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Zoom · Apr 5, 2005, 10:59 PM

I'm trying to convert VHS tapes to DVD. I've got my Canon ZR60 in the middle for A/D conversion. I can pick up the video and audio just fine, but for some reason iMovie quits importing after about 8 seconds (like 8:02, 8:06, etc). It doesn't continue with a new clip, it just stops. If I hit import again, it faithfully grabs another 8 seconds and stops.

What's going on?

brianb · Apr 6, 2005, 12:23 AM

How much room is on your hard drive? are you using a firewire Hard drive that is connected at the same time you are capturing? (seen cheap iee1394 chipsets make major problems with video capture). is there an iSight also conneted to the computer?

My bet is a full Hard drive or a conflict on the Firewire chain

Zoom · Apr 6, 2005, 07:51 AM

Originally posted by brianb:
How much room is on your hard drive? are you using a firewire Hard drive that is connected at the same time you are capturing? (seen cheap iee1394 chipsets make major problems with video capture). is there an iSight also conneted to the computer?

My bet is a full Hard drive or a conflict on the Firewire chain

There's 15GB on the drive, so it's not space.

I do have an iSight attached, as well as an external FW drive. Why would this cause problems? According to the system info, the ZR60 is on the same bus as the iSight. But I disconnected the iSight and still had the same problem.

Any other ideas?

Zoom · Apr 7, 2005, 08:15 AM

Anyone else have an idea? I need to get this done by Saturday.

grovberg · Apr 7, 2005, 10:14 AM

We had this problem pop up with iMovie 5. We found that if you click just import to start playback, it would only work for about 8 seconds, but if you click play first, wait for it to start playing and then click import it would behave normally.

No idea why, but I hope that helps.

MountainMac · Apr 7, 2005, 09:19 PM

Are they copy-protected (i.e., Macrovision) VHS tapes?

Zoom · Apr 7, 2005, 09:36 PM

I don't quite get your suggestion. I have the ZR60 in between a VCR and my PowerMac G5. To do A/D conversion, you turn the ZR60 to "play" mode (a physical switch) and then set the device to "AV->DV" mode. Then it's a pass-through. You turn on the VCR itself, which plays out through the composite cable to teh ZR60, then after A/D in the ZR60, through Firewire to my PowerMac. So, iMovie isn't controlling the camera (ZR60). If I hit the Play button on iMovie, nothing happens, except the button turns blue. Either way, if I click Play first or not, when I hit Import, it stops after 8 seconds of capture.

What gives?

Zoom · Apr 7, 2005, 09:37 PM

Originally posted by MountainMac:
Are they copy-protected (i.e., Macrovision) VHS tapes?

No, these are all home movies on standard store-bought blanks.

k_munic · Apr 8, 2005, 03:03 AM

another hint:
look in your prefs, is "file vault" switched on�?

Zoom · Apr 8, 2005, 07:27 AM

Originally posted by k_munic:
another hint:
look in your prefs, is "file vault" switched on�?

Nope.

grovberg · Apr 8, 2005, 10:03 AM

Originally posted by Zoom:
I don't quite get your suggestion. I have the ZR60 in between a VCR and my PowerMac G5. To do A/D conversion, you turn the ZR60 to "play" mode (a physical switch) and then set the device to "AV->DV" mode. Then it's a pass-through. You turn on the VCR itself, which plays out through the composite cable to teh ZR60, then after A/D in the ZR60, through Firewire to my PowerMac. So, iMovie isn't controlling the camera (ZR60). If I hit the Play button on iMovie, nothing happens, except the button turns blue. Either way, if I click Play first or not, when I hit Import, it stops after 8 seconds of capture.

What gives?

In our setup, you have to hit the play button in iMovie, then the play button on the device, wait unti you see the video, then hit import. Generally that whole process is pretty flaky, so it may be time to consider a dedicated D/A converter.

Can you successfully import more than 8 seconds from a tape in the camera? Could you dub from the VHS to whatever format the camera is (DV?) and then import from that? Not the cleanest solution, but if that camera is indeed a DV camera, the quality hit will really be negligible.

The only other thing I can think of is if the scene you are importing is especially black, iMovie will assume that you are at the end of the tape and stop automatically to "help" you. It doesn't sound like that what's going on, but that's the only other thing I can possibly think of.

