The Camera Vs The Computer
 

Hello DVi,

Since this is a camera/computer issue I am not sure where to post.

I have been capturing just fine (using premiere pro 2) for months now and yesterday my desktop computer/firewire/cam just stopped working together. After fiddling with plugs and turning on and off in all different orders; uninstalling and reinstalling drivers nothing worked.

This morning I plugged in my cam into my laptop and it recognized the camera instantly so there is not short in the camera jack. I have one of those firewire cables that is insulated anyway and when I plug it into the desktop computer it has lights that turn on to indicate that the computer "sees" it (the cable not the camera).

I fiddled with it for nearly two days now I am ready to take any and all suggestions.

Meanwhile, I think I will try to put the footage onto an external HD via my laptop and import it into premiere (desktop) that way. Or I will try to connect my desktop to my laptop and have premiere take the footage via the firewire this way. Does this work? Anyone tried it? Anything I should avoid?

Thank you!

Potential issues include:

1. Bad Firewire card or port if this is one of those systems with a front fire wire port. Try another one if there is one on system, or buy a new firewire card and install.

2. If you are using same cable on laptop, then it is likely not cable, however, if it is different cable, try a new one.

3. You could have a corrupted driver problem, or an automatic upgrade to the system causing problem. Try rolling back system restore to see if it works.

4. If you installed another program on the system, it could have affected firewire capability

Hey Chris,

Yeah I guess the onboard firewire stuff gave way. I will go and get a pci firewire card and see if that does the trick. Is there something about doing HDV through firewire that I should know before getting any ol' card?

Well now I really screwed the pooch.
The port and wire "was" working it could recognize the other computer I hooked up to it. I was trying to see if I could roll back the driver to see if something happened over this past week that may have effected the camera. There was an automatic update the other night. Anyway I uninstalled the driver and it dissappeared completely from the system. Cannot find it anywhere!?

Damn... well I am so baffeled. I will go get that pci card. This is all so stupid, grrr!!! I am afraid it will not fix it.

Okay, now this adds a dimension. HDV. It may or may not be key. You didn't say in original post that you were capturing HDV. I assumed regular DV, especially since you are also capturing on a lap top too. Okay, so question is it possible you are trying to capture HDV in a DV project ? Or are trying to capture HDV material while your camera is set to downconvert HDV material to DV ? That creates an issue.

By the way, HDV through firewire is about the same bitrate as DV, so it is not putting any more "strain" on firewire technology.

So you should list camera, and setting on camera. Type of project etc. Should have asked, but I made an assumption....

Eureka! (almost)
I tried a few system restore points none of them took purchase. But I tried to plug in my cam again and it did the online bing. Unfortunately after a few seconds it binged off again too and stayed off.

I checked the HDV settings on the fx1, the capture settings in premiere. I have narrowed it down to the camera vs computer. I am not even trying to do anything but get them to recognize eachother at this point. it is very unstable and I dont get it.

EDIT: Camera set to HDV not DV. Premiere is set to HDV 1080i (I think 29 fps). It was all working untill yesterday (before 4).

I am going to try a restore point from yesterday, I think it is too late, hopefully it will work. All my other restore points are from July!!? none of them work. I have like july 20th or yesterday at 4pm for restore point options.

EDIT: this restore point did not work either.

Press menu button on Back of FX1. When menu comes up on LCD, select down to the icon with opposing arrows. Select I. link Conv. If you are trying to capture into an hdv project, that should show off, in order for Premiere Pro to recognize camera (assuming you have selected right project property,) If you are downconverting HDV, to DV, you want that selection on.

Now, in Premiere Pro, to capture HDV, you select Adobe HDV, and under the sub selections, select 1080i 30 (Sony 60i). Now if you are down coverting or actually shot you footage in DV, you select DV and under the submenu, Widescreen 48hz

If you are getting the "ding" its the firewire and camera is being recognized. It is possible you may need to reinstall PPro 2.0 because of some kind of corruption.

Tim:

So you know, on my system, when the camera is connected in HDV mode and on with firewire, it does not show up on peripherals with hard drives, and cards etc. When I turn on the downcovert, it will show as a DV camera
being connected. Just one of those things.

You might consider downloading a free program called HDVSplit (find version .75). It captures HDV material independently, and will help determine whether there is a firewire problem or what. (Google for that.)

Cam HDV
i link off.

p pro (which as the moment I type this is recognizing cam and I fear I should scramble to capture)
Capture format HDV
edit mode 1080i
timebase 29.97
aspect ratio 1080
display format 30 fps drop frame timecode

Hey Chris,

I was always reliant on that bing, I never saw my cam anywhere but in adobe. I dont know why it is staying on but it is now. strangest thing! I really feared I fried something. I will google that app you mentioned and grab it somewhere.

Actually I had downloaded hdvslpit this morning. It did not recognize my camera as being connected at the time... It recognizes it now.

I dont think I will ever understand these last 30 hours of panic.

One thing about the wonders of Windows XP, it will usually reload a driver that your system calls for whether you need it or not.... glad its going again... May have helped to go through system restore process.

All this stuff you had me do helped shake the thing back in order. Why did it stop in the first place, who knows? If it werent for your system restore, I doubt it would work still I never would have considered it to be a solution. Another strange thing the system restore didn't even stick? but it somehow fixed the firewire. Wild. anyway I was ready to give up until you came along.

Thanks a bunch! Saved me from going to frys and tearing into my comp case for nothing.

well, it took in some stuff this morning (enough to work with) and went glitchy this afternoon... Will a pci firewire card solve this permanently?

EDIT: Stuff=footage.