PAL miniDV import to iMovie 08 or Final Cut Express4

Hello Everyone,

I'm at a bit of a standstill with a personal project. I have a miniDV encoded in PAL format. It is of my wedding reception in India. The videographer recorded, edited and put in titles and music track, then recorded back to miniDV but I think he must have copy protected the tape.

When I hook the camera up to my Mac I can't get either iMovie 08 or FCX4 to import the video. It works fine will all the tape I've shot in NTSC but with this edited version it just stops and doesn't import anything.

I've about resigned myself to copying to VHS (if I can) then either importing directly to the Mac or copying back to miniDV NTSC then import to Mac.

Does anyone have any ideas how I can do this import now before I break down and have to deal with video loss from copy to copy to import??

Thanks!

Have you set your camera to the PAL format and then try the import?

Thanks for replying.

Yes, I've set the camera for this format and it still won't import. I tried it with Nero on a PC and it tried to import but the video has bars and noise through it with no sound.

My guess here is has to do with the camera. In that a Sony and Canon both write to a miniDV tape, but they may not be able to read the tape the other has written. I don't know if this true or not.

Again, I appreciate the time to answer.
I thought that might have been the case too as I know the video was shot on one of the (not sure of the model but the expensive white long lens) Canon video camera and my little camera is Sony but here's the kicker... The video plays fine in the viewer of my Sony as well as playing fine when connected via RCA out to my Sharp Aquos tv. It just will not import into Nero Vision, Microsoft Movie, iMovie 08 or FCX4.

I just don't know what else to do.

in final cut go to the final cut menu.. click on easy set up and click pal

then import it that way.

Alas...I thought I had done this already but tried it again this morning. The results were the same as all other attempts. I even removed and reinstalled Final Cut Express and same thing.

...bump...

Any other suggestions

help?