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Importing movies from MiniDV to iMovie missing audio

I just ran into this today after using iMovie (10.1.10 on macOS 10.4.3) to import 7 miniDV tapes on a Canon Elura 100 (same camera for recording and playback) via firewire 400 on a MacPro. After reviewing my fine work, I realized that only the recording from the first tape had audio imported. There's nothing wrong with the camera or any tapes as audio plays correctly through the camera's speakers and I'm sure no recording settings changed between tapes.

Here's where it gets strange. I checked one of the "bad" tapes with QuickTime Player (File > New Movie Recording) and started playback manually with the camera controls. I could see the audio monitor registering audio input in the monitor window, but no sound was output to my speakers. However, from the video monitor window (without recording started), if I click the triangle arrow next to the record button and switch "Quality" from "HIgh" to "Maximum" (or vice-versa if Maximum is already selected), all of a sudden audio starts being played through my computer speakers. Any recordings I do after this starts work capture audio correctly.

So there seems to be a legitimate, OS-level bug with firewire audio capture. Maybe something isn't initialized properly until the quality setting is toggled. Nevertheless, it seems if audio isn't captured correctly from the start, the resulting files are useless. Now I just have to figure out how to get iMovie working consistently.
 
Tried a couple more times with the Mac, tried out a Final Cut Pro trial, and even tried on an older MacBook Pro with firewire 800. All had this audio problem. It's a macOS issue.

After a bit of Googling, I decided to try Linux (I have a Fedora HTPC). Sure enough, miniDV tape capture worked perfectly using dvgrab and ffmpeg to deinterlace/denoise/compress to mp4. For anyone reading this thread, if you have Linux access, this is the best (and free) solution. I'm disappointed that Apple products, once the "go to" tools for multimedia, have become such a headache to use for basic things like this.
 
There is an alternate method to getting your tapes converted to digital files. That is to use a Sony VRD-VC20 DVD Recorder, (< $100 on E-Bay).

I had bought one a number of years ago, but never really used it. I've now converted all my old camcorder DV tapes and VHS videotapes (i.e. wedding, etc.) onto digital while I still have a working camcorder and VCR player.

It is a multi-step process. The camcorder is connected directly to the VRD-VC20 with a DV cable. The tape is played on the camcorder while the recorder burns a DVD. The DVD can then be mounted on the iMac with a DVD drive. The video VOB files on the DVD can be copied to the iMac and converted to MP4.

I found one DVD blank will hold a 1 hour HQ DV tape. The recording must be monitored on the camcorder screen as playbacks will pause if there are gaps in the recordings. This event requires pushing the play button again on the camcorder to keep the recording from aborting on the VRD-VC20. Finally, when the tape playback ends, the DVD recording must be a) "Stopped" then b) "Finalized" on the front panel of the VC20. If "finalization" fails, you have a drink coaster and must start again. It happens.

As stated, all my DV and VHS tapes were recorded to DVD. This operation also provided an archive on DVD disk as well as on the hard drive. But, I'd first try to get the direct recording from camcorder to iMac working if you can.

Disadvantages:

Well, you need a Sony VRD-VC20 DVD Recorder and a DVD drive for the iMac/MacBook. You also need a number of recordable DVD blanks, approximately 1 per hour of tape plus spares for failures.

And you also need a functioning camcorder to play your old tapes back. If you threw yours away that's an issue. It's very expensive to send them to a conversion service.
 
Thanks for that, I think it must indeed have something to do with audio quality in the original recording, either 16 or 12 bit for example. In my mind there were all the same, and yet there must be some subtle difference that is now coming to light. I will look for a ‘quality’ switch.
 
@IainB: Try using QuickTime Player to import via File > New Movie Recording. Then, from the video monitor window, manually start playback on your camera and toggle the quality via the little triangle to the right of the big red record button. Check if you can now hear the tape's audio through the computer speakers. If that works then this is definitively a software bug and not something wrong with the tapes.

But ultimate, I had the best luck with Linux. This command is all that was needed to rewind the tape, start playback, split each video clip into a separate DV file named with "Tape_1-" as the prefix followed by timestamp of the recording date:

dvgrab --autosplit --timestamp --size 0 --rewind Tape_1-
 
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Yeah, lately when I've attempted to import footage from my MiniDV and Digital8 camcorders into iMovie 10, there isn't any audio. Same with Final Cut Pro X. But I DO get audio when capturing using QuickTime Player, and on Adobe Premiere Pro CC (Adobe stupidly got rid of DV capture in Premiere Elements). And for the record, since my 2012 i7 Mac Mini has a FireWire 800 port, I use a 4-pin to 9-pin FireWire cable.
At least it's good to know that it is still doable, as I am thinking of starting a local service for converting people's home movies shot on videotape (VHS, VHS-C, Video8, Hi-8, Digital8 and MiniDV) to DVD and/or as digital video files.
 
