[Kidson]

Is it possible to download movies captured on DVD Camcorders directly into iMovie or can downloads only be made from MiniDv tape?

[dashfield]

I am just finding out to my horror that you can't directly import from the DVD from a DVD camcorder into iMovie. I foolishly made a rash decision when our camcorder broke on holiday a few weeks ago and bought a DVD camcorder. On our return yesterday i found that i couldn't import the DVDs into iMovie without converting them to a different format.

DVD camcorders compress the dvds to MPEG-2 which is not recognised by iMovie, so you have to convert the films to MPEG-4 or DV and then import it. There are programs around that do that, but it takes time and you loose quality and the film is re-compressed when your final DVD is written.

I am considering selling my new dvd camcorder and buying a miniDV one again.