Another Video Camera Question

[Magic Smiles]

Okay, I have a really good Hi Def Mini DV Tape video camera, the SONY HDR HC7. My son has a great iMac computer with Final Cut for video editing. Our problem is that my video camera is NOT compatible with the Mac computer or Final Cut. I have spent hours on the phone with both Sony and Mac discussing this issue.

So my question is, what is a good Hi Def video camera that is compatible with the iMac? I would really like to keep it under $1000.00. The lower the better, but I do still want good quality. It wouldn't have been a big deal as we also have a PC to edit video on, but my son has to use Final Cut for school.

[Strmchsr]

I have been very satisfied with my JVC Everio HD camcorder. Fantastic full 1080p recording, Mac compatible, and it you can get it for less than $400 through amazon (be sure to use the link through Intercot as we get support from that). It doesn't have a hard drive built in, but unless you need to record several hours without downloading the content those are worthless anyway.

[BigRedDad]

I use a Canon HV20. It is very good.

[DizneyRox]

I'm assuming that there are no drivers for the iMac, that must be the issue.

I would NOT buy another camera, that's throwing good money after bad. How about capturing the video on a PC and transferring it to the Mac. You only would need to capture the video once, and can even think of it as a "backup" of sorts. Although it's not really a backup many people think it is.

You can probably store the video on a USB drive and share that between computers and save yourself up to $900 in the process.

[Magic Smiles]

I'm assuming that there are no drivers for the iMac, that must be the issue.

I would NOT buy another camera, that's throwing good money after bad. How about capturing the video on a PC and transferring it to the Mac. You only would need to capture the video once, and can even think of it as a "backup" of sorts. Although it's not really a backup many people think it is.

You can probably store the video on a USB drive and share that between computers and save yourself up to $900 in the process.

Since I am not the best at this stuff, do you think that would work? Would I save it to a Flash drive? I could save it to an external hard drive, but I have been told that they have to be formatted differently for the Macs than for a PC.

[DizneyRox]

You can check, but I'm pretty sure any operating system can read FAT16 and I'd be surprised if a Mac couldn't read FAT32. That are different drive formats (NTFS is another in the Windows world thats VERY common) and they are pretty universal. As a matter of fact, many cameras store things FAT16 or 32 on their memory cards. I don't expect the Mac to read NTFS though, that could be a problem. I'm not sure when Apple started using the Linux operating system, but I know that Linux IS capable of reading (and even recently writing) to NTFS drives and has been able to handle FAT drives forever.

I'd go that route if it were me. Replacing a perfectly good camera because it doesn't work with a Mac doesn't seem right.

If you have one, try it. If it's formatted as NTSF though, don't be surprised if it doesn't work.

Heck, you can probalby get a few 16G or higher USB sticks that will handle those large files from the camera. That are most certainly FAT16 or 32 formatted.

[VWL Mom]

My son got one of those small flip videos. We couldn't get MAC to recognize it in iMovie and were told there was no fix. However, the MacRumors board suggested I try to import to IPhoto and then send it to iMovie. Worked fine. Might want to try that or the boards before investing in a new camera.

[1DisneyNut]

I did a little digging and found some info on sony's troubleshooting site. According to the info posted there you need the iLink cable and the computer must have a firewire connection. Here is a link to the page: //http://www.kb.sony.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?cmd=displayKC&externalId=C407548&fes=true

Otherwise you should be able to do as DisneyRox suggested and copy the video over to a windows machine first. Macs do recognize FAT32. You can format larger flash drives and external hard drives to FAT32 using a free app called "SwissKnife". Google it for places to download.
This is exactly why I do not like Macs. Every time you turn around there is some sort of compatibility or driver issue. Most things are designed to work in a windows environment since that is what 90% of consumers use.

[Magic Smiles]

I did a little digging and found some info on sony's troubleshooting site. According to the info posted there you need the iLink cable and the computer must have a firewire connection. Here is a link to the page: //http://www.kb.sony.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?cmd=displayKC&externalId=C407548&fes=true

Otherwise you should be able to do as DisneyRox suggested and copy the video over to a windows machine first. Macs do recognize FAT32. You can format larger flash drives and external hard drives to FAT32 using a free app called "SwissKnife". Google it for places to download.
This is exactly why I do not like Macs. Every time you turn around there is some sort of compatibility or driver issue. Most things are designed to work in a windows environment since that is what 90% of consumers use.

Thanks for the website, but I am 99% sure that he as tried that, but the Mac just does not recognize the camera. I did mention to my son last night about just transferring the video from the PC to the Mac, but didn't really get a response....Kids!
I use a PC, but the Macs are suppose to be so much better for video editing and as mentioned the program that they use at school, Final Cut, is a Mac program.
I just find it so confusing....
After March Break I will have to look into it more and try to figure out this formatting stuff.
If there are any other ideas, keep them coming and thank you all for the ideas so far.

[VWL Mom]

Did he try the iPhoto route? The reason I ask is I did google around and found 2 important items to keep in mind. 1. Your camera is mpeg-2 format. 2. Final Cut does not support mpeg-2 video. So basically it needs to be brought into your computer and converted. If he brings it into iPhoto he should be able to convert to Final Cut.

Probably the first thing to check when the camera is plugged in is to see if Disk Utility shows the camera. Depending on how many times you have tried, it may need to be reset.

Keep googling Final Cut and mpeg-2 compatibility and you"ll more than likely find a solution that is free! There's a lot of info out there.

[Magic Smiles]

Did he try the iPhoto route? The reason I ask is I did google around and found 2 important items to keep in mind. 1. Your camera is mpeg-2 format. 2. Final Cut does not support mpeg-2 video. So basically it needs to be brought into your computer and converted. If he brings it into iPhoto he should be able to convert to Final Cut.

Probably the first thing to check when the camera is plugged in is to see if Disk Utility shows the camera. Depending on how many times you have tried, it may need to be reset.

Keep googling Final Cut and mpeg-2 compatibility and you"ll more than likely find a solution that is free! There's a lot of info out there.

WOW! Thank you so much. I am learning more from these answers than my 2 days spent on the phone with both SONY and the MAC people. As mentioned once our March Break is over and we are back from our cruise, I will check all of these suggestions out in more detail. Get the son working on it after all it is for his stuff.

Any and all other suggestions also welcomed.