for some reason it is just taking time to create a connection. Only after it appears, start up iMovie to see if it can now find it.

djames210 · 10-24-2009, 02:19 PM

Unfortunately, the camera doesn't appear and that's the problem. We got it to appear one time, but not since.

Before I try it, what does "disable VTR" do?

Thanks,
Darrin

xstep · 10-24-2009, 03:34 PM

VTR = Video Tape Recorder

Review the DV connection instructions in the manual on page 45. Read it carefully.

djames210 · 10-25-2009, 02:46 PM

xstep,

Not sure where you found the JVC manual, but thanks. My original is misplaced and I wasn't able to locate on online without paying for it! I will follow the instructions on page 45 and see if it works.

xstep · 10-25-2009, 04:42 PM

I used Google to find the manual. When I think I might find what I'm looking for at the manufacturer site, I preface the search with site specifier like this;

Quote:

site:jvc.com JVC camcorder GR-D290U manual

In this case I got a link to a PDF so I opened it up to see if that was what I was looking for.

djames210 · 11-06-2009, 01:42 PM

Still not working. Not sure what to do next. I think I'll try to borrow the firewire cable from the Apple store to see if that works.

xstep · 11-06-2009, 06:30 PM

Out of curiosity, what version of OS X are you using?

djames210 · 11-15-2009, 09:15 PM

I was using Leopard and have since upgraded to Snow Leopard, OS X 10.6.1. Do you think the OS would make a difference with this problem?

xstep · 11-16-2009, 03:20 AM

If it was working with Leopard, but not working with Snow Leopard, then, yes, I have to wonder if the change to SL is the cause.