[ryarber]

This is totally wierd. I was having trouble connecting my Cannon Optura 200MC camcorder to my G5. I was hooking it straight to a firewire port. I tried the front and the back ports. Each time I tried, when iMovie would start up, I would get the spinning beachball of death until I turned off my camcorder.

I tried cables of varying lengths, I removed my AlchemyTV card, unplugged all other firewire devices, etc. I tried everything I thought might be interfering with the camcorder communicating with the computer.

I reinserted my Alchemy TV card, rehooked my iSight, etc, and still no dice. Then I tried to hook the camcorder in through my Belkin firewire hub and voila, everything worked. Can anyone tell me why my camcorder cannot connect with iMovie when hooked straight in through a firewire port, but it will connect when routed through a firewire hub? My iPod will not connect at all when I route it through the hub. I have to hook it straight to the firewire port on the computer.

[Gankdawg]

Maybe leave the camera off and launch iMovie first? I don't have my settings set to launch iMovie when I plug in a video camera so I've never done it that way.

I don't see your model on this list either:

http://www.apple.com/macosx/upgrade/camcorders.html

[Eug Wanker]

Originally posted by Gankdawg:
I don't see your model on this list either:

http://www.apple.com/macosx/upgrade/camcorders.html

My Optura 200MC works fine with my TiBook.

[ryarber]

Originally posted by Gankdawg:
Maybe leave the camera off and launch iMovie first? I don't have my settings set to launch iMovie when I plug in a video camera so I've never done it that way.

I don't see your model on this list either:

http://www.apple.com/macosx/upgrade/camcorders.html

It didn't matter when I turned on my camera. When hooking my camera straight to my G5, it would lock up iMovie.

Now, it recognizes my camera and shows the model number in the device list just like it should.

[Gankdawg]

For whatever reason, I can't get my camcorder to work as a pass-thru device. I used to be able to play a VHS tape in my VCR thru my camcorder and import directly into iMovie. Now I have to record it onto the DV tape first and then import it. Can't track it down to Panther/iMovie update/new G5/whatever. Slightly OT, sorry.

My camera is not on the list either, but it has always worked.

[ryarber]

Originally posted by Gankdawg:
For whatever reason, I can't get my camcorder to work as a pass-thru device. I used to be able to play a VHS tape in my VCR thru my camcorder and import directly into iMovie. Now I have to record it onto the DV tape first and then import it. Can't track it down to Panther/iMovie update/new G5/whatever. Slightly OT, sorry.

My camera is not on the list either, but it has always worked.

FWIW, you might consider one of the Alchemy TV cards for the G5. You can plug your camcorder directly to the card and iMovie recognizes it as a device in the device menu as if it were an iSight or a camcorder. As a matter of fact, iMovie recognizes it as several devices based on each of the inputs into the card. ie. it has separate selections in the device menu of iMovie for the S-video slot, the component slot, or the standard TV slot so that you can record straight from TV into iMovie. It really is pretty sweet.

I didn't know where the device menu was until I stumbled across it one day. When you switch to the input mode in iMovie, you click on the little camcorder icon on the bottom left and you get a popup menu that lets you toggle between the iSight, Camcorder, and other devices eg. the Alchemy TV inputs.

Your problem sounds like it may be in your camcorder. If, for instance, you have a Canon, you have to go into the menu and select the AV>DV selection before it will work as a passthrough. There may be a similar setting in your camcorder and that may be your only problem.

[Gankdawg]

Originally posted by ryarber:
Your problem sounds like it may be in your camcorder. If, for instance, you have a Canon, you have to go into the menu and select the AV>DV selection before it will work as a passthrough. There may be a similar setting in your camcorder and that may be your only problem.

Yeah, I thought of that. I think I've exhausted all combinations but I will try again and re-read the manual. Thanks for the suggestion though.

I'll checkout Alchemy too.