Making a Sony Handycam work with my Mac!

[iGirl]

Thanks for finding that but blimey what a rip off! I've already spent over £400 on the camera

 

[boylgdelny]

Had trouble downloading Sony Handycam DCR-HC48 to Mac and found this thread. Not sure if my solution will help anyone else - but what worked for me is to use a Firewire cable - not supplied and not well documented. The manual only mentions that the camcorders is "iLink" compatible. Who knew that is what a firewire cable is called!? Well, I didn't. And, the firewire connection is only on the dock (so is the USB cable - boy, this this is light and small!).

Once I hooked up with the Firewire and turned the camera on, iMovie recognized the connection and gave me the option to import.

Hope that helps someone!

 

[iGirl]

There was no firewire socket on this camcorder unfortunately.

I've taken it back to the shop and got a refund. Will spend a few hours researching before I get another. Will make do with my current one which is compatible for the time being.

I think it's disgusting that they can charge such an amount of money for a piece of equipment but exclude Mac users. Well, they will include them if they pay either £54 for the software mentioned before or a total of £40 to upgrade to QT Pro and the Codec to make Mpeg-2 work.

Great camera but Sony need to get their **** into gear and not penalise us Mac users

 

[searay345]

I have QT Pro and I love it. I has many features that I find very useful. But I agree, Sony should get their act together.

iGirl, I have a friend who has a Cannon ZR60. Granted, he got it four years ago so there is probably an upgraded camera by now. But he has zero problems with it on his Mac.

 

[Kyomii]

There was no firewire socket on this camcorder unfortunately.

I've taken it back to the shop and got a refund. Will spend a few hours researching before I get another. Will make do with my current one which is compatible for the time being.

I think it's disgusting that they can charge such an amount of money for a piece of equipment but exclude Mac users. Well, they will include them if they pay either £54 for the software mentioned before or a total of £40 to upgrade to QT Pro and the Codec to make Mpeg-2 work.

Great camera but Sony need to get their **** into gear and not penalise us Mac users

It does have firewire iGirl, but they do not supply a firewire lead. It is only a 4 pin connection on the camcorder basestation (while your computer is 6 pin) so perhaps you did not notice it - the lead is 4-pin at one end for the camcorder, and 6 pin at the other for your computer.

Just in case others reading this have this issue - from what I have read,, Visual Hub works better than the Sony software for £54 (although you only need one of the Sony programs, taking the price down to £30) and the supplied Sony software for the PC, and you do not need the QT plug in either - it does the whole job in one for export to iMovie

http://www.techspansion.com/visualhub/tryit.php

It is only $23 - which is about £11 and I will be trying it soon, as I am not prepared to get rid of this camera for the sake of a tenner now I have done more research.

This is only because of my disabilities because the camera is very very light and easy to handle, and takes great movies in HD. The added benefit of a hard drive also makes it easy for me not having to carry any tapes, and there is no danger of losing any tapes therefore losing footage.

Also, if I bought a mini DV camera, I would spend more than a tenner on tapes anyway, so for me, the best solution is to stay with the Sony.

 

[Lurchama]

many thanks for your research, as you say, pity no demo, I am not totally convinced and reluctant to pay the extra, apparently some of the higher end HD camcorders have a firewire on the charging dock, so am exploring that too right now, but nice to know you guys are around, will update on what I eventually decide in the hope it helps someone else

 

[agm160march5]

Hi Kyomii and iGirl - thanks for these posts, they've been very useful (unlike Sony).

However, Kyomii, I think what you've said about this camera having a firewire connection isn't right.

I brought a DCR-SR32E and it definetly has no firewire connection on either the camera or the docking station - so at the moment I seem to have a mac and a video camera that won't (conveniently at least) talk with each other. Have to agree with iGirl's disgusted attitude with Sony. For the money I spent firewire / mac connectivity should be assumed.

Does anyone know of an alternate docking station I could buy which is comptatable with the DCR-SR32E and which does have a firewire connection? (assuming the DCR-SR32E is indeed firewire compatable!?)

cheers for your help! Andrew

 

[Digi]

Hi guys
This post made interesting ready because I have just made the same mistake - been out and bought Sony DCR SR72E camcorder. Spent hours try to figure it out then I phoned a Sony centre who told me the range of cameras are compatable with Mac.

I have spent spent afternoon try to find an alterantive, and the one thats closest appears to be the JVC Gz-MG275EK Hartd Disk Everio range. It has 40GB HD and Dixon are sellling it for 375:00 which is the cheapest price I've found. They do cheaper models too.
As for Sony, rather narrow minded as not conectting to Mac means a NO SALE and where's the sense in that.

 

[Kyomii]

Hi Kyomii and iGirl - thanks for these posts, they've been very useful (unlike Sony).

However, Kyomii, I think what you've said about this camera having a firewire connection isn't right.

I brought a DCR-SR32E and it definetly has no firewire connection on either the camera or the docking station - so at the moment I seem to have a mac and a video camera that won't (conveniently at least) talk with each other. Have to agree with iGirl's disgusted attitude with Sony. For the money I spent firewire / mac connectivity should be assumed.

Does anyone know of an alternate docking station I could buy which is comptatable with the DCR-SR32E and which does have a firewire connection? (assuming the DCR-SR32E is indeed firewire compatable!?)

cheers for your help! Andrew

You do NOT need firewire to make this work on your Mac - just set up the USB on the actual camera when you plug it in as per my previous post here:

https://www.mac-help.com/forums/showpost.php?p=11615&postcount=10


It is listed in the instructions also, and you would have to do this regardless of computer/OS used.

