I was using it earlier to transfer an edit to disc in FAM mode, then later on I connected up to the F350 with my macbook pro again (f350 switched off when I plugged in then turned on) and nothing. Tried 3 different macs. Nothing is showing up.

Please don't tell me it has packed up. I need this camera every day and without it am going to really struggle!

Phil

So soon after it came in through your door, this would be very disappointing. I would have thought firewire problems would have been sorted by manufacturers by now.

As a desperate wildcard thing, if you can't find anything in the menus to toggle back and forth to reset something that may have been altered, if there is a global "reset to defaults" type function available in the F350, try that, after making notes of your custom presets of course.

If luck prevails, it might be that the camera output has changed and it is no longer being recognised in the same way that the Z1 becomes invisible to the computer if it is in DV mode when capturing hdv or vice versa. A reset to factory defaults may fix it if you can't do it via menus.

The Z1 sometimes does a Dr. Jekyll when hooked up to a LG DVD recorder for quick camera tape dubs and I have to power down both and restart before they shake hands and do things.

The Z1 timecode function went insane for about three months after I tried a HDV export to tape.

I never did manage to get it to work until it spontaneuously came good again on its own after a reset from a deliberate DV capture from a tape which had been recorded in MiniDV to match other cameras.

I attributed it to my own mismanagement of the camera as the tech at AV Central had not heard of such a problem.

Sometimes I wonder though if the cameras do not become "reprogrammed" by bad computer software via firewire because it happens to cordless phones sharing a line with dialup modems.

Otherwise maybe the Mac Book has dudded its firewire port again, what was it? two times previously?

I was using it earlier to transfer an edit to disc in FAM mode, then later on I connected up to the F350 with my macbook pro again (f350 switched off when I plugged in then turned on) and nothing. Tried 3 different macs. Nothing is showing up.

Please don't tell me it has packed up. I need this camera every day and without it am going to really struggle!

Phil, it wouldn't be the first case of a blown firewire port on an F350. My only remaining suggestion would be to try a different firewire cable if available.

Try switching the FW over to AV/C and see if the camera shows up like a regular DV device.

But from what you've described, it sounds like a blown FW port.

-gb-

Hey Phil

I really like the work you've put up for us to look at - yeah sounds like you have a blown firewire interface card. We've got three 330s - 2 blown ports in a week. Ouch. Only solution we've found is to use a 6 pin male to 4 pin female firewire adapter on the camera and use a 6 pin to 4 pin cable from the computer to bypass the bus power.

otherwise its a PDW U1 or a F30 or F70 as a feeder.

best of luck - BTW - I'm on month #2 of waiting for cards to arrive at the Sony shop.

cheers
GS

Phil,

If you need help at any time, transferring to/from disc (if yours has blown), just let me know - I'm sure I can help with either my F350 or U1.

Cheers,

Paul.

thanks Paul

But I need it pretty much every day! I may have to hire one or something

Phil

OK - but if you do get stuck in the mean-time, don't hessitate to ask! Always good to help out.

It looks like one of these might be a good investment:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=WishList.jsp&A=details&Q=&sku=431507&is=REG

yes i have one of these but my mac won't see my f350 with it plugged in for some reason

Laurence, that´s what I thought initially. But keep your hands off. Forget the Kramer DV Line Protector for FAM. I haven´t tried out AV/C transfer yet, but in FAM it definitely doesn´t work.
I bought the Kramer to protect my camera´s firewire. But it´s exactly as Phil says, .... the camera doesn´t even show up, neither on pc nor on a mac. Have tried out several different setups on all our editing machines. -> The computer will never see the camera for some reason, - unfortunately. So there´s no point really to buy a thing which doesn´t help you in the end. Also Kramer´s support couldn´t help me with this problem. It cost me a 100 euros without tax and is now not in use. It´s a bit cheaper in the US, - well even half the price but anyway. For us it definitely didn´t work.

anybody know of any other solutions to protect from firewire spikes?

anybody know of any other solutions to protect from firewire spikes?

