Input problems with Sony HVR-Z5's iLink
 

Hi everyone!
I'm having trouble recording to tape from both Premiere CS4 and Vegas Pro.
I want to record a DV file to tape using the camera's iLink input.
I encounter various problems (because they never come alone, of course...).

The first one happens on a PC, with both Premiere CS4 and Vegas Pro:
Recording starts fine, after a few seconds the camera's screen turns blue for a couple of seconds and flickers a bit.
The tape records blue whenever this happens.
No idea what's going on, but the fact that this happens with two different softwares (which do not assume they've dropped frames) led to believe it might have something to do with the iLink.

I then decided to try it on a Mac with Premiere CS4.
I didn't even get as far as recording.
When I connect it to the computer the camera starts going wild, as if it didn't know if it should be in "IN" mode or "OUT" mode.
It starts flickering from one to the other. This kinda freaked me out after reading about a lot of people who allegedly burned their connections...
This might have something to do with the cable or the fact that the connection on the Mac is Firewire 800 and the camera is a 4 pin 400.

I'm completely lost here...
Any ideas?

Of course I could have a DVCAM copy made in some digital lab, but they charge A LOT of money for something that I supposedly already have in the camera, a DVCAM recorder.

i presume you've tried different cables?

Um...
I just assumed that if I didn't have a problem capturing from the camera to the NLE, it should be working the other way around...
And I used different cables on both the Mac and the PC.
One 4pin/4pin on the PC, and one 4pin/9pin on the Mac.
I suppose I should try different cables anyway.

Hi Nuno............
 

Do a test for me, please?

Try recording this file (or part thereof, same part each time) to the camera on four seperate occasions, one after the other, alternating between the two softwares.

Does the video blip out in exactly the same place each time?

If NO, then it could be a cable problem or something else entirely.

If YES I'd hazzard it's a content problem with the file itself, mixed data types or some other furphy that the camera simply isn't in the correct mode for.

A further test would be to shoot a short clip (any standard you like), ingest into the pc, put a clean tape in the camera and write it back out again, unaltered.

If it blips out, it isn't a standards problem and the hunt will be on in earnest for the real culprit.


CS

following on from chris's advice.

if it's flaking out at the same spot each time it's definitely a fault on the tl.

when i was printing back to tape from dv i ALWAYS rendered my tl to a new file and then printed from that. you never know what's lurking in the tl, whether a flaky dissolve or bad graphics.

leslie

Hi again everyone!
I ended up having the copy made at a video lab.
The blip out occurred in different places at every try and I couldn't get it solved in time.

There is one problem that still persists though, and it has made itself more relevant than the original one.
I still have problems with the iLink connection to the Mac.
I can't get it to connect properly, so that means can't capture to Final Cut Pro.
I´ve tried to connect the camera in play as someone suggested and tried to capture with FCP.
The camera doesn't change input/output mode, but it flashes on and off.
FCP doesn't connect to the camera. It says it can't find any device.

The camera works fine on a PC with a 4 pin/4 pin firewire cable.
So I'm pretty sure it's not a hardware problem in the cam.
I use it every other day to capture footage.

The problem is, FCP doesn't recognize M2T footage, so I can't use my previous captures made on the PC.
I have a converter, but it takes forever to convert the footage and I'm not really sure if it is doing it's job 100% right.

Is it the cable?
I mean, apart from the possibility that a brand new cable doesn't work (I'll check that just in case), could there be any reason for this to happen?

Thank you all for the tips!!

Why not simply rewrap the mt2 files in a .mov wrapper using ClipWrap.

Works great, try it out.