My input
 

I purchased two of the units to go along with both of my XH-A1 cameras. One camera, no problems, love it, works as expected. Other camera... the device saw the camera as a computer.

So.. I sent the camera into Canon for repair (for a couple other things as well). They replaced the "D/V Terminal". Upon receiving the camera back I still experience the problem but less often. BUT..... after some testing, if I turn the power dial to "Off" and then back to "M" mode, the unit and the camera sync up. I have been doing this test for a week now maybe 4-5 times a day. It has NOT only worked once.

So in conclusion, I have no idea what is causing the problem but I like the tapeless work flow to much to give up on the units.

Camera age (approx from date of purchase): March 2008
Camera serial number (to see if they all group together, etc): 572522300049
Have you tested your mrc1k with another xha1? results? serial of that unit?: Yes - works flawlessly - damn close 572522300078
How often in your experience does the mrc1k work?: before repair 10% - after repair 50% - with "power dial fix" 99%
Is your issue that it intermittently sees the camera as a computer? : yes

Miguel & Brian, thanks for your replies! Brian, your "fix" definitely sounds hopeful for the small subset of people who are having problems with this unit... I'd love to see if it "fixes" the problem for anybody else. Also, what _exactly_ did you tell Canon, in order to force them to replace the DV port? Cheers,

-joe

Camera age (approx from date of purchase): December 2008 from B&H
Camera serial number (to see if they all group together, etc): 572512300988 VK
Have you tested your mrc1k with another xha1? No results? It works fine with my XL1s
How often in your experience does the mrc1k work?: 0% of the time
Is your issue that it intermittently sees the camera as a computer? : Hard failure. Happens every time.

After changing the Firewire cable from the wimpy but convenient retractable one to a hefty 3ft one, the Sony unit works fine reliably when DV Control on the A1 was off.

I think there's value in following the Sony process of:
Power on MRC1
Connect Firewire
Power on Camera
Followed by the DVInfo process of turning the A1 dial to off and then M if needed

Also, not having System Setup -> DV Control On means the only mode I could get to work was Normal/Follow. Cache would not work.

With DV Control turned on on both my A1 and XL1s, I can move the device seamlessly between them using Cache/Synchro and retractable FW cable.

does this unit require an external power source? Do i need to purchase an additional battery or something?

Hi Scott. You need to buy a Sony camcorder battery for it. One of the big ones will last for ages, but you will feel the weight on your wrist if you are shooting hand-held.

Richard

I use an NP-570 which is small and light but my shoots are only a couple hours. YMMV

From the manual:
Battery pack Operating time (Operating time from full charge from normal charge)
NP-F570 Approx. 420 minutes (Approx. 380 minutes)
NP-F770 Approx. 870 minutes (Approx. 780 minutes)
NP-F970 Approx. 1,320 minutes (Approx. 1,180 minutes)

Notes:
•This unit can be used with an “InfoLITHIUM” battery pack (L-series), but does not support the battery info function.
•This unit cannot be used to charge the battery pack installed.


Oh, and when you have it connected to your computer, it is powered from the computer.

Just a followup to say I used this in a 2 hour shoot today with about 20 minutes of shooting time but was powered on all the time. Plus it had probably at least another 30 minutes of use doing trial and error settings experiments. WHen I put the battery in a camcorder, it showed half full. FYI

thanks for the info

also how much footage will a 16gb card hold in hdv? I am planning on purchasing 2 of these units with 16gb cards for wedding shoots

Hi Scott,

I use the Sony with my XH A1 and XL H1a. I've got three NP-F570 equivalent batteries (Lenmar's). I'd really recommend going with a couple of 570's for each camera and getting a quick charger. You'll be able to change batteries when one runs low, and keep shooting while the other one is charging. I've gotten about 8 hours of "on" time for the unit with my 570.

A 16GB card will give you 74 minutes of recording. I've got 4 16GB cards and when I shoot I take my laptop that has a PC Express CF reader. I can download 16GB from a CF card in about 5 minutes. It would be nice to have a 32 GB card as some of the acts in the shows I video go over 1 1/2 hours.

You've probably already gone through all the posts and read all of the different things about the unit but just in case a couple of things to touch on:

Always format the CF using the Sony Unit
Download and use the free Sony software to rebuild long scenes (if your scene goes over about 20minutes it will be broken into 4GB files as the unit is FAT32 limited)


Garrett

I told them the symptoms and that I had done all of the trouble shooting steps necessary to narrow it down to the camera (different cable, different units, both units on another camera which work perfectly). They actually called during the repair and said, "The FW port seems to be functioning properly." I explained all of the above again and insisted "It has to be this camera, if not the FW port something else internally." They replaced it but as stated in my previous post, I am still having the problem intermittently. I had a shoot this weekend and the "turning the dial to off and back to M" trick worked everything.

I told them the symptoms and that I had done all of the trouble shooting steps necessary to narrow it down to the camera (different cable, different units, both units on another camera which work perfectly). They actually called during the repair and said, "The FW port seems to be functioning properly." I explained all of the above again and insisted "It has to be this camera, if not the FW port something else internally." They replaced it but as stated in my previous post, I am still having the problem intermittently. I had a shoot this weekend and the "turning the dial to off and back to M" trick worked everything.

Does anyone know in what particular order you need to turn on the camera or the HVR-MRC1K? I guess that the principle is more or less the same as attaching the camera to the computer? I"m just a bit worried about frying my firewireport on the camera
So, first plugin the firewire into the HVR-MRC1K
then connect the firewire cable to the camera
turn on the camera
turn on the HVR-MRC1K
Does it make any difference to first turn on the HVR-MRC1K or the camera?

No. You have the wrong order. It's in the manual. Look up. Post 363.
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/1030815-post363.html

Normally I leave the firewire cable connected to the MRC1 all the time, even when I pack it away. Apart from that, I use the same sequence as suggested by Noa. So far no problems (OK, I don't have much experience, only used it for 5 shoots).

Richard

The only thing I could find back in the manual was that when you attach it to a computer you first need to insert the firwirecable in the computer but I couldn't find any connection procedure for the camera, on which page in the manual did you see this?

I wonder if the power output from the HVR-MRC1K could damage the firewire port from the camera? when connected to a pc I could understand as it's has a 220v connection.