Problems with SONY

This is me first forum, my first post and my first mac problem,

I bought a Sony handy cam with a hard disk memory, no tapes or disks. It doesn't mention that it is not mac compatible until page 16 of the directions, in every small print. I called them and kind of just said tough not their problem...STUPID SONY. So, not really familiar with the video editing world; I did some research and found out that the information, when stored on the hard disk after recording, is muxed. OK look up muxed...multiplexed - combined audio and video into one string of information in order to conserve space, kind of like zipped. I think I got this much right in my head. I found a file conversion program called "MPEG Streamclip 1.8" but now it is saying that I need to buy an "add-on" for quick time 6 or 7 in order to play the Mpeg-2 file. I don't know if I will be able to edit this on imove after the conversion. Can someone please help point me in a direction-

- preferred file conversion software
- somewhere to get this add-on, that will not cost me more and more money
- an easier way of dealing with muxed information
- tell me why I bought a SONY

any information will help greatly, thank you

Why not just return the camera and get one that uses a standard format (eg. Mini DV?)

I tried that..

I am currently overseas with the US forces in the gulf and product support is virtually nonexistent over here. I did try to bring it back to the exchange but because there was nothing fundamentally wrong with the Camera they said they could not take it back and I would have to go through SONY; they basically said it was a software issue and if nothing was wrong with the camera there was nothing they could do, sorry.

So now I have this camera and have to work with what is available. But you right a mini-DVD would have been the better option had I researched it a but further.

Any suggestions would be awesome, thanks

Only you can answer why you bought a Sony... but to be fair to the company, their cams are amongst the best, but their storage methods are almost always proprietry; going right back to Betamax, through mini-8 (which eventually became standard), Minidisc (which didn't) and Pro Duo...

Quicktime will open it, with a plugin - it needs the plugin because of licensing issues, no fault of Apple's. If you have Quicktime Pro, ($29 and a great investment to be honest) you should be able to 'save as' any format you want.

Otherwise it's going to be a 3rd party solution.

Lesson here is that you should always ask if something is going to be compatible with Mac. I don't understand Sony, because 3 or 4 years ago, everything they did was Mac friendly - phone, cameras, the whole lot. Now they have this huge rivalry with MS in the console space, they seem to be cosy-ing up with Redmond more than ever. One has to suspect that the lack of Mac compatibility in their recent products is deliberate.

Zoolook I think this mess started with the iTunes Music Store and the iPod dominance quite strangely enough. It seems that when iTMS tried to get record deals with the big record labels (included in there Sony/BMG), things started to go downhill after that especially when Sony tried to impose its own music player and it flopped.

Zoolook thank you for the input and I too feel that upgrade to Quick time is the best option given my position; it is a win win at the end of the day. I am not too sure who Redmund is, but I will let him and people like him or her contemplate the console wars and issues of compatibility. Some battles are easier fought as a pawn, there is power in numbers.

ManicMAC said:

I am not too sure who Redmund is, but I will let him and people like him or her contemplate the console wars and issues of compatibility. Some battles are easier fought as a pawn, there is power in numbers.

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LOL - Redmond is where Microsoft are located. Sorry, this is a pseudonym for Microsoft.

Sony sucks...

ManicMAC said:

I am currently overseas with the US forces in the gulf and product support is virtually nonexistent over here. I did try to bring it back to the exchange but because there was nothing fundamentally wrong with the Camera they said they could not take it back and I would have to go through SONY; they basically said it was a software issue and if nothing was wrong with the camera there was nothing they could do, sorry.

So now I have this camera and have to work with what is available. But you right a mini-DVD would have been the better option had I researched it a but further.

Any suggestions would be awesome, thanks

Click to expand...

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How outrageous is Sony? To say to a guy who is fighting for his country that his mac in-compatible camera is 'not their problem' is disgusting. You should have gone to the press mate - that would have made them sit up.