FCP Capture from GL2 on G5
 

I am having a strange problem when I connect my Canon GL2 (via firewire) to my Dual G5, when my external FW800 hard drive is also connected. For some reason, the G5 is unable to recognize the external hard drive, once the GL2 is connected. When I first have the hard drive connected (via FW800 cable), everything is fine. I can see all of my files on the drive, etc. But when I connect my GL2 and power it on, and then try to view files in the Finder, I just get the beachball. This continues, until I power off the GL2, and then immediately, the files (on the external hard drive) in the Finder appear. When I do the exact same scenario using my Canon ZR30, I have no problem whatsoever. The only way I am able to pull video off of my GL2 is by connecting the GL2 directly to my G5, and not connecting the FW800 external hard drive. Has anyone else experienced anything like this? Below are my specs:

Wiebetech FW800 Hard drive
(the manual says it is Laureate Super 800)
Firmware version V360 (** I have applied the latest firmware)
Dual G5
OSX 10.3.2 (Build 7D24)
FCP 4.1.1
1.5 GB RAM

Any help will be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

Jim Pruett

Jim,
I do not have a FW800 Mac so I don't know the solution. Here are just a couple of ideas that might help you at least isolate the issue among vendors.

1. Do you have any other FW400 device, such as a hard disk, that you could test in combination with that FW800 drive? That is, plug the FW400 device in in lieu of the GL2 to see if you have the same problem?

2. What happens when you change the sequence of connection? That is, connect the GL2 and then connect the FW800 drive? Do you still get eternal beach ball?

I did a quick search of Apple's knowledge base but found nothing particularly relevant to this problem. It might be worth a visit to their discussion boards to see if anything shows up there.

I have used my Maxtor FW (400) hard drive daisy-chained to the FW800 without any problems. I have not experimented with order of connection or powerup, but I will (I am not at that computer until evening). Thank you for your input. This seems VERY strange to me, especially since I have no problems at all using the exact same setup and only switching to my Canon ZR30.

Still Very Confused,

Jim

Well, I have tried every possible sequence of powering up and connecting each device and cannot seem to get the hard drive to work when connected through any firewire connection (either FW400 or FW800) - the drive has both - when the GL2 is also connected. I was able to connect my other FW400 (Maxtor) without any problem whatsoever and capture fine that way. Then, this morning, I decided to also try the USB2.0 connection on my Wiebetech drive (the 3rd connection type) and it works! So, I am beginning to think that the problem is with the drive, and not with FCP, or even the G5. I have sent a message to Wiebetech and hopefully I will get a reply. I also plan to call them today. USB2.0 gets the job done, but I will not get what I paid for (800mbs) using that connection.

Thanks for your input.

Jim Pruett

Thank you for the update, Jim. In my experience WeibeTech has been very good at handling customer service (I have 4 of their units), although it may take a day ot two for them to respond.

There is always the possibility that it is something funky in the GL2 firewire connection that is co-opting the firewire circuitry.

Sorry if I appear a bit ignorant, but could you explain what you mean by 'co-opting' the firewire circuitry?

btw, I called Wiebetech and their support person was very friendly, and although not able to immediately help (due to most of the staff being at Mac World), he assured me that someone would be following up with me after Mac World. Since I currently have a work-around, using the USB2.0 connection, I am at least able to work - just not by utilizing the FW800 connection.

Thanks,


Jim

Some Canon cameras do not play well with firewire although they have been improving of late. I've heard various explanations for this from improper implementation of the standard (Maxtor rep) to essentially taking up the entire firewire signal. Some people have no problems at all, others find that it only works to connect the Canon to the computer and capture internally as the camera won't daisy-chain to an external drive.

While things have been improving in this regard whenever I hear about a Canon camera and firewire issues I immedaitely wonder if the camera isn't the culprit (especially GL1s but some GL2s).

The GL2 has not (to my knowledge) been associated with Apple FireWire driver issues. These issues were mostly with XL1 cameras and early ZR cameras (ZR, ZR10?).

One interesting thing to note, is that my GL2 works fine when I am using it in conjunction with my Maxtor 80GB ext drive. And when I used my PC laptop, I had to daisy chain the GL2 to the Maxtor (due to only having one FW port on the notebook), and I never had any problems with that configuration either.

At any rate, I will post the answer when/if I get one from Wiebetech, or any other resource. Thank you for the replies.

Jim