Compatible Camcorders

[William Payne]

I'm looking for a camcorder that is compatible with Macs.  Or maybe the question is - will Macs import short videos? 

[Anne]

Not sure about camcorders, but my Mac will import and play short videos from my digital camera.

Anne

[Robert Seltman]

Yes, Most modern camcorders connect easily with a Mac, one way or the other. I use a Canon HV20 which I hook up with either firewire or USB and this can go into iMovie or Final Cut Pro. Some modern camcorders record digitally to a HD or card (not with tape) or record to DVD. If you are buying new it is best to ask if there is any mention of Mac in the instructions. Sony is popular among video makers and I like my Canon. Also you can check in Mac magazines to see who advertises there or for reviews. I subscribe to Videomaker Magazine which has many reviews, it is online for you to see.

[Col]

I haven't asked around recently about Mac-compatible camcorders, but when I have in the past, the salespeople at Joshin and Midori got an attack of "Saas."  They sucked their breath through their teeth, [censored]ed their heads slightly and said: "Saa . . ."

In the past Canons had a good reputation as being Mac-compatible and English-friendly. Sony had software and manuals in many different languages, but the software was Windows-only.  National had camcorders that grabbed a lot of light, had great CCD performance and good lenses, but Windows-only software, no English info and they assured me that they could give no guarantees about Mac connectivity - despite the presence of a FireWire/iLink/IEEE-1394 port. 

I never use the proprietary software that comes with digital cameras or camcorders anyway, preferring to use iMovie and iDVD. I have connected Canon, Hitachi and JVC to the Mac via FireWire with no problems, but this was some time ago. I liked connecting via FireWire because I could control the camera from within iMovie.

Although the Apple Store Shinsaibashi is rather expensive, they only sell things that work with the Mac, so you might check out what they stock in the way of camcorders. They also know the system requirements of the latest iMovie HD and iDVD - which are fairly exacting.

The online Apple has some too:   

http://store.apple.com/jp/browse/home/shop_mac/mac_accessories/digital_cameras_video?mco=NzU5MTg

Colin

[Anne]

Colin, I love the censoring on your statement:

{They sucked their breath through their teeth, [censored]ed their heads slightly and said: "Saa . . ."}

Hard to know how to amend that cleanly!!

Anne

[Robert Seltman]

Having lived here for a long time there are many things, as a foreigner surviving overseas, I take for granted. As Colin says, Japanese electronic shop clerks can be very frustrating... I just keep pushing until I get the info I need, either by skimming the paperwork included or keep looking for some staff member who feels better informed... but that said...before I buy a major purchase such as a camcorder... I go to the internet and look on the US side of the market. When I bought my camcorder I was interested in developments in High Density format issues and subscribed specifically to an American videomaker magazine to research ads and reviews for that purpose.

Once I bought my camera I downloaded the information in English off the net and printed it as a paper manual for my desk, which I use extensively, as apposed to reading pdf files on my computer. I rely heavily on that English manual and so would not want a camera which did not cater to my dependency on English manuals. I am also Mac centric so when I saw JVC, which makes a great camera, was Windows centric, I swung toward canon.

The advantage of Sony is primarily for videographic-supplies and compatiability... Sony is a major player in videography and they are also a closed system (Sony parts fit only Sony) so once you start with Sony you will probably want to stick to Sony... they are though highly respected for price and quality. I didnt like the exclusivity of Sony so again chose Canon, but since Sony is such an industrial standard I imagine there is much on line for helping with Mac compatibility.

I subscribe to several video production podcasts via iTunes so again a lot of this information about Mac verses Windows compatibility issues are worked around on a regular basis. If you dont want to have to deal with such serious research I would buy through Apple or at least see which cameras they are promoting.

[Col]

Colin, I love the censoring on your statement:

{They sucked their breath through their teeth, [censored]ed their heads slightly and said: "Saa . . ."}

Hard to know how to amend that cleanly!!

Anne

I think the BBS software must have censored that for me. I'll try with some similar innocuous words and see what it does now: [censored]atrice, [censored]erel, [censored]-a-doodle-doo, cold-[censored]ed. Titillate and titivate.  I'd better stop there.

I didn't think it would censor parts of words.

