Not able to capture

[Ken Veal]

I am trying to capture a 10 min video from my DV tape camcorder via fire wire that I have been using for years with my old XP PC. (VS X5 Pro) I have installed the driver from the original CD that came with the camcorder.This is my 1st try using this present PC. On my 1st attempt only 42 seconds of the video was captured. I am using settings that have served me well for years re project properties and prefs. What was different was a longer firewire cable, so I tried again with the original cable.I opened up a new project. Now I am getting a message after pressing capture video in the capture tab telling me that no device (Panasonic NV-MX500B) or driver is installed. I have reconnected the cable, rebooted and restarted VS but I am not getting any further.Help please

[Ken Berry]

Hi Ken. You have probably hit the problem cause by the introduction by Microsoft relatively recently of a new Firewire IEEE1394 driver. Usually, reinstalling a legacy firewire driver rectifies this problem. You might want to try this.

1- Open Device Manager.

2- Expand the "IEEE 1394 Bus Host Controllers" node in the device tree by double clicking.

3- Select the Driver tab and the click the Update driver button.

4- Select "Browse my computer for driver software"

5- Select "let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer ..." and Check the box before “Show compatible hardware”.

6. Choose the second option--- "1394 OHCI Compliant Host Controller (Legacy)", and click next to update the driver.

[Ken Veal]

Thanks for the reply Ken, did what you advised but am still getting the same message showing up

[RobertOZ]

Your camera is 9 years old and the drivers would be for XP operating systems and unlikely to be Vista/Win 7 compatible, did you try installing the drivers in XP mode, there have been no driver updates for your camera since 1995, so it's possible that Win 7 cannot recognize the drivers.
Install WinDV a utility for DV(Firewire digital video) it's a free program and see if you can then capture from your camera.

Robert

[Ken Berry]

WinDV can be downloaded from www.windv.mourek.cz

[Ken Veal]

Have installed WinDV and configed it as far as I understood to be applicable, ie type 1 avi and save as .avi.The video source would only show as Corel Cam Plug in but on trying to capture " error- device not found" showed.I guess the next thing is to
try to install the driver in XP compatibility mode, can I be advised how to bring up this mode.One of the reasons I have a PC rebuild is to be able to edit HD video (and speed).I have done some research but am so far unable to see the camcorder I want.I like a viewfinder but it seems they are a rarity now unless you get a professional cam at a high price.

[Ken Berry]

If you are getting the same problem with WinDV, then there is something definitely missing in the codec stake. Don't be surprised, though, when you install the old driver that you still have to follow the steps I outline above to roll back the new Windows Firewire driver to the old legacy. The more I think about it, the original failure of that process might have been because your new system only had the new Windows driver, with no legacy driver to roll back to. Installing the old driver as you propose doing might rectify that lack.

[RobertOZ]

Your problem had me thinking, so I dragged out my old MiniDV camera, a 2005 Canon MVX330i,(same age as yours) first time out in 5 years or more, got the battery on charge, then connected the IEEE 1394 cable, Windows immediately installed the necessary drivers. First I tried with WinDV, no good, could not find camera, then opened Video Studio, selected capture, then selected my camera, Video Studio found the camera and captured the tapes without issue, so I am not sure what your issue could be, you are making sure you have connected your camera to the computer and have it turned on BEFORE you open Video Studio.
Did not need to install any of the original drivers

Robert

[RobertOZ]

Ken, have you successfully used WinDV in Win7 when I select troubleshoot it states Incompatible Application detected

Robert

[Ken Berry]

If you're talking to this Ken instead of the other, then yes, I certainly still use WinDV on Win 7 with no problem -- though I confess I haven't even tried it on Win 8.1 (though I have Firewire on my 8.1 computer so just might try it, tomorrow....)

[skier-hughes]

It sounds to me more like a hardware issue than software.
There is no need to install the drivers in XP mode.

The firewire driver will work in all modes. What happened was a few years back Microsoft decided to follow more closely the firewire standards for the driver. This meant those cam manufacturers that were a bit more loose with their interpretation of the standards found that their cams no longer worked with windows.
Canon and Panasonic were the two worst makers to have problems.

See here
http://myvideoproblems.com/ProblemPages ... derSP2.htm

The legacy driver though fixes any issues with older cams and works fine in win 7 and 8.

I would do some testing of the cam/cable and pc. See if you can find another pc to test it on, and another cam that you know works. You've already found that changing the cable has changed the problem. It could be that the firewire port on the cam is worn and the connection poor.

[RobertOZ]

Still not able to Get Windv working, however, found another DV Capture program that does work and is Win 7 compatable

http://www.exsate.com/download/dvcapture/

Robert

[Ken Veal]

I double checked the cable connections on the Panasonic cam before using it again I installed DV CApture and got a similar message-"Cannot find a camcorder, busy or turned off".I then connected my other cam , a JVC GR-DX107 that uses DV tape via its own dedicated fire wire cable(different size plug to cam).I had previously installed its driver in Windows 7 via the install CD as in the Panasonic cam situation.I was able to capture 45 mins of video with VSX5 with no problem.Not sure what this proves apart from the fire wire port on the motherboard works.If it is a worn connection on the Pan Cam I guess there is no way of diagnosing that

[skier-hughes]

test it on another pc that you can prove works by using your other cam and if the Panasonic still fails, it's most likely a poorly port.
Most cams use a 4 pin firewire, so I am surprised your JVC has a different sized port, can you take a pic of both of them and post to the board?

[Ken Veal]

Your surprise at the fire wire cam connection was justified,it was the actual plug casing that was different and on looking at both the plugs closely they are the same .The JVC plug was a much tighter fit but I used a bit more pressure and it did connect fully on the Pan Cam.I hoped this would solve the problem but the same message showed on trying to capture with the Pan Cam.I dont know any one with a PC that has a fire wire connection.Would I be able to measure any electrical output from the Pan Cam cable with a meter?