Just FYI, there's not "firewire spikes" to speak of, it's what happens when the two power contacts on the plug inadvertantly come in contact with the data contacts right next to it. I did it once on a plug where the keying was loosey-goosey, and plugged in the cable upside down. Once. Oops.

I think somebody sells 6-pin to 6-pin cables where the power lines are not connected. That would save you.

if anyone knows who sells those cables please let me know!!

I had hoped that the use of the large 6 pin firewire connector would prove more robust than the small 4 pin connector but I know of at least 1 F330 owner with a blown FW port, considering the low numbers of these cameras out there this is a worry.

As far as I know there are fuses on the data lines in the camera, these should not be to hard to replace, however as is often the case the fuses don't blow quick enough to stop other damage being done.

One thing I have noticed is that the quality of some firewire plugs is not good. When plugged in the plug wobbles in the socket and I suspect some of the failures are due to a bad fitting plug that makes it easier to cross the connections as you plug it in.

You don't seem to hear about these problems with USB yet USB devices are often powered via the cable and hot plugged.

It should be simple to buy a standard FW cable, strip the insulation back and cut the power wire, but the problem is that as you plug the plug in the contacts on the plug can be mis-aligned and the data pin can contact the power pin so cutting the power wire won't necessarily help. A better solution is to cut the power feed to the socket on the computer. On a PC with a PCI firewire card this is often very easy (sometime there is a removable link) often it is just a case of snipping a wire that goes through a small ferrite bead. For mac users as suggested I guess it would be worth using a 6 pin plug to 4 pin socket adapter and leave that permanently plugged in to the computer, the use a 6pin to 4 pin cable.

We are just waiting for our New Sony F350 to arrive and I asked our dealer if he had heard of any cams he had sold having this issue and he said no. He suggested the Kramer unit but thanks to you guys I see this is not an option.
I must get my IT guy to look into this in the morning, and that cable Nate mentioned.... and thanks for all the great info on the F350 guys, and the time so many of you take to be helpful.

Regards: Stu
www.studioscotland.com

if anyone knows who sells those cables please let me know!!

Hi Phil,

These people allow you to custom design your own cable. Perhaps they cam help.

http://www.newnex.com/products/customdesign/customdesign1394.php

cheers

Morton

On the other hand here's a company in the UK that has adaptors.

http://www.revealcable.co.uk/acatalog/Firewire_Couplers.html


cheers

Morton

As far as I know there are fuses on the data lines in the camera, these should not be to hard to replace, however as is often the case the fuses don't blow quick enough to stop other damage being done.

No fuses, i looked at the schematic. There was a dealer here in Texas sending out a camera for demo with a blown FW port. I was getting calls from various people asking what they were doing wrong (this was last year). After a couple incidents, I figured out they were getting the demo camera from the same place.

-gb-

I'm curious to know if those who've had the misfortune to blow the firewire port on their XDCam, if the incident occurred with Macs or PCs, laptops or desk tops.

I am wondering if using a MacBook Pro instead of my MacPro desktop (as a short term solution) would lessen the probability of these occurrences, as my laptop seems to have a lower FW voltage (won't run some firewire powered devices for instance)...

The 4 pin adaptor sounds like a good idea until we can get a PDW-U1.

it happened with my macbook pro

No Fuses! Wow! The DSR570 and Z1 has fuses on the data lines, not user replaceable but cheaper than blowing the I/O device.

What is the recommended procedure for hooking up a F350 in FAM mode, to a computer?

Prime support picked my F350 up on Friday. It came back today all fixed. How good is that?

Also Phil Myers at Sony was brilliant. He heard my F350 firewire had blown so he sent me the demo F355 to use in the meantime. Shame it arrived today the same day as the repaired camera came back. But I am so impressed!

You are supposed to have both camera and computer powered down. But I have never done that.

What I am going to do with my macbook pro is use my expresscard firewire and plug into that as that has no power. With the macpro, not sure, maybe use the 6 pin to 4 pin i have bought with the 4 pin to 6 pin adaptor.

That is good service.

