Panasonic NV-DS33. Connecting via Firewire. Any advice going?

[GETanner]

I'm looking to help out a friend.

He has a Panasonic NV-DS33 camcorder which has a firewire (IEEE1394) port on the front and according to the manual (circa 1999) this will allow a digital transfer to a PC.

I have connected the device using a 4pin<>4pin cable to the front firewire port on his PC.

The Manual states to turn on the camcorder before connection, this was done and yet no software will recognise the device. Tried DVDSanta, Microsoft Movie Maker and Adobe Priemer Elements 3.

Using the add hardware control panel, XP does not find any new device connected.

The software install disc is not available and even that was only for windows 95.

Tried the Panasonic site but no drivers are there to download.

Any advice on getting XP to recognise the NV-DS33 as a digital camcorder via Firewire?

Regards,

G

[redsox_mark]

No drivers are needed with XP - it should just work.
If you are following the instructions properly (which it sounds like you are) and it's not working then it is probably a hardware problem - either bad cable or bad port on the camcorder.

[jaymac]

Strange your manual says turn camera on before connecting .I have the NV gs 500 and it says connect to pc with Both off turn on pc once its fired up turn on camcorder with playback selected . Windows should ping and acknowledge new hardware then dialogoug box should appear asking which prog you want to edit with.AsMark says there is no drivers needed . If that does'nt work then again as saiid suspect the cable .Is the firewire shown as working in device manager there is also a glitch with SP2 on some pc's which needs a hotfix.

[DigiStuff]

Hi, trying to think in basics here, have you checked that this front FireWire socket is actually connected internally?? Many PC cases have built in sockets but not all have FireWire PC cards in them. Not trying to teach you to suck eggs but humour me by checking please !!!!!

Cheers

DigiStuff.

[jaymac]

ah but that would be revealed in Device manager

[GETanner]

Thanks for all replies

Mark I did read previously elsewhere on the web while hunting for a solution that a driver was required .inf file for DS33 missing but thanks for clarifying that XP did not require a driver.

jaymac. Can confirm the manual says to turn the camcorder on BEFORE connecting to an already on PC. Will try connecting your way on Thursday (next time I can get to his house) and report back.

DigiStuff. While the PC did not see a new device when I tried the Add Hardware applet, the camcorder did appear to respond to the attempted search by producing a click. This click was repeated on each subsequent attempt to add new hardware. This would suggest that the Firewire port at the front is at least sending some sort of signal that is reaching the camcorder. Wife of pal is taking the new firewire cable back to Jessops on Thursday along with the camcorder to ensure she purchase the correct cable. Hopefully they may be able to test the camcorder on one of their rigs to rule out a problem with either the cable or the camcorder itself. This would therefore point to a faulty firewire port.

I opened the case up and can confirm that the front port hub (2xusb = 1x4pin firewire) has several connectors and that all connectors are attached to the motherboard. Again, the fact that the camcorder "clicked" whenever an attempt to add hardware was made would suggest that something is being sent via the firewire port (trust you are suitably humoured ) though that may just be power and no data connection for the front Firewire port. The USB ports do have data connection.

jaymac. I did have a look through the device manager for evidence of a working firewire port on the motherboard. I know my way around the various trees but could not actually see any direct reference to Firewire or iEEE1394. What exactly should be displayed assuming the motherboard has Firewire?

Again, thanks for your help.

G

[jaymac]

you should see this IEEE 1394 Bus Host Controller which expands to the brand you have fitted.As for the On or OFF case my Panny is new but cant see reason for different instructions other than itis possible to get a surge problem.So Panny amended there instructions .Have you also checked out the possible issue for Sp2 conflict

[GETanner]

Thanks for all the help.

It would appear that my friend had a replacement motherboard fitted some time ago and though his original board had firewire (hence the front port 4 pin firewire socket) the new board had no firewire.

A quick trip to the local PC store for a PCI firewire card and he can now pull the footage off his camera.

Thanks again.

G

[jaymac]

Glad you are sorted thanks for letting us know