Maybe that is my problem. I am capturing about 45 mins of tape at once.

I've captured a full 80 minute HDV tape from my XH-A1 with HDVSplit with no problems. It's designed to split clips but I like to do that myself later in Premiere. Soo, a single 80 minute clip, no audio sync problems, no speed/memory overload. And, I've only got an old, fairly slow, hyper threading single processor.

These days, however, I also convert later with Cineform's HDLink. No matter the claims, Premiere is not really HDV friendly.

I have tried everything with this.
Some times it works and other times it does not.

I have 1080i (60i) footage. I am setting the project to this same spec.

However, most of the time I don't get a "capture duration" in the capture window.
When I don't get this there is no footage captured.

But every now and then I get something? I have no idea what I should do?
I really want to capture in PP (It cost me enough money I would like to use it?)

As long as Premiere is recognizing the device, you only have one job:

to select the proper preset for your capture settings. Be sure you have the Canon specific presets downloaded from Adobe if you are capturing HDV. If SD, then use the DV 24 preset (or whatever frame rate you recorded at).
Premiere will automatically save your captured files in the folder that you choose. File management is a must! And be sure to NAME ALL YOUR FOOTAGE AFTER YOU CAPTURE. The little box should automatically pop up after you hit "STOP." This way if for some reason you are doing something quirky with file management, you can simply do a search for the filename.

So I guess you have three jobs..1) capture settings 2) file management 3) naming conventions

If you do all of these, and find that Premiere is indeed NOT saving your captured footage, then that is a problem with the software/hardware. Try re-installing and make sure your hard disks are healthy.

JS

OK I downloaded the files that I googled up.

Let me confirm.
I have 1080(60i) footage and I have the preset on. So I selected the HDV 1080i30(60i) preset.
Does that sound correct?

The benefit of having the Canon specific presets in Premiere is that you don't have to worry about the 1080 stuff and everything, that can get confusing.

First ask yourself "SD, or HDV"

Then ask "24F, 30F, or 60i"

Then ask "4:3 or widescreen"

When using the appropriate presets I'm sure you will see that these questions narrow out all other possiblities. Hope this helps,

JS

Guy you may have figured this out already but I just stumbled across the thread again. I think the answer to your question is that if you are capturing HDV footage, use the "Canon HDV" preset.

JS

I have had similar capture problems with my A1 and assumed it was the program (I am using Edius) but found that it is more likely a problem between the A1 and Vista. You didn't mention what OS you were using, but if it is Vista you might want to look into it as a lot of people are having problems with it.