It is a misconception that you require Firewire connection for such devices - Firewire is ONLY a method of transfering the data from one device to another, just like USB is.

Ensure the camera is not in easy mode, otherwise it will not work.

The ONLY thing that is not compatible is the software - and the alternative I have posted works fine.

 

[Digi]

You do NOT need firewire to make this work on your Mac - just set up the USB on the actual camera when you plug it in as per my previous post here:

https://www.mac-help.com/forums/showpost.php?p=11615&postcount=10


It is listed in the instructions also, and you would have to do this regardless of computer/OS used.

It is a misconception that you require Firewire connection for such devices - Firewire is ONLY a method of transfering the data from one device to another, just like USB is.

Ensure the camera is not in easy mode, otherwise it will not work.

The ONLY thing that is not compatible is the software - and the alternative I have posted works fine.

I tried your suggestion on my DCR SR72E but could not get the directions you stated on the camera LCD screen. I have now returned it to Amazon and will have to buy the JVC one stated in my previuos post:frown:

 

[agm160march5]

Hi Kyomii

Thanks - I'll try to follow your USB setup instructions again. Tho I think the camera model I have is somewhat different, I'm sure the same thing can be achieved. As you say - there aren't really compatability issues with video cameras as such.

If I'm successful however, do you know if the USB connection will then be recognised by iMovie in the equvilent way to, say how iPhoto responds when a digital camera is plugged in? (i.e. auto-loads the app and is ready for instant import).

It's really that same convenience of connection that I'm after... just put the video camera in the docking station and job-done...

(I realise that USB/firewire is mainly just a different connection choice and will be very happy if the existing USB connection can achieve the above ease of connection. However, I got the impression from previous posts that wasn't the case with the USB but that a firewire connection was different. That's the reason for my wondering if I can find a different docking station - one which is compatable with the DCR-SR32E and also has a firewire port).

cheers, A

https://www.mac-help.com/forums/member.php?u=293

 

[Vinckem]

Yes, as I thought there is definatey a USB setting on it - there has to be, and my model is the same one apart from it is a slightly earlier version with a 30GB hard drive.

FIRSTLY TURN ON YOUR CAMERA AND EXIT EASY MODE IF IT IS IN EASY MODE - You can do this by pressing the easy button.

You need to plug in the camera to your computer. Then turn it on, then put into PLAY mode, then wait a few second and press P-menu (in bottom right corner)

Now, press "set up", scroll down or up to "HDD set" then click OK (on the bottom right)

Another menu will appear - scroll up or down to USB select, and press HDD - and then launch your program.

Compatibility is not generally an issue with camcorders, because the windows software is usually a driver (which Macs do not need) and an editing program, which you already have on your Mac.

Hi Kyomii,

I also bought a Sony Handycam, DCR-SR32E, and ran into the same problem of connectivity with my iMac (Intel). When I follow your instructions, I can't find the play mode on my handycam, nor the P-menu. Can you be more specific?

Thanks,
Vinckem

 

[loiol]

Same here. When i plug in the camera to the computer a display shows showing the following options:
- Computer
- Print
- Disc

Once you "click" on computer the hard drive is shown on the desktop and you can import mpeg files to Final Cut but you cannot do anything else in the camara. The problem comes when you open play them and see that there is no audio. Infact, when importing them they place themselves in the video track with no correspondance in the audio track.

My intuition, and short knowledge tells me that the only way to import the sound is by capturing from the camera and therefore finalcut and imovie or whatever software you use has to detect the camera, and Finalcut only detects firewire cameras.

Wish someone had an answer to this, since there doesn't seam to be a firewire conection.

Any help is really welcomed.
Thanks!

 

[Ric]

I'll head off to Sony and see if I can find the manual and then I'll be able to give some answers...

All I know so far is that I had a mpeg Sony Camcorder once, and I could never get it to work with my Mac ;-)

I now have a DV Canon, firewire, works like a charm !

regards

Ric

 

[SwampWitch]

We just ran the files through Visual Hub; works great. I love our Sony Handycam!

 

[loiol]

Found a way to turn those mpeg to .dv in macuarium, a spanish website:
http://www.macuarium.com/foro/index.php?showtopic=192793&st=0&gopid=1568124&#entry1568124

You open Toast application, click on the video icon, import the files you are supossed to record and then press the "export" buttom just beside the add and remove buttons on the lower part of the program. Once exported the file to .dv that means that you have the raw material uncompressed and therefore you can access the audio and video perfectly in any editing program.
It works pretty fast also.
Many of us must have tost installed so that avoids installing an extra program. I guess that must be the advantage of this method...

 

[ijbrewster]

Hi,

I have an older (2001 model) Sony Handycam and a second generation iMac - they both work fine with FireWire. why don't you use that instead of USB? It's much quicker...

Please excuse me if this is a little off track with your model.

 

[archera]

Hi

I've been reading this thread and was wondering if anybody knew anything about the compatibility of the JVC MG175 or could recommend any similar models that would not cause any problems with my mac?

Thanks

 

[teapot]

Hi archera
I have an older JVC MG21and find it works well. I just connect up the USB2 cable and download the content straight into iMovie which is part iof the iLife suite

 

[archera]

Thanks Teapot - that's really helpful