Macs & Camcorders for Webinars

[AnimalOsteopath]

Hi, All

I'm really stuck, and hope someone can help! I want to run a live webinar on an iMac using a camcorder (so I can pan in and out). I've tried 3 camcorders so far and none of them will feed into the Mac, though with all of them I can download any video taken with the camera. Does anyone have any advice as to which camera I should buy so I can feed into the Mac? Many thanks.

 

[gsahli]

Does your Mac have firewire? I have done what you want with a firewire-connected Canon wide format (not HD). Yes, it was a 5 yr old camera and not my current Mac mini.
Firewire uses a kernel driver, so it's more continuous - for video.
So, I recommend any firewire camera - not USB.

 

[AnimalOsteopath]

Thanks very much! I think the secret seems to be that the camera you used was so much older. We've been told that we need a box between the camera and the Mac to translate the HD (?) info from the camera into something the Mac understands, even with a Firewire. I can't believe it's so complicated when Macs are usually so amazing! We're going to test this box thing tomorrow, at which point I will make sure I remember what it is called (Black something or other!) and will post the answer here. Thanks again for your help.
Claire