Colin

[joe inai]

I'm looking for a camcorder that is compatible with Macs.  Or maybe the question is - will Macs import short videos? 

From what I can see the newer AVCHD camcorders don't have Firewire and as far as I can tell, you cannot use iMovie to import videos on PPC Macs, only the Intel ones. I'm not 100% sure about this though. Does anyone else know?

[Robert Seltman]

I use iMovies to import into my G4 PowerBook... but I prefer the earlier HD604 and not the latest version of iMovie. I have the latest version but it doesnt use a conventional time line, so, like many other diehards, I still use the previous version. But both iMovies and Final Cut now process High Density footage. My Canon has FireWire but they dont call it that, they use the generic IEEE1394 High Speed Bus name. For serious amateur filmmaking Firewire is helpful and HD is the probable way you will want to be looking at your footage (an antiquated term these days) in the not so far future.

It is amazing how fast the generations of video cameras have been turning over, sometimes twice a year with new technology. I labored over whether to get tape or Hard drive. The advantage of hard drive is there is only a single step to using on a computer. The advantage of tape is you can always pop in a new tape but sometimes a hard drive will fill up and you need to get to a computer to download before you can continue to shoot. In recent months many solutions to this issue have been brought on the market. Addition HD capacity, larger Memory cards, easier and faster data transfer devices... So now the advantages to tape just a year ago have been challenged. Tape is not a good way to store film long term, yet it is true you do have a back up with tape, while Hard Disks tend to get wiped after each production.

So if they have FireWire that is better, always get an option for shooting High Density (you don't have to use it, you can still shoot in YouTube quality video if you want to save disk space) and IMovie or Final Cut Pro are both reliable software for most current systems... remember there are also a million and one work arounds available on the web for free or with simple affordable technology. Making movies have never been so easy EVER! From someone who started on 8mm and moved up to Super 8.

[Daniel]

From what I can see the newer AVCHD camcorders don't have Firewire and as far as I can tell, you cannot use iMovie to import videos on PPC Macs, only the Intel ones. I'm not 100% sure about this though. Does anyone else know?
[/quote]

Seems like their USB cables should work fine.

www.apple.com/ilife/tutorials/#imovie-oneplace-15

Daniel

[joe inai]

From what I can see the newer AVCHD camcorders don't have Firewire and as far as I can tell, you cannot use iMovie to import videos on PPC Macs, only the Intel ones. I'm not 100% sure about this though. Does anyone else know?

Seems like their USB cables should work fine.

www.apple.com/ilife/tutorials/#imovie-oneplace-15

Daniel




Thank you for your post Daniel. It seems I'm not alone with the problem of importing AVCHD video into a PPC Mac

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1169877

From what they say in this discussion, it is possible to import the video, but not the usual way using iMovie.

Phil

[Deano]

Colin, I love the censoring on your statement:

{They sucked their breath through their teeth, [censored]ed their heads slightly and said: "Saa . . ."}

Hard to know how to amend that cleanly!!

Anne

I think the BBS software must have censored that for me. I'll try with some similar innocuous words and see what it does now: [censored]atrice, [censored]erel, [censored]-a-doodle-doo, cold-[censored]ed. Titillate and titivate.  I'd better stop there.

I didn't think it would censor parts of words.

Colin

Look what it did to my post in humor about Yorkshire's favourite gas-man... Can't we reset the prefs or something to stop it being so silly?

[Robert Seltman]

Look what it did to my post in humor about Yorkshire's favourite gas-man... Can't we reset the prefs or something to stop it being so silly?
[/quote]

I thought you were just having fun with the name. I kind of like to see my mind rush through the plausible alternatives until it settles on the appropriate dirty work. A kind of mental ad lib of plausible nastiness.

[William Payne]

Costco has two camcorders, a Sanyo DMX 700 and a Panasonic HDC SD9   Both flash memory types?
any experience?
Bill

[Daniel]

. It seems I'm not alone with the problem of importing AVCHD video into a PPC Mac

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1169877

From what they say in this discussion, it is possible to import the video, but not the usual way using iMovie.

Phil
[/quote]

Thanks for the thread, Phil!

Your reply to my post was more useful to me, than my reply to your post was to you!!

Cheers!
Daniel