Zoom · Apr 8, 2005, 11:40 AM

Originally posted by grovberg:
Can you successfully import more than 8 seconds from a tape in the camera? Could you dub from the VHS to whatever format the camera is (DV?) and then import from that? Not the cleanest solution, but if that camera is indeed a DV camera, the quality hit will really be negligible.

That's something I can try. Thanks for the tip. The only problem is that the source tape is longer than 1 hour. I'm not sure how cleanly I can splice the clips.

I know this info is out there somewhere, but how much disk space do you need to capture 1 hour of video in iMovie?

Eug Wanker · Apr 8, 2005, 12:25 PM

If you have a tape in the camcorder, take the tape out and try again, with the camcorder on the PLAY setting (and the right Firewire mode setting).

Zoom · 01:22 PM

Originally posted by Eug Wanker:
If you have a tape in the camcorder, take the tape out and try again, with the camcorder on the PLAY setting (and the right Firewire mode setting).

Okay, NOW we're getting somewhere. The tape that was in the camera was at the end. I think this was being reported to iMovie somehow and preventing it from working. When I removed it, I couldn't get iMovie to even show me "import". Why would it? There's nothing in the camera - that would be silly. So I figured I'd rewind the tape and try that. However, then it started importing what was on the tape, not what was passing through.

This is probably an issue with the ZR60 and iMovie combined. iMovie wants to play what's in the camera, but that prevents the A/D pass-through mode of the camera.

This is getting me closer. Any other ideas out there?

Eug Wanker · Apr 8, 2005, 01:50 PM

Originally posted by Zoom:
Okay, NOW we're getting somewhere. The tape that was in the camera was at the end. I think this was being reported to iMovie somehow and preventing it from working. When I removed it, I couldn't get iMovie to even show me "import". Why would it? There's nothing in the camera - that would be silly. So I figured I'd rewind the tape and try that. However, then it started importing what was on the tape, not what was passing through.

This is probably an issue with the ZR60 and iMovie combined. iMovie wants to play what's in the camera, but that prevents the A/D pass-through mode of the camera.

This is getting me closer. Any other ideas out there?

My Canon Optura 200MC works for imports without a tape in it. Like I said, I have to have the unit on play (even though there is no tape), and I have to set the Firewire port settings correctly. In fact, IIRC if I put a tape in the camcorder, the pass-thru import won't work. (I'm going off memory. If I was at home I could be more specific.)

Are you 100% sure your camcorder has the AV pass-thru feature?

Zoom · Apr 8, 2005, 02:56 PM

Originally posted by Eug Wanker:
Are you 100% sure your camcorder has the AV pass-thru feature?

99% sure. The manual has a section on "converting analog to digital signals" and the remote control has the button for "AV->DV" which enables this mode.

Zoom · Apr 8, 2005, 03:12 PM

There must have been some combination of things I did that confused iMovie. If I power on the Canon first, without a tape, and put it in A/D mode and THEN launch iMovie, it all works fine! Well, at least if worked for 13 seconds. :-)

Thanks tp everyone for the tips that led me to the answer!

Zoom · Apr 8, 2005, 03:34 PM

So apparently 1 hour of DV is about 13GB. I have an external hard drive with plenty of space, but only about 24GB on my main drive. This tape is likely to be 4-5 hours long. I can't fine any way to change the target drive to my external one. Is that possible?

If not, can I save clips in chunks to the external drive and work with them from there?

If not, can I buy another internal drive and use that??

brianb · Apr 8, 2005, 11:42 PM

to switch your save drive you need to open imovie and then immediately save a new project to the other drive. The video clips will then save there.

Zoom · Apr 10, 2005, 08:57 AM

Originally posted by brianb:
to switch your save drive you need to open imovie and then immediately save a new project to the other drive. The video clips will then save there.

Yep, that did it. Can't believe I didn't think to try that. Thanks!

chem2000 · May 17, 2005, 07:47 PM

While you appear to have the problem solved, I found a good reference is http://www.pana3ccduser.com/article....-the-Panasonic. While not specifically for imovie, the setup for the pass through mode is clearly given.