XH-A1 and Premiere CS3
 

Not sure if this goes in the Premiere thread or the Canon thread but...

All day yesterday I had a horrible time trying to figure out why I cannot get Premiere CS3 to recognize my XH-A1 for capturing. Yes, I have captured through this very set up dozens and dozens of times and it has had its glitches here or there, giving the message "cant find device, reset camera" or whatever to that effect. But it would always work after one or two tries.

I spent an hour opening and closing the capture window, checking the connections, replacing cords, closing Premiere, restarting my computer, and nothing I do will make Premiere "see" my camera.

The tape was shot on a Canon HV20 in - 60i HDV mode.

I WAS able to capture the same tape in HDV with a Sony Z1U, which Premiere recognized instantly as HDV.

The only work around that seems to work is by down-converting the footage to DV through the Canon. Premiere magically recognizes the camera when I change the capture mode to "DV".

Are there any thoughts or settings I may be missing?

I'm having the same problem. but it only started happening recently. The only thing i can think that i did was change the signal mode to DV once and then changed it back to HD. this is very frustrating.

Could you describe in steps how you attach the camera to pc? That's important to know as this isn't the first time I have heared of someone blowing their firewireport doing it in the wrong way. It can work for months without a problem but one day you will win the lottery for sure if it's done in the wrong way. :)

PP often gets confused when the camera sending the FireWire signal to it doesn't specify whether it's DV or HDV. Once I started setting it manually I've had no problems.

Also, how you connect your cam to the computer is critical if the FireWire port on your computer is 6-pin. The 6-pin port sends positive DC voltage down one of its wires and if you don't plug it into your computer just right, the cable connector might make contact with the wrong terminal in the port. Doesn't have to happen for more than an instant to fry something inside your cam.

The idiot-proof way to do it is to connect the cable when both devices are powered down. The next best way is to plug the cable into the computer first, then plug in the cam. The four-pin connector that goes to your cam does not carry the voltage so slight misallignment won't send DC seeking the shortest path to ground. But other problems can happen.

If you're plugging into the typical FireWire port on a laptop, which is normally four-pin, DC won't be traveling down the cable on a search-and-destroy mission in your cam.

Hope that helps. But to be sure, the safest way to connect the two bits is with both with the power off.

For some reason, this is also the best way for me to connect the A-1 and Adobe Photoshop Elements.

Also, I understand Elements is quite a step down from CS4(which I'm close to buying) but, in a way I expected problems.

When I would hook up with "get media from" DV camcorder etc...Elements would say that the A-1 was not connected, yet it would work fine.

Gives me hope that I will be able to connect the A-1 and CS4.

HDV Split
 

Hi

Have you tried to capture with another application, HDV Split for example? It's a freeware, splits captured files to clips and works like charm, at least for me. By trying to capture with another application you'll be able to tell if it's Premiere that causes the troubles.


Regards,

/Bo

Same old, same old
 

Very interesting to read all the replies. I use Premier CS3 and I haven't once been given the option on the new project screen to select HDV only DV. This has been done with the XH A1 connected (which premier very rarely finds) and without. I checked the cannon web site and the Adobe site to see if there was an update for Premier to recognise the XH A1 but nothing.....come on canon and Adobe, your all big boys now who have sold a lot of XH A1 and CS3, surely you can get your heads together and sort this out with a wee patch to download as there seems to be a lot of people with the same problem/s. Do I have to go to the expense of buying CS4 to fix this problem....maybe I'll just look else where for my NLE programme from now on.
It's all right downloading third party software to do the capturing and well done HD SPLIT for doing it but why should I have to go to all the extra trouble and time to do it, I bought an Adobe product as I thought it would do the job and yet all I....sorry we get, is frustration and aggravation for spending our hard earned cash on software that doesn't seem to want to keep up with the times!!!

If anyone has any advice or can share their experience in this matter it would be much appreciated as I am sick of bashing my head up against the wall as a mountain of unedited tape begins to grow by the day. And now I cant sleep worrying about frying my firewire port!!
Thanks all

Premiere CS3 Update
 

Hi

There is an update available at Adobe for CS3 to version 3.1.1. It's dated 12/6/2007 so it's a couple of months old by now. I don't know if that will help you osr if you allready installed the update, but I guess it will be worth trying. I myself havn't had any problems with the combination XH-A1/CS3.



Regards,

/Bo

Martin... If I'm reading your description correctly, you have a preset problem. It sounds like the HDV project presets are not being loaded into PP when you start the program or want to start a new project.

The simplest fix is to uninstall and reinstall PP. It should load the HDV Presets.

A bit more manual way to do it is to search your system for files with the file descriptor "prpreset". Search for "*.prpreset" (without the quotes of course) and see if it turns up anything with "HDV" in the name. If it does, copy anything containing HDV into the following folder: C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Premier Pro CS3\Settings\en_US\HDV.

Being in the Isles, yours might say something like en_UK. That should solve the problem.

Even though I've not had the preset problems you've encountered, I don't use PP for capturing HDV because it cannot scene split, which IMO is a glaring deficiency for a product of this caliber. HDV Split is often a simpler way to go.

Bo,

I'm on the most updated version, which I believe is 3.2, so that 3.1.1 version is not the current version.

My capture problems exist despite turning the computer off entirely along with the camera and then following the steps to plug the firewire in to the computer then the camera. Luckily, this problem is sporadic so if I keep working at it, it will eventually work.

I have sent the A1 in for service but I doubt this will fix anything.

Sorry, I assumed that the last update was first in list on Adobes site, but 3.2 was to be found a bit down. You are correct, 3.2 is the last version which also is the version I have installed.

I also remebered that I have had problems to get my PC get connected to the camcorder. It started when I changed the FW-cable and it was the plastic cover around the connector in the camera end of the cable that was a litlt bit to long, which made bad contact when I connected the cable. The solution that time was to cut away about one milimeter of the plastic and then the cable connected fine. As your PC seems to find your cam in DV mode is something that indicates that this isn't the problem for you though.


Regards,

/Bo

Thanks a lot for all your advice, unfortunetly nothing seems to be working... beginning to think after using premier for 10 years its now time for a change. If anyone has any ideas they will be more than welcome. Thanks all

Okay, here is the new twist. I have just installed PPCS3 (same copy as on my new desk top) on my old laptop and it brings up all the HDV options in the new project window.

Unfortunetly my lap top is totally under spec to capture HD footage......that was the reason I bought the new desk top system. Could it be a problem with the graphics card on the new desk top?

We use HD Link by Cineform (comes with Aspect HD) to import all our HDV and it works perfectly every time.

Many more import options than importing in Premiere, including pulldown removal of HV20/HV30 HDV shot in 24p.