I know how to read, but the manual says nothing! How to down-convert from HDV to DV?

[A. Stone]

Hello again HDV/FX1/Z1 folks and sorry for so many posts in such a short period of time!

How do you down-convert from HDV to DV and output that signal to a NLE system (or can you)? My understanding (which could be completely wrong), is that when one does the following:

- set the VCR HDV/DV menu is to “Auto” or “HDV”
- set the i.Link CONV menu to “ON”

…that the camera is now set to output a DV signal from a tape that has recorded an HDV signal.

I am also assuming that:

-the iLink lamp (on the iLink connector) should light-up the “DV” light, because it’s outputting a DV signal (but it doesn’t)…should it do this?

- Since it’s outputting a down-converted DV signal, I should be able to capture the down-converted clip in a standard (NTSC) DV preset mode in Premiere Pro 1.5.1, but I get an error message from the camera when I try. Should I be able to do this?

Another Problem:

- if the camera is set to down-convert (as mentioned above), Cineform’s HDLink and WinXP Pro Device Manager do not recognize the camera.


What am I doing wrong? How do you down-convert?!?

Cheers!

Andrew Stone

[Bryan McCullough]

All you've got to do is set the i.Link CONV to 'ON'.

However, it seems you must do this without a firewire cable plugged in or it won't switch.

So make sure there's no cable attached, turn the conversion on, then plug in and you should be good to go. The light at the connection should illuminate DV.

[Steven Gotz]

- set the VCR HDV/DV menu is to “Auto” or “HDV”

No, you set it to DV.

[A. Stone]

Thanks...

I did as you suggested:

- unplugged iLink cable
- turned iLink CONV to "ON"

the iLink lamp light switched to "DV", but as soon as I plugged the cable back in, it switched back to "HDV"

any ideas?

Thanks,

Andrew Stone

[Steven Gotz]

You may have been typing your response when I posted mine. Did you set VCR HDV/DV to DV?

[A. Stone]

Thanks...Steven

here's what I did:

- unplugged cable
- set it to DV in the HDV/DV menu
- set iLink down convert to "On"
- iLink lamp lit the "DV" light
- plugged cable back in (iLink lamp stayed lit on "DV")

in PPro1.5.1

started new project selecting

DV - NTSC widescreen
went to file/capture
the capture window was active ("stopped"), yet when I went to capture, the camera began to beeb at me and gave me this error:

"no output image in 'VCR HDV/DV'. Change format"

ideas?

Cheers!

Andrew Stone

[Steven Gotz]

Whoops. I was wrong Sorry. My apologies. You just need to have 'VCR HDV/DV' in Auto, and iLink CONV to "ON"

When you connect your camera, you should be able to capture in a DV project.

Setting 'VCR HDV/DV' is for when you shoot in DV.

Bryan was correct in the first place.

So do that and tell us if it works, or we can then resolve the issue in Premiere Pro.

When you set it to DV and you plug in to the rfirewire, you should get that annoying little window that asks you what you want to do.