iMovie 11 and HDV

If you use digital tape, then connect the camcorder's i.LINK (firewire, IEEE1394, DV) port to the Mac's Firewire port. It the Mac has no firewire port, hopefully it has a Thunderbolt port. Apple has a Thunderbolt to firewire adapter tail that works great.

The optional HVRDR60 external hard drive unit connects to the camcorder's DV port, too. And the HVRDR60 connects to the computer's firewire port, too. Since we don't know which Mac, we don't know which firewire cable(s) you need.

When importing to iMovie:

CAMCORDER OFF.
Connect the camcorder's firewire port to the Mac's firewire port.
If the Mac is not already on, now is a fine time to power it up.
When the computer is at a stable desktop, power up the camcorder and place into Play/Edit mode.
Launch iMovie.
Under File, select import or Capture...

or...

Download and read the manual for the HVRDR60:
http://pro.sony.com/bbsc/ssr/cat-broadcastcameras/cat-hdv/product-HVRDR60/

HVRDR60 OFF.
Connect the HVRDR60's firewire port to the Mac's firewire port.
If the Mac is not already on, now is a fine time to power it up.
When the computer is at a stable desktop, power up the HVRDR60 and place into Computer mode (see page 19).
Launch iMovie.
Under File, select import or Capture... You can also choose to copy the M2T files to the Mac, transcode them with something like Mpeg Streamclip from www.squared5.com or HandBrake from www.handbrake.fr.

NOTE: Refer to pages 6 and 27. There is no USB port on the HVRDR60. Only i.LINK which is Sony's implementation of firewire/IEEE1394.

We assume you have set the HVR-V1 recording format to DV or HDV - iMovie can deal with both. I don't think iMovie understands Standard definition DVCAM format video. Final Cut does.

If your Mac has no firewire or Thunderbolt port, you will have some extreme challenges. There is no firewire-to-USB converter/adapter/cable that will work (this is not Mac specific - Windows has the same issue).

In this case, some sort of external box from Blackmagic Design can work... but we can stop here until we know which Mac you are using.

Yes, I use Macs for video editing. (I've used Windows computers, too.) Yes, I use the Thunderbolt-firewire adapter tail (~$30 from the Apple Store or Fry's Electronics - among other distributors.) Yes, I have iMovie 11 and have imported video from my HDR-FX1 and HDR-HC1 among many other Sony, Panasonic and Canon camcorders. I now regularly use Final Cut...