HV20 "Playback STD Locked, Restricted" for DVD recorder
 

I just bought the HV 20 two days ago and I wanted to transfer video via firewire to a standalone DVD recorder (downconvert HD footage to SD). I've had no problems with this in the past using my Sony FX1. I followed the instructions on pages 70 and 40 of the manual but I still can't get any signal going to the DVD recorder. Below are the settings I've selected, but once I plug in the firewire to the camera the "Playback STD" gets greyed out and I get the "STD Locked Restricted Playback" message.

What am I doing wrong???

DV Output is set to "DV Locked"
Playback STD is set to "DV"
AV/Phones is set to "AV"

Thanks in advance,
Aldo.

Hi Aldo,
You're right. I hadn't tried this until now but I get the same message. If I don't set it on DV locked I get nothing at all.
When I put one of my old tapes from a standard def machine it transferred perfectly, so it looks as if the HV20 is not down-converting the HD signal? On page 40 of the manual it distinctly says that it should do.
The other strange thing is that the HV20 display says "HDMI out" at the bottom even when an HDMI cable is not connected. It says in the manual that if an HDMI cable is connected there will be no DV output.

My HV20 works perfectly with my Memorex standalone DVD recorder via firewire. The only thing I have to change on the camera is to set it to "DV locked" - otherwise I get sound but no pic. I don't touch the Playback STD or AV setting in camera. I also don't touch anything once the firewire cable is plugged in. I get full DV device control (play, stop, pause, etc.) via the Memorex remote.

Peter, under under "Playback STD" what do you have it set to?

Hmmm......I managed to get a signal out to the DVD recorder but it's squeezed 4:3 rather than letterbox. I was fooling around with the settings but I'm not quite sure what I did to change things. The only difference from the settings I posted above is that now "Playback STD" is grayed out.

"A" - auto
TV Type 16:9

Bingo!

If "Playback std" is greyed out that may be because you have the DV cable connected to something. When you disconnect it the greyed-out bit should re-appear.

The menu option to output DV is misleading. What it means is only output any DV content that is on the tape. As I have HDV on the tape I set it to "HDV"

Under DV output it should be set to "DV", then it will down-convert the HDV content.

It records as wide-screen but how it is displayed would depend on what you are viewing it on.