Emergency issue - cam not being discovered
 

Well, I just discovered a very odd thing happening here with the old PDX-10 and any editing application.

I have been using a DSR-20 for a long time and it has been working flawlessly. I plug the 1394 in and it goes through the normal discover messages for a new DV device to which I cancel out of - all 4 messages. New DV device found, new AV tuner, etc. (which is odd as there is really no tuner in the DSR20)

I plug in the PDX-10 and I only get one message. I cancel it and can open my apps - Avid XpressPro, Premiere Pro, Vegas, etc. I can capture and control the camera in VCR mode. I however for the life of me cannot get dv playing out from any applications back into the camera. They are set right and think they are as evidenced by the stuttered output on the PC screens.

Keep in mind that it works fine with my tiny Sony Vaio laptop. I get imediate in and out. Same 4 messages I get using the DSR20 on the home system when I connect too.

Now, here's a hint. When I plug into the laptop, I look at the device drivers and notice there is a 1394 device listed, the TI driver is showing. On the bigger home system, I have a generic (probably Microsoft) driver. So far, in almost a year of editing with the DSR20, the driver hasn't been an issue and I am a bit reluctant to fool with a mostly working very well system.

A few questions come to mind, why does the DSR20 work fine with both drivers?

Why doesn't the PDX10?

How do I fix this?

What are you folks seeing as the listed device driver?

How can I change so I only use the right driver?

Why does the home PC only ask one question for the PDX10 and 4 for the DSR20?

How do I get and load the TI drivers and will that help.

Etc.

I will need to get video back onto the camera at some point. That's 33% of why I bought it. I know it can work. It works fine from the laptop. What do I need to make it work right on the big PC?

The 1394 card in the home PC is a built in card so I can't change it. I can add a second one which I may have to do.

I just discovered all this last night so I will work on it this weekend but it's quite nerve wracking right now.

Sean

The oxymoron for today = Microsoft Works

But I have had many painfull fights with software over the years.

1st question, What OS are you operating? Windows XP is the best (In the microsoft range) at recognising the newer hardware additions.

**Please last suggestion should be first, but I couldn't be bothered redoing it all.

The second thing I have sometimes found is that conflicts with some software can occur, it shouldn't, but it sometimes happens. Especially if you use several pieces of software that try to do the same thing, eg. several different capture progs loaded on your system. Often almost impossible to solve, because of dll files being left behind even after it is uninstalled. Happens a lot if you tial several shareware progs ;) Dare I say it, a possible solution, cleansing of the system. Reformat, reinstall.

The third possible is that there is a hardware conflict, again it may not show up in the System\Device manager. Remove all unessential hardware (network cards, extra fireware cards even USB devices, printer etc - everthing that you can that is not critical to the computer running and getting the DV out the the camera. Sometimes this will give you a solution to work to.

We know it is not your camera - because it works with your laptop.

And fourthly, (and probably the first thing I would do if you are running XP) Go into Control panel\system\hardware\device manager and uninstall any IEEE 1394 drivers. Disconect any related hardware, reboot, plug in your cam, and XP will reload the drivers. Sometimes the drivers can become corrupted, often solves driver probs.

Good luck, give us an update and we may be able to do something else.

Well, thanks for the suggestions. I know I came off as a bit of a newbie but I have done all the normal things, and a few extra in my attemptsto get this working.

Reinstalling from scratch is out of the question for now as I have paying customers with months worth of projects loaded and waiting finishing touches. I will however strive to let them know I am rebuilding the system soon and we need to clear old projects. It's a good rreason to finish their old projects. Especially if they know the system is in danger of loosing all their work. Reinstalling in itself isn't such a bad thing.

Over the last 24 hours I have removed all USB, all 1394 devices and allowed Windows XP Pro to do it's thing reinstalling as it detects new hardware. Same story,nobetter.

I am still mostly bothered byt the different drivers being constantly reloaded by Windows itself. I finally got it to actually say it is finding the PDX10 but only after manually resetting the 1394 drivers. Unfortunatly, on reboot or disconnect, the next time I plug in, it's back to the old drivers. Even when it did load the actual camera by name, the drivers lised the old non-TI drivers.

I am currently searching the net for old information on installing the TI drivers rather than the MS versions. There used to be lots of info on that but I can't find a link anynmore.

Still looking.

Sean