I think my firewire's blown too and my warrantee's gone. Instead of spending 500 on repair I might spend an extra 500 and get the cheapest Sony HDV camera for about 1000. Will an NTSC Sony HDV camera play my Sony HDV PAL footage via firewire into my Apple G5?

I don't think so. Unless I'm very mistaken, the Z1 is the only camera with both PAL and NTSC capability. If you need PAL then you'd need to buy a PAL HC3 or HC1. But of course, then it wouldn't work with NTSC tapes. I know that some Sony camcorders will play PAL footage on the built-in LCD screens, but they won't send it out over firewire.

Boyd is right, only the Z1 can do 60i and 50i.

heath

It won't even play back 50i? Ah well...

This 'blown firewire' thing just happened to me on my FX1 about two months after its initial purchase. It's covered by warranty right?

I would think so. Find info on repair centers on Sony's website here: http://eservice.sony.com/webrma/web/index.do

Enter the model number as hdrfx1 and fill in the other info on the web form.

I know this doesn't help you guys, but for anyone considering the purchase of a camera, the level of service and support is higher for the Z1 because it comes from Sony's professional division. From what I've read (happily no personal experience yet :-) the turnaround time for repairs is much shorter from the pro division than the consumer division. Just another thing to keep in mind as you ponder the price difference between the Z1 and FX1. The pro cameras are serviced here: http://bssc.sel.sony.com/Broadcastan...eCenters.shtml

That's a good point. My Sony rep says it'll be about 3 weeks to a month from the time I send it to the time it gets to their nearest repair shop (in Texas!) to the time they get around to looking at it once recieving it, and finally return it and I won't be able to do without my camera for that period of time for--yeesh.

Sony FX1 service can be great.

One of our guys slipped and fell and dropped his FX1 and completely smashed it. I thought the repair would be as much as a new camera. Sony repair charged him for parts only and it was just shy of $500 in parts. Lucky for him they didn't charge him any labor and he had it back in two weeks.

I prefer the pro service, I had a guest at a wedding dump a drink on my camera and shorted it out. I had it back in 7 days. Luckly for me, the guest paid for the service :)

Jon

For some years now consumer PCs have shipped with ports designed to be hot plugged, such as USB and ethernet. As a result users expect 1394 to be hotpluggable. We constantly hot plug USB + enet at work. The manual for my camcorder had no warning about this issue, nor did any other firewire device I've bought. After reading this forum topic I see it ain't so.

Anyone know if the following sequence is safe?
i. touch PC case to de-static oneself
ii. Plug 1394 cable into PC, PC on.
iii. Plug 1394 into video device with device off
iv. power up

It sounds like owners of pro gear would do well to put antistatic mats under the PC + camera when connecting, touching the mat 1st.