How to import miniDV videos without iMovie over USB?

I have an old Panasonic camcorder (model PV-GS35) that uses miniDV. It has a USB port for connecting to a computer. However, I cannot for the life of me get it to connect to my MacBook Pro running Mojave. iMovie does not see the camcorder. I have tried LifeFlix DV Importer and iSkySoft Video Converter. Nothing sees the camcorder.

I've Googled this to death and cannot find anything that will work. I've also looked here, on StackExchange with no luck. Does anyone have any ideas how I can get video off of the miniDV and into a digital file? Besides a miniDV conversion service? :)

Thanks for any suggestions.

Solution 1:

It's most likely that the support that was built into macOS (OS X 10.1 through 10.3) is no longer available in current versions of macOS. From the PV-GS35 User Manual (page 45):

• For Macintosh
  OS:
  Mac OS X v 10.1 – X v 10.3
  CPU:
  iMac, iBook or Power Book G4, Power Mac G4 or Power Mac G5
  RAM:
  64 MB or more

• The USB equipment operates with the driver installed as standard in OS.

The driver is obviously obsolete given that the only listed support is for PPC based Macs. It's a very good bet you're not going to find driver support for Intel based machines.

Unfortunately, this device doesn't show up as a camera and you will need software to not only extract the images/movies, but to control the camera as well. I ran into this very same problem with a Sony camcorder and the only way I was able pull the videos off the camcorder via USB (to ensure the highest quality) was to light up a Windows computer, install the software and extract my videos. The other option is to use a video capture device and get it via the analog input/outputs.

Solution 2:

As per your reply to my comment:

Your camcorder has a DV connector, which is nothing else than a 4-pin FireWire port.

To connect this to your Mac you need a FireWire 400 4-pin to FireWire 800 cable, something like this: https://www.amazon.com/Bizlander-Firewire-Premium-800-400-MacBook/dp/B01KPZTZNM/ref=sr_1_1

I haven't ingested tape-based media in years, but according to the built-in help in iMovie, this is supported even in the most recent version. (LifeFlix DV should work as well.)

For ingesting, please refer to the manual of the camcorder. It probably has to be set to VTR/VCR mode.