VHS to iMovie Hoo-haa (not again!!)

Goodness me - I am trying to archive my old VHS tapes, and have tried many things so far. I have a camcorder by Sony (Sony Handycam DCR-PC110E) that can act as a Analog to Digital convertor and have checked all the right settings for it in accordance with the manual that states it can be used as such, so that is good (enabling analog to digital output and making display LCD etc). I was linking the VCR to the camcorder with the three red, yellow and white plugs (through a scart adapter) and hooking them up to the jack of the camcorder (like the diagrams I have seen indicate) and the VHS playback appears in the camcorder window when the VCR is playing - so far so good. However, when connecting the camcorder to my iMac via the firewire cable supplied by the SONY camcorder it cannot find the incoming source. The message iMovie gives me is that there is no cassette to be found. I've rebooted and tried all ways of switching on and off for days. Then I put an old DV cassette in the camcorder and iMovie then asked me to start the import - but of course it plays the cassette in the camcorder and bypasses the VCR playback that is streaming into the camcorder. iMovie can find the camcorder, I have been able to save stuff from the odd DV cassette I have, so why does the analog to Digital function not seem to work when every web site (and the Sony manual) say that it does? I was using s-video cables as well as the red yellow and white from the VCR into the camcorder to begin with but that rendered the incoming playback black and white (even though they were mulitcolour s-video cables). I seem to be doing everything right and am loathe to buy an ADS Tech Pyro or Elgato Eye thingy when I have all the kit and cables I need in triplicate! I have looked at the iMovie help to see if I need to find an incoming setting etc. but I seem to be doing things right. Does anybody have any advice that they can offer? Of course I have now resorted to telling salespeople at Maplin and MicroAnvika that they should sell scart to usb or scart to firewire cables or stock analog to digital converters that are Mac compatible. They all just look at me as if I am speaking a foreign language....

For starters, please break up the giant paragraph so that it's easier to read.

Second, what is the exact model of the camcorder? You may need to enable pass through mode for iMovie to read from the VCR rather than the DV tape.

Hi Kash
Thanks for prompt reply.
Apologies for tight paragraph....:-(
THe model of the camcorder is listed - Sony Handycam DCR-PC110E
I have flicked the setting that it tells me to in the camcorder manual but still no dice.

Ok, I just read through the manual. You followed the exact steps on page 89?

Also, what version of iMovie? You should always mention the version of software you are using when asking questions.

I am using iMovie HD 6.0.2
I've tried taking out the memory stick - no good.
The camera is being found by my Mac with the firewire as i have checked in About my Mac settings.
I have tried unplugging the firewire and iLink cables as well as rebooting.
The playback is still showing up in b&w on the camcorder when using svideo cable - and nothing is ever appearing in iMovie. Apart from Camera No Tape message....

I've read other posts with suggestions but nothing seems to be working - what am i doing wrong? Any further thoughts?

I am using the guide in the manual (my page 68) that states:

Using with analog video unit and personal computer – Signal convert function. You can capture images and sound from an analog video unit connected to a personal computer which has the i.LINK (DV) jack to your camcorder. (1) Set the POWER switch to VCR. (2) Set DISPLAY in to LCD in the menu settings. (3) Set A/V t DV OUT in to ON in the menu settings (p. 84). (4) Start playback on the analog video unit. (5) Start capturing procedures on your personal computer. The operation procedures depend on your personal computer and the software which you use. For details on how to capture images, refer to the instruction manual of personal computer and software. After capturing images and sound Stop capturing procedures on your personal computer , and stop the playback on the analog video unit.""


Underneath in smaller writing are a few notes - one of which is:
Notes •You need to install software which can exchange video signals.

Does this mean I need to install software into the Camcorder???

Here are some ramblings. Your type of problem is one that needs local debugging.

Have you tried iMovie HD 6.0.4 which is available.

The few times I've seen B&W signals from an svideo connection, the cable wasn't plugged in tightly. I would think a fault in the cable or connectors could cause the same issue.

If you place the camera in REC mode (without a tape installed), can iMovie record from it then? In a related note; Is the camera capable of working with iChat? You can check by playing with it in iChat Preferences.

When you first create your project, are you choosing DV as the format? I'm not sure this should matter, but.

I think you indicated you have transferred video from tape before from this camera and said when a tape is in the iMovie wants to control it. So can it actually capture from that tape currently?

Have you clicked on the camera icon just to the left of scissor icon to see if you need to select that input source?

Perhaps you need to open the project before turning on your camera, or perhaps the opposite. I know that at times iMovie has had issues picking the source I wanted, but that has usually been because another application, such as iChat interferred. So, first quit any other applications that can use video.

As for the software, no, you should need any add-on software. The other warning under the one mention is: You cannot record or capture the video output via your camcorder when the video tapes includes copyright protection signals such as ID-2 system.