Camcorder hell

My latest project has been trying to convert footage from my Sony hard drive camcorder onto my Imac for editing.  I didn’t do enough homework when I bought the bottom-of-the-line Sony.  If I had, I would have found that the camcorder doesn’t import files to the Apple as a drag and drop like it does on my Windows PC.  It also doesn’t have a Firewire output.

After fiddling about long enough, I was able to get video onto the Mac. Woo hoo! But…there was no audio.  Nowhere. Gone.  Silent video.

After scouring the bulletin boards for help into the wee hours of the morning, I did find a post where someone gave the steps on how to import for audio and video from this particular Sony model.  By 7am this morning, all 15 gigs of raw camcorder footage had been copied to the Mac desktop.  Now I have to import every single file (330 of them) into a free downloaded program called Streamclip, which will convert the files into several different formats.  I’m converting mine to Quicktime. But, you have to spent extra money to buy the MPEG2 upgrade in order for the audio to be imported and play back correctly. THEN, I can import these QT files into Imovie or Final Cut for editing.  Bring on the Red Bull!

But hey, on my Windows PC, drag and drop and everything plays fine.  How sad is it when Windows works more smoothly than Mac?  Ouch.

All of this investigating has me looking at a replacement camcorder.  Should I go to miniDV tape, since  it’s not compressed MPEG2, ergo it is better video quality than HDD and mini-DVD?  But isn’t DV tape a dying format? Do I upgrade to high def?  3 CCDs vs. 1 CCD?  Viewfinder or no viewfinder?  New or Ebay?  Do I find a Sony that plays with Mac, or switch to a Panasonic or Canon model?

I guess it will boil down to what my wife tells me we can afford…which may be to shut the hell up and like my Sony because we aren’t buying another one.