Sony HDR TG3E (TG3) mac connectivity

[horsemadmary]

Hi there, I've been ready through some of the posts, but I'm obviously thick. Please could someone help me? I bought a Sony TG3 from Amazon which says it is mac compatible. I have a macbook pro 2.33 Ghz, intel core 2 Duo running OX 10.5.7. When I try to connect the TG3 via USB it says connect with a firewire lead. I cannot see anywhere where I can use a firewire lead. Do anyone know how I can transfer video from my Sony 16gb Memory Stick (for which I have a USB adaptor) to my mac - what leads do I need. If I just tansfer the file on the memory stick, no programs reconise it. I know it's me and I'm not a tech wizard. Please could someone shed some light and take pity on this poor blonde girl...! Thanks

[A n d r e w]

The TG3 is designed to connect using USB.

What version of iMovie do you have? iMovie '08 and iMovie '09 both support the TG3. If you open iMovie and then connect the camcorder or plug in your card reader with the memory stick, then iMovie should automatically detect the device and open the import pane.

Andrew.

[horsemadmary]

Hi Andrew,

That was so quick - thank you. I have I iMovie HD, but this does not seem to recognise the file or camcorder - it just keep sating connect via firewire! Thank you for your help I appreciate it.

[A n d r e w]

No problem.

iMovie HD doesn't support AVCHD video, I'm afraid. You'll either need to upgrade to a more recent version of iMovie, or buy a third-party application like Voltaic HD (you'll find it on google) to convert your camcorder's AVCHD video into iMovie HD compatible files using Apple Intermediate Codec.

Is your MBP an Intel model? If so, I'd advise the upgrade route.

[horsemadmary]

Hi Andrew, I am really impressed with this. I have tried both Amazon and Sony without any help! Would it be easier to get iMovie '08 and iMovie '09? Thank you.

[A n d r e w]

iLife '09, which includes iMovie '09, is £69: iLife 09 - Apple Store (U.K.)

Your MacBook Pro needs to be an Intel model for AVCHD support, however.

Voltaic HD is cheaper (VoltaicHD | HD converter, AVCHD converter, AVCHD, video converter, Mac, PC, Software | ShedWorx) but is a much slower way of converting your video. You can download the free trial, but be aware that the trial only allows you to convert 10 clips, and only the first 10 seconds of those clips.

[horsemadmary]

Hi Andrew - this is how stupid I am - I already have iLife09 - but have never used it! My machine is a macbook pro 2.33 Ghz, intel core 2 Duo running OX 10.5.7. So I just install iLife09 connect a USB lead and I'm away right?

[A n d r e w]

You should be fine with iMovie '09, as it supports your camcorder.

There's a getting-started tutorial on Apple's website here: Apple - iMovie.

[horsemadmary]

Hi Andrew - this is fabulous! I can't thank you enough - I've been tearing my hair out over this and you've sorted it all in one afternoon. What a great place this is. Thanks so much again.

[A n d r e w]

One more thing: you can play back the raw video clips using a free media player called VLC: VLC media player for Mac OS X

It's not essential, but sometimes it's nice just to be able to plug in your card reader and watch the files back without having to go through the whole iMovie import process.

If you want to try it out, the AVCHD files are buried deep in the folder structure of the card. The path is: PRIVATE -> AVCHD -> BDMV -> STREAM. Inside the STREAM folder you'll find the video files (with the .mts suffix).

If you find the playback stutters a little, that's pretty normal - AVCHD is highly compressed video which most computers struggle to play back smoothly (and that's one reason iMovie converts it to a different format, easier to edit and play back).

Okay, two more things: when you come to back up your video, it makes sense to keep just the original recordings, as when iMovie converts AVCHD video to Apple Intermediate Codec files, it produces truly massive files which quickly gobble up hard drive space. Make sure that you copy the entire folder structure of the memory stick when archiving, as iMovie looks for this structure when importing, and won't accept the .mts files alone.

Hopefully that makes sense - take from it what you want!

[horsemadmary]

Thanks - I'll give it a go - I'll copy your instruction from the forum and keep them safe! Even thought of writing a book?! Thanks again.

[Rogerwoods22]

I'm also connecting a Sony TG3 to a MAC with iMovie. When I was using an '08 copy of iLife (containg iMovie) my camera wasn't acknowledged but I upgraded to '09 and as soon as I plugged the TG3 in it was identified by name.

My problem is that I can't seem to create movie projects. I transfer the movie to Mac - iMovie. Then 'share' it to iDVD and it begins the process of creating the project. But it freezes after 5 minutes or so (this would be a project of 45 mins of HD movie). I've tried exporting the file, I've tried using only iDVD. It always freezes. Am I asking the MAC to do too much (it's a pretty new iMac desktop).

[A n d r e w]

When you say it freezes, do you mean it becomes completely unresponsive, the OS crashes, or the spinning coloured ball appears?

I assume you're doing some editing, or at the very least opening a new project after you've imported your video to the iMovie library, dragging your clips in to the project window, and arranging them in the order you want. Is this correct? I'm just trying to establish precisely what you meean when you say you can't create movie projects.

In any case, 45 minutes of HD video being compressed to DVD mepg-2 is going to take a long, long time. It might be worth trying a smaller render - say, three or four minutes - as an experiment.

But in general, your iMac should be more than up to the task.

[Rogerwoods22]

Thank you Andrew for so speedy a response. The spinning coloured ball appears and the blue bar - which flickers when the programme is processing - become inert. I have to 'force quit' and when I do that the programme is listed as 'not responding'.

I have tried with a smaller project and it did successfully export. But if I do that can I combine, more or less seamlessly, a series of projects into a single DVD?

[A n d r e w]

Not seamlessly, no.

Instead of using "share to iDVD" or whatever it's called, try exporting your 45 minute file as an uncompressed high definition file (it'll be huge, probably in the region of 30 to 35 GB, so make sure you have loads of hard drive real estate available).

I'm on a PC at work so can't check the steps involved, but essentially you want to select "quicktime movie" as your export option, click "options" in the dialogue box that pops up, select "none" (or equivalent) as your compression option, select 1920x1080 resolution (from the top half of the menu - not the bottom lot of options that end in "HD" because these tend to screw with the aspect ratio -- this is assuming you imported your clips into iMovie in full resolution), click okay - then click on audio settings, select AC3 as your audio compression codec, click okay, and then set the thing to work.

A few hours later, when the file is ready, open iDVD, select a menu, and drag your HD movie across to it (there's also an option in the file menu, I think, for "one step DVD from movie" which you can use to make a DVD without a menu - one which plays as soon as you load it into a DVD player). Then iDVD will get to work rendering out an mpeg-2 version before burning it to disc.

See if that works. Might make no difference, but it's worth trying.

The big hitch is that a movie of that length will take a long time to compress, so it might be best to do it overnight, or some time when you don't need to use your iMac.

One more thing: the crashes you've experienced have probably left incompletely rendered movie files on your hard drive. You'll want to track them down and delete them, and empty your trash, before you start a new render - to free up as much hard drive space as you can.