Hello everyone at DV Info,
Let me first start by saying I am sorry if I am posting on something that has already been addressed. I searched over and over and couldn't find the information I needed, so forgive me. My problem is as follows, I just purchased a Canon XH A1, this is my first time with HDV. I have a powerbook G4 1.25 GHz 512 ram and FCP5 5.0.4. I am trying to capture for the first time and I keep getting errors when trying to capture my footage (I cant get anything to go onto my computer), I am not sure if it is a hardware problem a software problem or both. If someone can please let me know what I need to do to capture from my XH A1 onto my powerbook that would be such a big help. Thanks again for your time.

Alex

I don't have quite your setup, but in my experience, specific steps have to be followed. Turn on Mac but do not start FCP. With camera off connect firewire. Turn on camera and confirm Mac recognizes (camera has to be in "VCR" mode or whatever Canon calls it). Then start FCP and do the capture stuff. you will probably have to do the manual control of the camera.

btw, I think you will find your Mac is inadequate for HDV editing, especially the RAM.

You need to update your version of FCP.

You need to update your version of FCP.

Not sure I agree with you there. I am still on FCP 5.0.4 and have never had problems capturing HDV from my Sony Z1. Or is there a specific issue with the H1 and 5.0.4? I don't think so. I see a lot of posts here with people having capture problems on FCP 5.1.x actually. Here are some thoughts...

I agree that 512 MB is not really enough RAM, but not sure whether that's why you can't capture. I have a similar Powerbook with 1GB RAM, but I wouldn't want to use it to edit HDV.

What version of MacOSX are you using? People have reported having capture problems after upgrading to 10.4.9.

Are you capturing to an internal or external firewire drive? If external, what are the specs? It should be be at least a 7200 RPM drive for capturing. Also have a look at these threads:

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=94887
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=49838

Thanks for your responses everyone, it is greatly appreciated.
I am running Mac OSX 10.4.9. As for my drive it is standard internal whatever came with my powerbook (Im new to this whole HD thing, I guess I jumped in kinda quick without knowing really anything about the post production side.). If I were to update my FCP version, get 2 gigs of ram would capturing and editing be at all possible? Thanks again for your help everyone.

Alex