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iMovie 09 AVCHD import problems

Another freshly fixed problem that had me puzzled for a couple of days is my iMovie 09 crashing when trying to import AVCHD video. This problem hasn’t always existed as I was able to import AVCHD format video from my Canon HF100 in January, but trying again a few days ago resulted in an iMovie crash whenever the Video Camera was connected by USB (or the SDHC card connected via card reader). I’m not sure if this is a new problem with iMovie 09 or if another update caused the issue. Making an image of the card and then mounting it gave the same result, and the problem existed on both the hackintosh and HTPC.

Much searching of insanelymac suggested the problem was fixed by use of a different AppleSMBIOS.kext. I had version 1.1.1 installed to start with, and 1.0.13/1.0.11 didn’t change anything. I eventually came across a post by Andy Vandijck that contained a couple of modified files.The AppleSMBIOS_MacPro.zip file fixed the problem for me, and was easily installed using the OSX86Tools install kext tool.

One way of figuring out the problem with a crashing app is to launch it from the terminal so any error messages are displayed there. To use the example of iMovie, open a terminal window and type

cd /Applications/iMovie.app/Contents/MacOS/

then

./iMovie

Plugging in the USB card reader and SDHC card gave an error message as iMovie crashed:

Error getting a reference to /options.

This lead to the AppleSMBIOS threads at insanelymac so proved to be a good starting point for getting the problem fixed.

  1. April 14, 2009 at 4:05 am | #1

    I did what you recommended: used OSX86Tools to install the AppleSMBIOS.zip file you point to.

    Nothing fixed the problem I am having. More details here:

    http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=9319413#9319413

    Please advise.

  2. April 14, 2009 at 4:08 am | #2

    the log in from WordPress on this comment I posted doesn’t point to my right blog address, for some reason.

    Please feel free to either reply to that thread (which would benefit everyone else with the same problem) or send me an email at enzofsilva [aT ] gmail[ dot] com

  3. basshead
    April 15, 2009 at 7:30 am | #3

    I think the AppleSMbios file you need to cure the problem is dependant on your hardware. I tried a few before finding one that worked.

  4. April 15, 2009 at 1:00 pm | #4

    I tried them all… and now a puzzling thing:

    I hadn’t memorized it, but it seems like installing those files CHANGED my MAcBook Pro’s serial number? Does that happen?

    And, still no solution for my iMovie problem….

  5. Mark
    April 24, 2009 at 10:46 pm | #5

    thanks a lot for this tip! I had exactly the same problem, updated AppleSMBIOS_MacPro.zip take care the crash issue. My M/B is GA-EP45-UD3P btw.

  6. Tim
    August 6, 2009 at 1:05 am | #6

    THANK YOU! You are a genius!
    I finally got my HDR-XR200 Working!!!!!
    Awesome!!!

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