Importing video from Camcorder to Mac?

Question

I have a Canon ZR500 miniDV and I wanted to import videos from it to my mac and imovie. It didn't come with a wire that looked like it connects to a computer. How do I import videos from it to my Mac.

Answer 1

If you have a mini dv (cassette) camcorder….

Your dv camcorder needs a firewire connection (ieee 1394) in order to download video, your computer probably did not come with a firewire port (but my sisters new mac laptop did, so check it out), so you will have to buy one and install it, since most computers (except possibly brand new) don't come with a firewire port, your camcorder did not come with a firewire cord so you have to purchase a cord too. Your camcorder did come with a USB cord and that is used for downloading stills from your camcorder. Make sure your camera is in playback mode.

So you need a firewire connection.

Answer 2

All Apple Macintosh computers - towers, desktops and laptops - made in the last 5+ years have a firewire port. The only current exception is the new Mac Air (no Firewire port).

You will need a 4-pin (camera DV port) to 6-pin (computer firewire port) firewire (IEEE1394a, i.Link - all the same thing) cable. Otherwise, snowwillow is right on everything else.