So from our testing in house we’ve found a definite problem with the new iMacs (brushed aluminum) and Panasonic AG-DVC30. The camcorder does not get detected by the system under OSX 4.10 and/or Windows XP. The problem seems to be hardware/firmware related. Almost every other camera inhouse seems to work except this one.
We’ve also gone ahead and reconfirmed our tests at the apple store in Toronto. Same results, the new iMacs do not like the Panasonic AG-DVC30. BTW, the camera gets properly recognised by every other mac in the store (including our inhouse G5/G4/Power Book/Mac Book/Mac mini/MacBook Pros).
The problem seems to stem from the initial handshake (atleast that’s what we’ve been able to figure out until now), since the introduction of a LaCie firewire drive in the middle of the chain seems to solve the problem (atleast the initial recognition issue). So we are all wondering why it is that if you hang the camera off the LaCie drive and plugin the LaCie drive into the iMac, everything works?
Something to keep in mind if you’re planning to buy this camera and the new iMac. I’d be interested in hearing from people having issues with new iMacs and other camera’s.
2 responses to “Problems with new iMacs and Panasonic AG-DVC30”
Hey Many,
I’m pretty well decided on desktop, and my choice of operating systems. But I have one last question, because I’m a bit confused. Which is the desktop, the iMac, or the Mac Pro?
They are both desktops. One is very expandible and can potentially be configured as a Ubermachine (Mac Pro w/ 8 cores…..ie: V8).
The iMac is good as well but not as expandable.
If you want a game machine you really want to look at Mac Pro. If you’re doing heavy video editing you want a Mac Pro. Pure Development…..hmmmmm, both can do it….Mac Pro would probably chew through compiles much faster (depending on how you configure it).
Think of it this way, in terms of processing power, the bottom of the barrel mac pro is basically the same as the iMac (since you don’t get a real EXPANSION choice with the iMac).
Memory and Disk are also pretty much fixed with the iMac, but can be EXPANDED later on the Mac Pro.
TTYL
Many