DV camcorder found, but does not work

M

maddys_daddy

Registered
I have a Samsung DV camcorder that connects via firewire. When I plug it into my 12" PB G4 (10.2.8), nothing happens. Neither iMovie, Quicktime Pro, nor Toast Titanium see any camera as being present. Apply System Profiler sees a device connected to the 1394 bus, but does not specify what the device is, or any other info. In fact, the only info on the connected firewire device is a value for the GUID, and the speed. There is no other info. The section header says "Firewire ()". I know the camera works, b/c I tried it on my Winblows XP PC, and was able to control it and capture video just fine.
Can someone please help me get this thing working on my PBook?
Thanks,
Adam
 
maddys_daddy said:
I have a Samsung DV camcorder that connects via firewire. When I plug it into my 12" PB G4 (10.2.8), nothing happens. Neither iMovie, Quicktime Pro, nor Toast Titanium see any camera as being present. Apply System Profiler sees a device connected to the 1394 bus, but does not specify what the device is, or any other info. In fact, the only info on the connected firewire device is a value for the GUID, and the speed. There is no other info. The section header says "Firewire ()". I know the camera works, b/c I tried it on my Winblows XP PC, and was able to control it and capture video just fine.
Can someone please help me get this thing working on my PBook?
Thanks,
Adam
Click to expand...

Check THIS LIST to see if your camcorder is on the list of compatible camcorders (It's not) No Samsung DV camcorder is compatible. The AV adapter in that list might be of help to you...
 
I see. How disappointing. Seeing as how DV is an industry standard, and you can plug pretty much any DV camcorder into Windows and have it work without 3rd party software, I fail to understand why Mac only supports 4 brands. It may sound silly, but I'm really beginning to regret my purchase of this PowerBook. There are other reasons, but lack of complete compatibility with an industry standard is ridiculous. Windows has it's share of problems, but hardware compatibility is not one that I've had with it.
 
DV is a standard, yes; but Samsung may not be using industry standard communication for the firewire port on the camera.

You may still be able to get it to semi-work -- can you plug in the camera, open iMovie, hit play on the camera, and then try to capture? You may not be able to control the camera through iMovie, but you may still be able to capture video -- I had this same problem with an old JVC DV cam, and I could capture, but the camera controls through iMovie didn't work.

It's a shame that you're regretting the purchase of your PowerBook. Macs are great, but it is true that less-popular equipment and sometimes popular equipment doesn't work straight out of the box -- usually this is not the case and I'm sorry that you found one of the exceptions.
 
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