Who's going to turn the computer off before connecting the camera though - just can't see that happening on a regular basis! Glad I have a U1 :) (just need that firmware update that's supposed to be imminent).

Hi Paul

Yeah can't wait to get my U1 but come on...let's make in writable!!! Why the delay?

I was told there was a considerable amount of work in writing the code for the write functions - but don't know if that's the whole truth. I guess it took them longer than expected and they decided to ship with just the read capabilities rather than delay it completely.

My only worry is that if some snag turns up that needs a hardware mod, where would it leave early purchasers? Not sure if that is at all likely though.

Is the U1 still available? Seems it wasn't available in the US when the first UK units shipped.

Sony told me about this drive 18 months ago when I was first looking at the camera...just surprised it is taking so long considering how long they have been working on it

"You are supposed to have both camera and computer powered down."

Which one to you switch on first, the camera or the computer? So far i've been turning both off, powering up the camera in FAM mode and then switching on the computer so that when it starts up it reads the drive...

I'm glad it's worked out for you quickly... we are based in Angola, so this situation would be much more complicated for us to resolve. I hope Sony is monitoring this forum and decides that maybe providing a voltage-disabled 6 pin firewire cable with the camera would be a good idea... certainly cheaper in the long run.

any news on working firewire adapters? (taking the power off the line)

Is anybody here using such a little device successfully?

I think this question has not been answered here yet.

Thanks

ULI

Prime support picked my F350 up on Friday. It came back today all fixed. How good is that?

Also Phil Myers at Sony was brilliant. He heard my F350 firewire had blown so he sent me the demo F355 to use in the meantime. Shame it arrived today the same day as the repaired camera came back. But I am so impressed!

You are supposed to have both camera and computer powered down. But I have never done that.

What I am going to do with my macbook pro is use my expresscard firewire and plug into that as that has no power. With the macpro, not sure, maybe use the 6 pin to 4 pin i have bought with the 4 pin to 6 pin adaptor.

If by chance that´s the Phil Myers that used to work for Pinnacle. I would have to add he has always done his utmost to help when problems occur. Nice to see he is working for Sony.

It could be static discharge that is damaging your port. I remember browsing through a product catalog a year or so back and seeing a product that protects firewire devices from ESD. Might want to get one. Its about 1/2" x 2".

I don't think a cable change will make much difference becuse I think the short often occurs as you insert the plug in to the socket and the connections in the socket contact the wrong pins on the plug as you push it in, passing power up the data line, so disconnecting the power in the cable won't stop this at the computer end. It would stop it at the camera end.

I would suggest that if you must hot plug that you always connect the cable to the computer before the camera is connected.

I have heard of far more blown FW connections from PC users than Mac users. This could either be down to better quality connectors on Macs or simply a larger number of PC users, thus more failures.

this is insane

it blew again today. It was plugged into my macbook pro with a new cable. I had a disc in. Working fine, i ejected using the camera, not on the desktop, put another disc in and it no longer worked!!

Could be a dodgy firewire component in the Mac???

Get a PCMCIA or express card firewire card for your mac and try it with that or try it on another mac or PC.

well its fried and it has to go back so got no choice there. Hope they dont charge me. Need the U1 to be writable!

Are you running the camera off mains? You may have an earth loop problem. I would also get a new firewire cable. Some of the connectors used in the cheaper firewire cables are too slack in the sockets used on the Mac's and Sony cameras allowing the conntacts to move and short.

nice new expensive cables already! Also, battery powered. OH WELL, Sony are picking it up tomorrow no problem. They took 3 days to get it back to me last time. Just going to use the expresscard firewire from now on

Seems to me I remember hearing that a damaged FW port could damage a working FW port. Meaning, if the Mac port had been damaged at any time (usually by hot swapping), it could damage a known good FW port on the camera. This is kind of like a contagious infection. I don’t know if the Mac’s port could be damaged, but still working, but it would explain your situation if it is possible.

Regards,
Chris

PS, I got away with hot swapping for years and never had a problem. Guess I was lucky. I’ve read about and know many, many people who have blown the FW port by one or both of the devices being powered up.