Problems with PD150 DV connection with FCP5.1
 

I am getting frustrated trying to get my PD150 to work properly with a new editing setup (Final Cut Studio Universal on intel imac). There are several problems that may be related...

First, FCP can only sometimes establish a connection with the camera. There seems to be no rhyme or reason to when this happens, and I can sometimes get it to work after some combination of unplugging and replugging the firewire cable, turning the camera on and off, and restarting the computer, but none of these work every time. Right now I can't establish a connection at all. FCP connects to another sony camera every time.

Once connected, capture and deck control seem to work fine but I can't play back external video through the PD150, though with the same settings in FCP I can play external video through another camera. Is there some setting I'm missing to do this on the PD150?

Also, sometimes the computer will freeze with the spinning wheel, but only until I turn the camera off. This has happened (but not every time) when I open the audio/video settings menu, refresh a/v devices, set 'audio follows video', and restart the computer even when FCP is not running.

It seems like this problem has to do with the camera, but it might be this new version of Final Cut or some settings that I have wrong. Does anybody have any ideas or suggestions?
Thanks!

Alex

Alex, this is not likely a camera problem and I've moved it to the proper editing Forum where it will get additional attention.

Welcome to the group.

Thanks for the reply, Mike. Which forum did you move the post to? I didn't see it in non-linear DV editing for the mac.

The reason I thought this was a camera problem was becasue I have been able to play external video through both another camera and a digital analog converter but not through the PD150.

Hey Alex. For some reason it looks like your thread wasn't moved. But it's now in the Mac forum, with a re-direct from the PD-150 forum.

This newer setup for the wrangler's isn't as user friendly as the previous tool set.

Alex, if you don't get replies here, send me an e-mail and I'll put it back in the PD-150 forum.

I've noticed erratic connections if you start FCP before the camera is connected. If I connect my camera to FW first, then start FCP, it seems to be happier. Also when doing a manual "capture now", I have to manually start the camera playing before I click the capture button, or it hangs. Guess it needs sync rolling before it does its thing. This is with a JVC HD100U, but I have a VX-2000 (similar to PD-150) I can try when it comes home next week.

I have found that a consistent solution to the problem is to have the camera plugged in and turned on before I boot the computer.