I want to transfer my old VHS tapes in an editable form as in imovie. I have a Sony Analog to digital converter model DVMC-DA1. I had used this a few years ago. I tried it this weekend with IMovie ver 7.14. I could not get it to recognize the input. Is this a function of the current version of IMovie or is converter not working?

That's going to be tough to determine without something known good - what was the last version of iMovie it worked with? Does Apple list the device as supported on the iMovie support page? What is the exact model number of the converter?

Richard:

I have the same Sony converter and If I remember correctly it never worked with iMovie. iMovie wants a camera that it can control and "too bad" if you want to use something else.

I just tried it with iMovie 6.0.3 and it will not work with it either.

I am currently converting about 50+ VHS video tapes to DVD and am using Premiere Pro and the Sony DVMC-DA1 without any difficulty. I am quite sure that Premiere Elements will work as will both versions of Apple's Final Cut, (Express and Pro).

I hope this helps. If you do decide to get Final Cut Express as the lowest cost alternative it can usually be purchased for about $150.00 on the web.

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I did a little more searching and found the following comment. This is a little dated but I think it will offer more help.

Reader report: "I also have the Sony DVMC-DA1 analog/digital converter. It still works just fine in OS X 10.4 with Final Cut Express 2, Sorenson Squeeze, iChat 3.0, iMovie 4 (but not 5), QuickTime 7.0 (Pro), QuickTime Broadcaster 1.5, and is recognized by System Profiler. It does not work in iMovie 5, which hopefully Apple will fix, but I think it's because of the new Magic Movie feature, which broke a lot of A/D boxes."

Depending on your machine PowerPC or Intel you may not be able to find or go back to go back to iMovie 4. If you want to try that let me know and I may be able to find an old version. I think I would still go with Premiere Elements or Final Cut Express.

Brian

2.4.8.5.4.6.9.3.3.9

There is some controversy concerning disabling the Sony device with iMovie, but it did happen and no fix or workaround was ever provided from Apple except, "Buy more expensive software."

Mine is currently serving figurative doorstop duty until I spring more $$$.