Camcorders forum: Mac compatible Camcorder

anything that runs with a firewire cable should. work with your mac.

Which one do you have?

I own/use miniDV tape based camcorders and import HDV and DV using Firewire. All Macs from the last 10 years or so come with a firewire 400 port - the only exception is the new MacBook Air (no firewire port). HDV requires you to custom install the "Apple Intermediate Codec" from the MacOSX system discs - it is a QuickTime component.

I have imported/edited non-AVCHD video from hard drive and flash memory based camcorders. The video data file transfers using USB. You need to download and install StreamClip
http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/video/mpegstreamclip.html
to convert the highly compressed MPEG2 files.

I have imported/edited non-AVCHD video from a DVD based camcorder by ripping the video from the DVD using a drawer-loading DVD drive (from LaCie).

I have imported/edited analog video from a VHS VCR and a VHS camcorder (made by RCA) - at first by using a firewire-connected analog digital bridge (Dazzle Hollywood), though now I use the AV-pass through feature on my Sony HDR-FX1...

I have not yet found a camcorder that won't connect to my 17" iMac flat panel G5 - though I know any AVCHD-based (hard drive or flash or DVD based) won't work - the AVCHD file format requires iMovieHD08 or FinalCut Express04 or FinalCut Pro2 to be running on an Intel-Mac. Which is just as well since I would not waste my hard earned money on an AVCHD camcorder anyway...

So, what sort of camcorder did you have in mind?

Personally, I would recommend a comcorder with manual audio control and an external mic jack for you music requirements... Loud audio (does not need to be amplified) can overdrive the camcorder's built-in auto-mic-gain resulting in very poor quality audio...

It is also possible (depending on the music), that the low end audio would be too much vibration for a hard drive based camcorder.

The least expensive camcorders - of which I am aware - with a mic jack and manual audio control are a couple of the standard definition Canon flash memory camcorders... but I would strongly recommend either the Canon HV30 or the Sony HDR-HC9... With these two (and any other miniDV tape based camcorder, for that matter), you will also need a 4-pin to 6-pin firewire cable.

Heads up: Standard definition video uses about 13-14 gig of hard drive space per hour of imported video; HDV uses ~44 gig of hard drive space per hour of imported video. An external firewire or USB connected hard drive (500 meg is the smallest recommended) is very strongly suggested.