My Sony DCR-VX2000 is not supported by imovie Mojave. It imports but its full of dropped frames so unfortunately useless. Is there a program that could convert .dv into mp4. Thank you

Hi, ilona132,

You might try purchasing iMovie 6 as part of the iLife '06 package from Amazon. Then import into iMovie 6. iMovie 6 is designed for .dv. I don't know if you will get a better result, but might be worth a try. I am running iMovie 6 on Mojave and it works just fine. I think I downloaded it while using Mavericks or El Capitan. It could be a little tricky to download on High Sierra but I think it can be done.

If your video tapes were recorded on a camera different than your Sony DCR-VX2000 that might cause some difficulties.

Also, maybe the recording heads need cleaning.

-- Rich

When importing DV from tape into iMovie the import is divided at the points of scene break, i.e. at the points of start/stop record.

Hence the import will consist of many separate files but will play seamlessly in the time line. Could this be what you are seeing when you are importing your tapes and are assuming that they are dropped frames?

You could try the Record feature in QuickTime Player to import your DV tape.

This is sometimes more forgiving than iMovie.

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT201066

Be sure to select your cam' and the cam' microphone in the drop down menu and select quality to high.

If maximum is selected your file size will be huge with possibly no benefit in quality. When using QTP to import from tape you will obtain just one long file with no scene breaks.You will need to then import this into iMovie.

Do you still have the 2 grey discs that came with your 2010 Mac ( OS Snow Leopard plus applications software)?

If so you could install that on the old Mac and then upgrade to El Capitan instead of High Sierra.

As you have iMovie 10 on your new Mac you could download a compatible version of it on your old Mac ( El Capitan).

Be sure to use the same Apple ID on the old Mac that you use on the new Mac.

You would likely to be more successful importing your DV tape on El Capitan than with High Sierra on your old Mac.

If all is successful then you can upgrade from El Capitan to High Sierra at a later time or keep it at El Capitan just in case you find more tapes.

" unfortunately they will have to download High Sierra as that is the oldest version they can access "

If you want them to install El Capitan, tell them they can find it on this Apple link.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT206886

Also, you don't need to convert .dv files to mp4 for use in iMovie with Mojave. They should work without conversion.

As Rich suggested a head clean is well worth a try.

"I also tried QuickTime Player, it sees my camera but does not want to engage it, so the camera icon stays black."

Try setting your cam' to play using camcorder play control before hitting the record button to see if QTP will engage.

Here the iLife '06 package, with iMovie 6, on ebay:

https://www.ebay.com/c/128082578

-- Rich