I tried this question in the Canon forum, but maybe the someone can answer this here...

I have had a horrible time trying to figure out why I cannot get Premiere CS3 to recognize my XH-A1 for capturing HDV. Yes, I have captured through this very set up dozens and dozens of times and it has had its glitches here or there, giving the message "cant find device, reset camera" or whatever to that effect. But it would always work after one or two tries.

I spent days now opening and closing the capture window, checking the connections, replacing cords, closing Premiere, restarting my computer, and nothing I do will make Premiere "see" my camera.

The tape was shot on a Canon HV20 in - 60i HDV mode.

I WAS able to capture the same tape in HDV with a Sony Z1U, which Premiere recognized instantly as HDV.

The only work around that seems to work is by down-converting the footage to DV through the Canon. Premiere magically recognizes the camera when I change the capture mode to "DV".

Are there any thoughts or settings I may be missing?

You probably have already checked this, but make sure the settings match in both Premiere and on your cams -- Premiere is very picky about this. For an HDV project make sure all down-conversion is off in all capture playback devices and possibly that everything is set to HDV mode. The only thing I'm thinking is that the Canon is in DV mode. If it is then that explains why Premiere sees it when you change capture mode to DV. But it should work fine in HDV providing both the cam and Premiere are in the same HDV mode.

What presets are you using?