[carcher]

Hi, I’ve recently bought the Sony HC42E Mini DV camcorder and I am experiencing a strange problem when trying to transfer the video to my PC.

I am basically unable to transfer video from the camcorder unless both the firewire cable and USB cable are connected at the same time. I am not convinced that the video is transferring to my PC via the firewire cable, as the quality is lower than I expected.

If only the firewire cable is connected, the PC does recognise the camcorder when I turn it on, however my software (Adobe Premier and Windows Movie maker) will not recognise it until I connect the USB cable as well.

This made me think that the video is actually transferring via the USB cable. But if I disconnect the firewire cable, then the software is also unable to connect to the camcorder, which makes me think it is using firewire cable.

Can anyone who has this camcorder, or another Sony HC camcorder confirm if you have to have both cables connected? Or should I be able to leave the ISB cable disconnected.

Also, is there a way of proving that the firewire connection is the connection being used my moviemaker or adobe premier when transferring?

I have also noticed that when the firewire cable is connected, the LCD screen on the camcorder reads DVin. I was wondering if it is somehow set to DVin only, instead of DVout?

I'm using a 4 to 6 pin firewire cable, and am running windows XP Professional SP2.

Any Help or suggestions would be very much appreciated.

[laser]

Hi

I also have a 42E.

The USB cable does not have to be connected at the same time. It does sound like your firewire cable/connection is not being recognised by the PC.

I'm sure you tried all the following but just in case this is how mine is connected:

1. Camcorder is placed in Handycam Station which is powered to the mains.
2. Camcorder has battery in it.
3. Firewire (4 pin to 6 pin) cable connected to PCI firewire card.

If you are connecting to a firewire port which you didn't fit i.e. it came with the PC, then check it is actually connected to the motherboard. If the firewire port is on the actual motherboard, check you have installed the firwire motherboard drivers. Some motherboards provide a drivers CD-ROM which you have to install in order to get it the firewire port to be recognised by Windows. You also have to do this for onboard networking in order for Windows to see the ethernet port.

Q. Are you using a firewire PCI card or plugging the cable directly into the motherboard?

Q. Have you ever used the firewire cable before with another camcorder on the same PC?

As soon as the camcorder is switched on and connect to the PC by the firewire cable, regardless of any editing software being open, Windows should recognise the camcorder and display "Digital Video Device". Is this isn't occuring then I think the problem, more than likely, lies with the PC or cable.

Q. What OS are you using? If possible use Windows XP + SP2 for the latest IEEE1394 driver. Although you should no have problems unber XP. Not sure about Windows 98 or ME.

Q. Try using a different firewire cable. They are not expensive and you should be able to pick one up for around £4.00.

You can prove you are capturing via firewire as the captured footage will be 720x576. If you are using USB the resolution will be lower. Right click on the AVI file and click the Summary tab.

[carcher]

Thanks for the info.

It looks like I am successfuly downloading via firewire, but for some strange reason, I have to have the USB cable connected of I can't download anything.


A. Yes it's a PCI firewire card and 4 to 6 pin cable that I got from ebuyer that I installed myself.

A. I've not used the card or cables on anything else.

A. When I switch the cam on (with just the firewire) it does recognise the camera and say 'Digital Video Device'.

A. I'm using windows XP Prof with Service Pack 2.

A. The footage is 720 x 676.

Just dont understand why my capturing software will not download the video if the USB cable is not connected.

[laser]

Strange indeed.

The only other suggestions I can make is:

1. Try one more editing application and see what happens.

2. Try the camcorder in another PC if you know a freind or relative who would let you try it. If this then works then the problem is with your PC.

3. Format the PC and reinstall Windows and SP2, something may have got screwed up.

[carcher]

Thanks,

Yes i've tried 5 different editing applications and they all have the same problem.

I'm going to try it on a friends PC and try a different cable with my PC as i'm sure it must be a problem with the PC, firewire cable or firewire card.

The only thing I can't really do is re-install windows as I just don't have the time to reinstall everything at the moment.

[MarkE19]

It sounds to me like the XP SP2 update has screwed up your firewire. This is a common problem with many PC's and has been mentioned a fair few tiems on this forum. If you are brave enough you can edit the registry of XP to fix the problem or get onto the MS web site and download a fix. Full instructions on how to do the edit can be found in This thread.

Hope this helps,
Mark.

[carcher]

Thanks for the info, i'll look into this one.

[carcher]

Well, i've tried the xp fix, and it made no difference.

I have not tested the camcorder on my friends pc, and it worked fine with just the firewore card. So that proves that the problem is either with my firewire card, or my PC / Windows Xp.

Guess i can live with the problem, it's just a tad anoyiong.