Trouble getting video from XL1 cameras.

[Wolfe Lind]

Hello all, been monkeying around with a pair of Canon XL1 DVcams that I had sitting around and have an issue. Sadly the Canon manual does not clearly explain what you need to do when trying to import the video from the camera onto a PC. I went out and got a firewire cable and adapter for the mac and tried using both IMovie, Adobe Premier, and Final Cut Pro to import the videos but neither program sees the camera. Right now running Snow Leopard and Final Cut Pro 7. I know the video and audio outputs work since I was using a TV as a monitor during my attempts to learn the camera. Right now trying to learn how to edit the video shot with the above mention programs. Any help would be appreciated since as I said the manual that came with the cameras is no help and I can't find the correct settings for FCP or Adobe anywhere on line.

[Les Wilson]

I would expect it to work unless the firewire port on the camera or the computer is blown. Either one will give you your results.

All you have to do is hook up the firewire port of the camera to the firewire port of the computer and any of those editors should see the device. Try putting the camera in tape playback or record mode (whichever one you weren't trying before). Also, on the Mac, go to the Apple System Profiler when the camera is hooked up and powered on and see if it lists the Canon XL1 or just a generic Firewire device. If the latter, then the hardware is not sensing a camera.

[Edward Carlson]

Just curious, what kind of firewire adapter are you using?

[Wolfe Lind]

@Les - Actually I looked at the profile and it is unable to read the camera on the firewire bus. I took both cameras I have and tried them both to no avail.

@Edward- I am using a 4 pin to 9 pin firewire cable right now on the internal firewire port on the macbook.

[Simon Wood]

Make sure you hook the firewire cable into the the camera & the computer first, and then turn the camera on. Don't plug the cable in when the camera is already on, you can fry the port that way...

[Les Wilson]

Originally Posted by Wolfe Lind

@Les - Actually I looked at the profile and it is unable to read the camera on the firewire bus. I took both cameras I have and tried them both to no avail.

@Edward- I am using a 4 pin to 9 pin firewire cable right now on the internal firewire port on the macbook.

If the Mac OS cannot see the device, then either your firewire port, firewire cable or camera firewire port is bad. If you have a Firewire hard disk, you can verify the Macbook port. I assume you rebooted.

One time, I had this problem with a Sony TRV-900. One day I bought a new Firewire cable and it worked. It turned out the new cable made a better connection at the 4-pin end than the ancient 1st generation cable I had been using. YMMV