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I have just downloaded LIFEFLIX import software. Finally, all is working. Clear sound and easy to use. Just rather an expensive way to do it. You can get a trial version to use on 1 tape. Good Luck!
 
Similar problem with a Sony Dig 8 camcorder and Mojave although I would get audio but it would go out of sync every minute or so - the video seems to freeze frame for a second but the audio didn't. In the end I installed Mountain Lion on an external disk and imported using QT and this worked pretty much flawlessly.
 
I'm on 2011 iMac, chugging along in High Sierra, and having the same 'no audio' from DV tapes into iMovie 10.1.2 (the "Purple" icon). I somehow still have the older 9.0.4 on my dock and it WILL import from DV tapes with audio, but the video is 'washed out', what some call the 'black level', sort of like contrast. You can use the video adjustments to correct that in 9.0.4. I wish Apple wasn't so quick to discard ANY support/usage for slightly older formats. They toss sh*t out like a Christmas tree on Dec 26. So those of you out there, check your applications, see if you still have 9.0.4 and didn't realize it. Or Maybe it's downloadable somewhere.
 
I've just experienced this same problem. I have a Canon Optura from 2000, and I have some tapes dating back to then that were not playing properly due to misaligned rollers. I did an adjustment and got them to work, and tried to import into iMovie 10.1.2 on my 2012 MacBook Pro, using the dv out and into the Firewire input.

Got the video but no sound. I tried importing to Quicktime using the Quicktime record/play button but still no sound. Upon the recommendations here, I tried again with Quicktime but started the playback from the camcorder control, and clicked the down triangle on the Quicktime dialog box and selected "maximum." I then got sound from my computer speakers. I tried to repeat the process, but didn't get sound...the selection was still on "maximum" but when I tried selecting "high" the sound then came back....go figure.

Anyway, I recorded my video file through Quicktime and then imported that file into iMovie and I had sound.
I will also try to export from the camcorder using the s-video out and the mic out to a separate SONY mini dv deck that I have, and then see if I can import from the SONY deck into iMovie, and still get the sound.

Thanks for your help and advice!
 
JYLON said:
I have just downloaded LIFEFLIX import software. Finally, all is working. Clear sound and easy to use. Just rather an expensive way to do it. You can get a trial version to use on 1 tape. Good Luck!
Click to expand...
This looked like potentially good news and I was keen to try it on one of my 'non-working' tapes.
BUT 'not yet compatible with Catalina'. Damn!
I have emailed to ask for any update on development or new release. perhaps if a number of us similarly write, they might hurry up!
<https://www.lifeflix.com> Contact is via the 'Help' button.
 
I'm not sure if this will help, but I have been able to reliably replicate the problem, as well as to find a solution (more of a work-around, because it is far from ideal).

It seems that one of the QuickTime updates, that came along the way over the past years, broke something, and QuickTime code is unable to properly pick up the audio from the DV stream. Here is how I can get it to consistently work correctly.

When capturing using the QuickTime Player, you have to start playback first, then select the audio source (your camcorder) after that. If it is already selected, you'll have to switch to something else, and then switch back before starting the recording. When using iMovie or FCP X, you must start the playback before invoking the import window. This is the only way that the system will properly detect/decode the audio inside the DV stream and capture it. It consistently works in any and every DV stream capturing application.

Trying to control the tape movement from within the capturing application (FCP / iMovie) won't work; you'll get the video, but the audio will not be detected. This also means that you will always lose the first second of your video (between the time you start the playback, and the moment you hit 'REC').

There is another big problem with this method (in addition to losing a second of audio): if the stream is interrupted on the tape (starting the camcorder recording after reviewing the playback, thus creating a short segment of an unrecorded tape, without the timecode), the audio will be lost for all subsequent recording. You will have to keep a close eye on your capturing process and re-start the capturing (losing that first second or two every time you do this) every time you lose that audio. If you are using QuickTime Player for capturing, this won't be a problem. The capturing will automatically stop as soon as the camcorder comes across an interrupted audio stream. You'll just have to manually stop the tape, rewind, restart, wait for it to play past the point of interruption and then do the audio input switching, in order to re-gain the audio. In FCP/iMovie, capturing doesn't stop, but audio goes away, so you will need to be vigilant.

