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From Canon to iMac to DVD???

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Hello all

My dad has had some tapes he recorded, while on holiday, on his Canon ZR30MC Mini DV Camcorder which is in NTSC format. I told him I would try and convert them on my iMac but I'm not sure what I need to connect the camcorder to my iMac. Now the iMac I have is a 2GHz Intel Core Duo and I need to know how to get the movie files converted to PAL and then to DVD also.

If anybody can help me, it would be much appreciated.

Cheers

Jim
 

rman


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Does the camera have a firewire port? If so you will need a 4pin to 6pin firewire cable to connect the camera to the computer. Once connected you should be able to use iMovie to get the video off of the camera. I don't know if yiou can change the format of the video in iMovie. I believe you can in Final Cut Express.

Hopefully someone else will come along and clear this up.
 
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Jim007

I was just loaned a Canon ZR45 recorder. I bought the firewire cable referred to by "rman" at Radio Shack -- it was about $45.

My problem is pretty basic. I hooked up the cable to my Mac and turned the camera on. It didn't show up on the monitor as a source like an Ipod would, even when I started the Canon running the tape.

Can someone tell me where I went wrong?
 

rman


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Place the camera in VCR mode, then start iMovie. The iMovie application should see the camera and you should be able to control the camera from with in iMovie.
 
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jim007
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Thanks for the help guys... but could anybody tell me the easiest way to convert these movies from NTSC to PAL? rman said it might be possible in Final Cut Express...
 
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Does the camera have a firewire port? If so you will need a 4pin to 6pin firewire cable to connect the camera to the computer. Once connected you should be able to use iMovie to get the video off of the camera. I don't know if yiou can change the format of the video in iMovie. I believe you can in Final Cut Express.

Hopefully someone else will come along and clear this up.

So you just can't do it via regular USB? My Samsung SC-D6550 Duo Cam only has USB.....and iMovie doesn't do ANYTHING when I plug it in....
 
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So you just can't do it via regular USB? My Samsung SC-D6550 Duo Cam only has USB.....and iMovie doesn't do ANYTHING when I plug it in....
If this is a tape based camera, then no, iMovie cannot deal with it. Look for alternative methods which have been discussed many times here.
 

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