I am trying to capture down-converted footage from my Sony FX7 but having absolutely no luck.

After connecting the camera to the PC via firewire and switching everything on, the connection does not get recognised. Maybe 1% of the time (I've tried hundreds of times!) the computer will beep, and bring up the dialogue box asking what I would like to do. However, by the time I have opened my editing software and prepared it to capture, the connection is lost and the camera is no longer visible on my computer.

I have tried capturing with Pinnacle Studio Plus 10, Windows Movie Maker and a Trial version of Sony Vegas 8.

My computer was running Windows XP with SP2, when that didn't work I updated to SP3 and still no luck.

I know it is not a problem with the camera's firewire port because it captures without problems to my friends Mac.

I know it is not a problem with my computer's firewire port because it captures video fine from both my Canon and Panasonic miniDV cameras.

Anybody have any idea's or similar problems?

Thanks,
John

First, download HDVSplit, and try it to see if your system is seeing the HDV connection.

Could be a setup issue with your software. Although I'm not familiar with Pinnacle, Premier needs me to specify either DV or HDV before it will see the cam. If I pick DV capture but the cam is set to HDV it says the cam is off line. Same thing happens with the reverse situation. Double check your settings.

One other thought, your 1394 cable might have gone wonky. If you have, or can borrow another one, you might swap it out.

Trial Version of earlier Vegas didn't have HDV capture on board, because of licensing issues, not sure if that applies to Vegas8 trial.

I'm still stumped on this one.

Tried HDVsplit. Stilll no luck.

I bought a new cable but nothing changed.

I am only trying to capture DV so it should not matter if the Vegas trial does not have HDV capture.

I actually bought a Canon HV20 on mega run-out sale yesterday as a capture deck. I tried to connect it to my PC it and it worked the first time but never again.

So it must be something with my software/computer.

Thanks for all the replies so far.

I'm still stumped on this one.

Tried HDVsplit. Stilll no luck.

I bought a new cable but nothing changed.

I am only trying to capture DV so it should not matter if the Vegas trial does not have HDV capture.

I actually bought a Canon HV20 on mega run-out sale yesterday as a capture deck. I tried to connect it to my PC it and it worked the first time but never again.

So it must be something with my software/computer.

Thanks for all the replies so far.

Do you have your Firewire enabled in your system BIOS?
This sounds like the problem I first encountered when I got my XHA1. I never enabled my firewire port and whenever I connected the camcorder WinXP Pro would find it but it wasn't able to actually communicate with it. Once I enabled the firewire port I was golden.