[shreddog]

Do I need to buy a firewire cable that is compatible with it? I don't have the CD that came with it, so I don't know if there is software available to get the video through the USB. I tried to connect the camera through the USB and use iMovie, but I guess iMovie needs a firewire connection. I'm a little confused as there is no firewire port on the camera.

I went to Sony's website and it doesn't say anything about requiring a firewire connection to use on Macs. The manual was kinda big, so maybe I missed it. It also says that I need to load software. Anybody have this camera (or the HC20 or HC40) and get it to work with USB?

Thanks!

[shambolic]

I have this DV cam and it works great with iMovie.

You do need a firewire cable, however, as USB doesn't transfer DV data at a fast enough rate to be useful for video editing.

Something like this will do the trick, a 4-pin to 6-pin cable.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/cont...803&is=REG

The reason they don't include them in the box is that PCs and Macs typically require different cables.

The firewire port on your HC30 is on the right hand side of the camera, you need to open up the panel and look for the DV port. You should see a connector that will interface with the 4-pin plug on the above cable.

Finally, you don't need anything from the CD (drivers etc) - iMovie will automatically detect the camera when connected through Firewire.

Happy shooting