There was a time when QuickTime (which is the underlining code used for capturing in all the video apps, such as FCP / iMovie) was able to detect the audio inside a DV stream when playback is started. At some point, this got broken. The problem has been in existence for quite a while now, and there are no signs it would be resolved. This is frustrating.
 
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To anyone still seeking a solution, I found a much better work-around: iMovie 9.0.9. I am not sure if this version will work on Mojave, as it is quite old, but on my old iMac (2011) with High Sierra, it now works.

Download iMovie 9.0.9 - Apple Support

Addresses issues where iMovie does not recognize video cameras connected to your Mac, improves compatibility with projects imported from iMovie for iOS and includes stability improvements.
support.apple.com support.apple.com

Download iMovie 9.0.9 from Apple Support page. Now, this download is just an update, and it assumes you have the prior version of iMovie (9.0.8 or earlier) to update, so running the downloaded update won't work, but there is a fairly straightforward (albeit a bit long) process that will extract the actual iMovie app from this update package, which you can then rename (into iMovie 9, for example) and put inside your Applications folder.

All told, iMovie version 9 can successfully capture the DV video stream, you can use camera controls inside the capturing window to wind/rewind the tape, start the playback, stop, etc. While you will not hear any sound during the capturing, the resulting video clips will be OK.
 
Dave Braine said:
I have it on my MBP, with Mojave, but it doesn't load.
Click to expand...

Same, it wouldn't load on my Mac Mini when it had Mojave. Plus, it's 32-bit only, so of course it won't work with Catalina. But I have it on my late 2009 MacBook that runs High Sierra
BTW vasic, your advice about starting the playback on the DV device before opening FCP X and its' import/capture window worked great for me! Thank you so much! This will really help once I get into converting other peoples' home movies to DVD or digital files.
 
I am using Mac mini late 2012 with Final Cut Pro. I wanted to import movies from my Canon Optura 100MC via FireWire. The audio didn’t import the first time. After reading these posts I loaded up iMovie to try and the audio wasn’t playing. I was disconnecting the FireWire and the audio began to clip. I then realized the FireWire into my camera was loose.

so It is possible to import with Final Cut Pro X, maybe check the connection with FireWire between the camera and your Mac. Or try another cable.

Hope it helps.
 
So I tried vasic's tip on starting playback on the DV device before opening the video editor's import/capture window with iMovie and again, it worked! I can capture MiniDV footage with audio into both the current iMovie and Final Cut Pro X now. Of course, I don't shoot anything in MiniDV nowadays, but it's good to have the ability for archiving old tapes, or for when I start converting home movies from tape to DVD or digital files for family and friends!
 
vasic said:
I'm not sure if this will help, but I have been able to reliably replicate the problem, as well as to find a solution (more of a work-around, because it is far from ideal).
Click to expand...

A huge THANK YOU for this information. I can confirm that this helped (starting the playback manually before import), so I was able to import precious family moments from the early 2000s. Thanks again :)
 
vasic said:
When capturing using the QuickTime Player, you have to start playback first, then select the audio source (your camcorder) after that.
Click to expand...

Seconded - this worked for me - start the tape manually on the camera and then crash the program (QT, FCPro or iMovie) into capture on the fly. Specifically, my workflow, using iMovie, was to restart the Mac and clean the heads in the camera - I also believe it's worth winding an old tape FFWD to the end and then RWD to lessen any stickiness - and then:
  1. Put camera into Play mode and start tape
  2. Once program is up, open an import window and create new destination
  3. Switch input source to Camera (Canon MV890 in my case)
  4. You should hear sound through the Mac once connection is established and the Mac may pause the tape
  5. Use screen controls to wind tape back to start and press ‘Import’
  6. Close camera to mute sound, but check sound coming through on Mac with Mac volume controls
  7. When finished, check total capture length of clips - should be an hour for a full tape - and that the last program on tape is in the last clip. I found some inconsistency wi the final clip not being captured.
Also if the tape ends and iMovie seems stuck on 'capture/processing', simply turn the camera off and iMovie will close the import window properly.

I tried many approaches including getting a professional video shop to do the transfers (not great), but the results were best with the above method using a similar camera to that used originally for filming.

Good luck!
 
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