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Getting Sony TRV-22 Cams Working w/ G5s?
Phil wants to take a bite out of this issue: "I'm having a time trying to get my Sony handycam to work with my Mac G5. Sony provides software for all Windows environments, and a USB driver and 'shim' program for Mac OS, but not Mac OS X. The Mac documentation says to hook a camera into the Firewire port, no software needed. So is there a device that will allow me to go from USB to Firewire, or do I have to spend a lot of money on an OS 9 video capture program? I can't seem to find an answer anywhere I look, and was hoping Slashdot readers could help me out, because I know I'm not alone with this problem. Thanks."
Have you tried the Image Capture application yet? .avi clips]) the OS X application of choice is Image Capture. It's fairly straightforward, so give it a try.
I do not, repeat *DO NOT*, own this camera.
I do, however, know that when I want to extract video from a USB image device (such as my Canon PowerShot S30 [30 second
On a side note, chances are that the OS 9 video capture Application would not work properly. As the Power Mac G5 can only run OS 9 as Classic [emulation] you're going to have a real hard time finding a compatible application.
Finally, since hindsight is 20/20, you really ought to have purchased a FireWire DV camcorder. They behave much better on the Mac.
I'm not popular enough to be different.
Homer Simpson, The Simpsons
From the page:
Features:
i.LINK(R)* DV Interface (IEEE 1394)
The USB port on sony Video Cameras is for transferring still images off the compactflash card, while the firewire port is used for transferring DV (Digital Video) content. If your mac does not have a firewire port, i highly doubt it would be running OS X. Get a 6-to-4 pin firewire cable to hook the camera up and try iMovie.
Use the Firewire port, and it will just work.
Features The full range of input and output connections are included, being one of only two in the range to do so. FireWire, MiniUSB and single-jack AV connectors are provided, along with LANC, S-Video in/out, headphone and external microphone sockets, which are situated at the front of the body.
There is no framework for video over USB in OS X as far as I know, unlike firewire.
It's not as simple as hooking up a USB-based video camera and having it work straight away with OS X.
Get the FireWire cable.
It's much cheaper than any other solution.
iChat AV, iMovie, and Final Cut all work wonderfully when you have it hooked up via Firewire.
Else none of those programs will work.
GPL Deconstructed
Get the cable. Trying to shove video down a USB connector when you have firewire is ridiculous.
The last 3 Macs I bought all came with the cable, check that you don't already have it and filed it away when you found it wasn't needed for anything when you set the mac up.
A pizza of radius z and thickness a has a volume of pi z z a
I have a DCR-TRV17 and it works just fine with Final Cut Pro and iMovie for video transfer. As someone mentioned, you need a 4 pin - 6 pin firewire cable, which you should definitely buy online as best buy, etc. usually gets about $40 for the cable. Just make sure in the settings when you go to capture that you set the DV stream Out -> On (something similar to that) and then your iMovie or FCP or whatever will detect the DV stream. If you want to transfer the images, you can use either an external usb memory stick reader or a 4-6 pin USB cable and image capture or iPhoto will do the trick. Of course, still images are pretty lousy on DV cameras - not useful for much. You would be better off getting a cheap digital camera just for photos.
As for the 4-pin FireWire port, it saves a hell of alot of space. My mom's little digital video camera is TINY, and there would be no place to put the 6 pin port without making the camera physically bigger. I don't see anything wrong with that.
Now the 4 pin port on my Dell laptop, THAT I hate. Why not make it 6 so it's powered? So I don't have to have power for HDs I plug into it, etc? WHY MAKE ME BUY OBSUCRE CABLES FOR WHAT SHOULD BE THE STANDARD 6 PIN PORT??? Dumb Dell. My laptop has MORE than enough room to put a BUNCH of 6 pin ports around the laptop, but they just put a tiny little 4 pin one on.
Back on topic, I don't know what's going on but there seems to be alot of Sony bashing in this thread from people who haven't look at things. There IS A FIREWIRE PORT ON THE CAMERA, I think the guy is just using it wrong. Sony is a good company, why don't you trust that they knew what they were doing and put firewire on it?
Comment forecast: Bits of genius surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.
Sadly this is one of the areas where Macs far fall behind PCs running Windows. Getting digital video editing going on a Mac is one of the hardest feats you'll ever encounter next to game playing. I'd sell the G5 and pick up a nice Alienware box if I were you. I would be willing to take the G5 off your hands since I'm such a sucker for hard luck cases... how about $1000 for the whole thing out the door and we'll call it even?
OK, the Sony DCR TRV-22 IS in fact a FireWire Mini DV camera. Go check out your local Apple Store, they have one there that is hooked up, using iMovie. The thing is, though, none of the Sony camcorders ship with a FireWire cable. You'll need either a 6-4 pin FireWire or a 9-4 pin FW cable ('cause the G5 has the fancy new FireWire 800 on the back). Buy the 6-4 because it's cheaper! Next, just plug the TRV-22 in, turn it to playback mode and launch iMovie. if you need help, check the Apple Knowledge Base and more specifically this article on how to hook up a Mini DV cam. Oh, yeah, the USB cable that ships with the camcorder is only for photos, not video.....hope that helps!!
~panthman~