I Movie does not see Canon Optura 20.

[Pat Brown]

A friend of mine has decided to take up video editing as a hobby. He got himself a Canon Optura 20 and his brother conviced him that Macintosh is the way to go. So he picked up an E Mac with I Movie 4.01 on it and it does not see his camera when he plugs it in via firewire.

When using I Movie the program tells him that there is no camera available. He has it set on VCR mode plugged into the mac with a 4 pin IEEE1394 cable (I Link). Everythings turned on etc.

I haven't used a mac since the 4th grade (almost 20 years ago) but I am pretty handy with PCs so it has become my duty to help him figure this out.

From what I can gather on canons website, Macintosh designs the software to work with hardware. I guess this is so the third party designers don't have to make drivers? Anyway it says that the Optura is compatible with Final Cut Pro and I Movie 3.

I think he likes camera better than the mac. If they are not compatible I think he would like to know so he can send one or the other back.

[havema-1]

Try another FireWire/iLink/IEEE1394 cable. Or try the camcorder and the old cable with another Mac/PC. Yoyu can also try to reset the FireWire ports by turning the Mac OFF for a few minutes.

If that doesn't help, consult Apple's iMovie discussion boards.

[Pat Brown]

I went over there to see if it was something simple and sure enough. He was using his USB cable! Unfortunately the I Link is 4pin-4pin. A 4-6 pin cable should put him in business.

Thanks for the reply.

[havema-1]

It's the simple things that get you

He should also be aware that some Canons may have problems if there are other devices in the FW chain.

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=61603