Camcorders forum: HandyCam DCR-SR40 and Mac Pro - is there any hope?

How are you connecting your Sony to the Mac? I'm assuming via USB. If so, go to your Application folder and open a program called "Image Capture" and within the preferences you can tell it to open automatically when any USB device is connected and powered up. Image Capture should show you the MPEG file on your camera's HD. Tell Image Capture where you want to save it, then download it. Now you need two software items to make this work and editiable in iMovie: 1.) Quicktime Pro: $30 upgrade on the normal QT that comes with your computer 2.) MPEG Streamclip: Free. Once you download the MPEG movie to your computer, open MPEG Streamclip and choose "Convert to DV" from the pull-down menu. Make sure you tell it to "demux" the audio, because most MPEGs from a camera have the audio embedded in the video and the audio won't show up as a separate track otherwise. Import the DV file into iMovie and you should be good.

That Sony camera is not the ideal camera for a Mac. A Mac is configured to download movies from a camera via a Firewire connection and use a DV file from a camera, not an MPEG. In other words, a mini-DV camera that records to tape was the best option. Sony cameras seem to be configured for their own brand of PCs, most of which don't come with a Firewire connection. Not sure what Sony was thinking of when they made their cameras like this.

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=3781104�

The apple.com support forums have all sorts of helpful information.

Thanks for all of the suggestions. I'm glad to know there's hope!

Thank you for letting us know we were able to help.

that needs to import via Firewire, USB works perfectly fine for transfering your movies. There is no quality loss as if you were using tape and transfering via USB because the SR40 records files not strands of video as does tape.

The SR40 doesn't have a Firewire connection.

I got my video into imovie HD but there is no sound. Anyone have any suggestions?

The audio in your downloaded MPEG is contained in the video. Handbrake is often mentioned (I've never used it) or check my post a few up where I point to the two links for MPEG Streamclip and the Apple MPEG plug-in for this. MPEG Steamclip will open your MPEG movie, then you can choose to simply resave it at a DV file for iMovieHD. Make sure you choose "Demux audio" if it is given. This will save your movie as a DV file and the audio will be separated.