iLink/Firewire problems

HDR-FX1000 / HVR-Z5 (2008). HVR-Z7 / HVR-S270 (2007). HDR-FX7 / HVR-V1 (2006). HDR-FX1 / HVR-Z1 (2004).
ThePhotowagon
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iLink/Firewire problems

Post by ThePhotowagon »

Been all over the net and at camera store searching for answers. Hope you all can help. I teach high school Communications and have Sony HDR-HD1000U and HDR-FX1000 cameras (3 each). I have mid range computers at the school and a new high end one I built at home. I cannot get any of my computers to recognize the cameras when attached to the firewire port. (Seems to have worked at school before, at least with the HD1000Us, I had no luck with the FX1000s yet). I brought the HDR-FX1000 to the store they were purchased from and they could not get their Mac to connect either. Told me it should go into servicing, which to me means, throw the camera away.

Seems like they worked fine way back, but now nothing seems to get them recognized. I thought building a Windows 7 64bit (with built in firewire port) Quad core machine would help. (The machines at school are XP).

Hear horror stories about fried ports on cameras due to cheap cables, but can't believe so many people would go through this and it would still be a thing. Can't believe I have 6 cameras with fried ports. Don't see anyway to tell if you have a "good cable". Seems to me a class action lawsuit would be in order if so.

Anyway, I am now stuck with lots of HD footage on tape and no way to get it into Premier. Anyone else have this problem and solved it? Thanks in advance.
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Stephan
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Re: iLink/Firewire problems

Post by Stephan »

When you say your camcorders aren't recognized, the first step in your troubleshooting steps is to look for the camcorders in the computer's Firewire device manager list (Windows Device Manager, or Mac Firewire device tree). When you power on the camcorder with Windows XP, you should hear the 'ding dong' sound which signals a new device being recognized by Windows.

A usual problem is the actual firewire interface card, or firewire chip on the motherboard, that you're using. Some work better than others (I don't recall which). Anyway, if you can't find the camcorders in the Operating System device manager, and on multiple computers, Windows or Mac, then we can probably rule out this issue.

Which leaves you indeed with either a faulty cable, or fried camcorders. Cables are cheap, replace it. But then, 6 fried camcorders?! The 'fried camcorder' issue has been said to be caused by static discharge, or short-circuiting the firewire interfaces, or different ground levels that effectively result in a discharge when connecting the cable.

There's been some debate on why this happens. Firewire, like USB, is supposed to be hot-swappable but personally I've never taken chances, and I always took the safe approach:
  1. Shut down everything, and disconnect power,
  2. Connect 6-pin firewire cable to the computer first (it's the end of the cable that has power on it) - be sure it's inserted in the correct way, not reverse,
  3. Connect 4-pin firewire to the camcorder,
  4. Connect power to computer,
  5. Connect power to camcorder,
  6. Power on computer, let it boot,
  7. Power on camcorder last.
  8. When done, disconnect in exact reverse order.
Did you take these precautionary steps? You might want to get one cam serviced (that you will use as a tape deck), or buy a used HDR-HC9 for the same purpose.
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Stephan
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Re: iLink/Firewire problems

Post by Stephan »

Forgot checklist step 0: XP must be SP2 minimum, and most importantly your camcorder must be set to output HDV (not DV nor AUTO), with downconversion OFF.
Tunguy
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Re: iLink/Firewire problems

Post by Tunguy »

I would be gratefull if anyone could help me with the same problem.I have a Sony FX1000 which I attach to my very well speced PC (Win7 64 bit,i7 processor with 6GB RAM).I use firewire with the correct camera settings (VCR to HDV and iLink conv OFF).The PC recognises the camera firewire connection (the Ding Dong) but my Adobe Premier Pro CS5 does not allow the camera to be "online".Stangely I can play and fast forward the tape cannot capture.It remains "offline".
If I put the Mini DV tape in my Canon HV30, using the same PC,cable and program, I can capture with impunity.
Any advice would be great.I tried my older version of CS$-still no luck with the Sony
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Stephan
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Re: iLink/Firewire problems

Post by Stephan »

Very odd. No idea.

Maybe it's specific to Premiere and some driver that would come along with it... Have you tried using other software? People who had all sorts of capture problems sometimes seemed to have better luck using HDVSplit, although I personally never needed or used it.

Maybe somebody else can better help.
Tunguy
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Re: iLink/Firewire problems

Post by Tunguy »

Thanks for the response.No, I have not tried HDV Split, but it seems a sin to capture with another program when I am using CS5 with all its fancy Project settings, batch logging etc taking the footage straight to the Project :-(
acgold7
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Re: iLink/Firewire problems

Post by acgold7 »

The most common reason for this is as noted above, a settings mismatch in your NLE. That is, you have an HDV project set up but have Premiere set for DV capture or DV device control, or Premiere is correct but the cam is set for DV output or i.Link Conversion, or you shot in DV mode.

Or vice versa.

However, if all that can be confirmed to be exactly correct, and this is happening on multiple PCs, it is indeed possible to have a whole bunch of fried FW ports. Anecdotally, if the PC has a bad port or you have a bad cable, then every time you plug a "good" cam into this, you could have potentially fried each cam in turn.

Stephan's workflow for connecting these devices is correct, but that doesn't help you diagnose the current problem. I'd buy a new FW card and a new cable and an inexpensive FW card reader or other device. Connect all these with the power off and verify that they work. Then disconnect the device and try a camcorder. If the cam is not seen, disconnect it and reconnect the external device. If it is no longer seen than you've shorted out the new port card.

If you are capturing a large amount of tape and teaching class, as I do, then you should really have a separate capture device anyway. You could use an HDV deck such as the M15 or HD700, and this should be permanently connected anyhow. If you can't afford a proper deck, get a used HC3, 5, 7 or 9 and keep this permanently attached as a capture device only.

No matter what, always connect everything with the power OFF as Stephan suggests above.
Adam
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Re: iLink/Firewire problems

Post by Tunguy »

Adam, Thanks for the response.All my settings are correct(both the output from the cam and the project settings).The FW card is working well (can capture using my canon HV30) so it is a mystery :-(
I think your advice to use a second hand HC3/5/7 is a good suggestion.I cannot justify buying an expensive HDV deck, and in any case, within a year or so will probably be using a tapeless cam!
shayward
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Re: iLink/Firewire problems

Post by shayward »

There is more to this problem. I to am having a great deal of trouble (zero success) of capturing HDV video. If you do a search it appears many are as well.
When I connect my camera (HDR-FX7) set to HDV mode it tries to hook up, gives me a code 28 (no drivers found for the AV/C subunit) Drivers are not recognized, in device manager there is the dreaded yellow exclamation mark. When you ask it to update, it tries, fails, and the circle is complete. Completly frustrating. I got on the phone with Sony Broadcast and he walked me through steps. My system (Avid Liquid 7) captures in DV with this camera without fail, but try HDV...No way. Sony says it's a Windows problem, and shrugged it off. I don't know what to do. I've tried split, but that won't recognize the camera either. I've reset the camera as one forum suggested, and no improvement. To me Sony has sold me a camera that I can HDMI to my TV and enjoy excellent raw footage, and a DV camera for editing.
I'd certainly appreciate the help in getting this resolved.
Thanks, Steve H
shayward
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Re: iLink/Firewire problems

Post by shayward »

Here is a further update. I hooked up my camera to my Vaio laptop running windows 7, it took 30 seconds to sort things out, told me the camera name and the all clear and it captures HDV 1080 no problem...Hmmm
So why won't XP SP2 Pro do it??
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