Thinking about switching back

[Actor]

I've had two chats with Apple tech support. They want me to take it in and get the FireWire hardware checked.

I coughed up $169 + tax to get two years of AppleCare.

If I can confirm that the FireWire is working, or get it fixed, then as far as I am concerned the problem is fixed. I'll just upgrade to FCP3. But if it turns out that FCP3 has the same problem I'm really gonna be pi**ed.

[machead]

I'm really sorry you've had such trouble. I don't even bother with apple care as I'm so confident that the products work.

[machead]

got this of the AppleCare/Sherlock Channel I searched iMovie

Some consumer DV cameras have a recording mode called SDL, which increases recording time on mini-DV cassettes by reducing the track width and slowing down the tape speed. In some cases, trying to capture from a camera in SDL mode in iMovie and Final Cut Pro can result in the application not recognizing the camera or not capturing any video.

Solution

Using the camera's menu system, switch it from SDL mode to "SD" or "Standard" recording mode. After this you may need to turn the camera off and on before Final Cut Pro or iMovie will recognize it.


Hope this helps

[Alex]

Yeah, the dreaded "slow-speed". I think you get 90 minutes from a mini-dv instead of 60 minutes when you record in the slow speed. The chance for codec errors increase the more you slow down the tape speed.

DV-cam is the same codec as Mini-dv, but the tape moves faster, so the same amount of info is recorded over more tape area, which should reduce the chance of drop-outs.

If DV-cam is technically more reliable than mini-dv, than it stands to reason that standard mini-dv is more reliable than slow-speed-mini-dv.

Even if that isn't the issue in this instance, it's still a good point to bring up for general knowledge sakes.

[Actor]

The Mac is now in Apple's shop and I should know by the 18th if they found anything wrong with it.

[Actor]

Apple could find nothing wrong with the FireWire.

I begin to dread that the problem is intermittent, which means it will not get sick for the doctor.

[Micaso]

Sadly this is the problem with Macs. They're user friendly and very hard to mess up, but if they do get screwed, they're really locked up tight and can be hard to fix. Are you running OS X or 10.2 (Jaguar)? I had big problems when I first installed X, so i just forgot about it and kept running on 9. Now I have Jaguar and so far it's run smoothly with no crashes.