Problems importing video with iMovie

[ansberry]

I've been using iMovie to import my family videos from 8mm analog and burning DVDs of them. I've been doing this for a few months with no real problems. I use an old Sharp Viewcam VL-H860 that is hooked to a Sony media converter, using an Svideo cable for the video and regular audio cables. The Sony is hooked via firewire into my old Umax S900 (9500 clone) that has a G4/450 processor and 1 gig of ram. I store the work on a 250 gig WD ata hard drive.

A few days ago when I was working with some family video the screen said, "camera, no tape". I checked all the connections. I looked through all the preferences, but couldn't find anything helpful. It recognizes the media converter and the camera, but insists that there is no tape. I restarted the machine and everything worked fine. It has been doing this more and more until today it gives me the "camera, no tape" message all the time.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I know that this is old equipment, but it has worked fine. New hardware would be financially out of the question. I know the Mac Mini is reasonable, but the 80gig hard drive makes it pretty much a waste of money. I'd fill it up in a few days.

[rumplestiltskin]

The Sony DMVC-DA1 (and, perhaps, the DA2) is no longer compatible with iMovie. I do not remember exactly when "it broke" but it's been a while.

The best solution is to beg, borrow, or buy a digital-8 camcorder with analog pass-through.

Alternatively, borrow almost any DV-Camcorder with analog-to-digital "pass-through" and proceed as usual.

I re-read your post and noticed that you are using a Umax clone. All bets are off. It might work or it might not.

Don't mean to be unfeeling about this but it's time to buy a real Mac. Even the mini is okay but I'd sooner get an eMac than a mini (and a G5 iMac instead of the eMac). It's your money.

Good luck.

[cbkilner]

I've been doing similar work and have run into all sorts of little issues. If your version of iMovie was working with the Sony converter and you didn't change anything, then the issue probably lies elsewhere.

If you are using OS X, try repairing permissions and running a disk diagnostic (I like DiskWarrier).

On OS 9, trash the iMovie prefs file and do disk maintenance.

Restarting the mac and setting up the tape/converter prior to launching iMovie also helps (as does unplugging and replugging the FireWire cable in earlier iMovie versions).

Try a different FireWire cable or different FW port on your "mac".

Try disconnecting everything (including disconnecting all the power from the camcorder and Sony converter), letting everything sit for awhile, and starting everything fresh. I had a Sony camcorder that, once disconnected by iMovie, could only be reconnected after switching the camcorder power to battery and then back to AC.

[havema-1]

Some analog to DV converters don't work in iMovie HD 5.0.2 like they do in iMovie 4.0.1:

http://www.sjoki.uta.fi/~shmhav/iMovie_HD_bugs.html#analog_DV