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General discussion

hitachi dvmv550- use with a mac?

Dec 7, 2005 4:17AM PST

Hi,
I'm wondering if anyone out there has found a way to use this camera on a mac...

thanks in advance,
emma

Discussion is locked

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Hitachi camcorder
Dec 7, 2005 6:53AM PST

Is this a DVD-record camcorder? If so, it most likely does not have a Firewire-out connection. This camera, like all DVD camcorders, are made for immediately watching the recorded DVD (convenience) and not to edit the footage you just shot. If what you want to do is edit your footage in iMovie, do a Google search for MPEG Streamclip and download it (free). It has a really great function called "Convert MPEG to DV Stream" that works well. iMovie wants a DV movie file. Your DVD is already MPEG encoded, so you need to convert this to DV video. By the way, when you download this software, you will see a link for Apple's MPEG Streamclip Quicktime plug-in ($20). You will most likely need that if you find that your audio does not import along with the converted MPEG movie. This plug-in will separate the audio from your MPEG movie for importing. Good luck with this. It's not too difficult, just a few more steps.

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I forgot to mention...
Dec 7, 2005 6:57AM PST

Check to see if your camera DOES have a Firewire-out port. If it does, then this issue is solved. Buy a $20 Firewire cable and get happy, because the video will download into iMovie easily. All Macs from the last few years came with the iLife suite of programs. If you don't have this, buy it! It will be the best $49 you ever spent.