Ok this may be long but its kind of urgent... i film hunts and just purchased a used XHA1. I love the video camera however I cannot seem to get my computer to detect that it is hooked up... I've asked on other sites (ask.com and others) and I cannot get an actual helpful answer... I am running a dell optiplex with windows xp. the firewire care (which i purchased) is a Vantec UGT-FW05 4-Port Firewire 400 PCI Host Card. I installed the port and have already checked to see if it is running correctly (which it is) I have done all my windows updates... I have turned on my AVS4YOU video recorder to see if it picks it up(which it doesn't)... The camera has been turned on and set to the vcr mode... I have also messed with the signal settings changing auto to hdv and then to dv and back, and turned av-dv on and off... The camcorder recognizes that it is hooked up as it shows the blinking HDV/DV IN... I don't know what else to do the camcorder is working fine... the firewire cord is brand new as with the port card..... the firewire is the 4pin-6pin... I am not very camcorder savy but i know how to read a manual and google information and have yet to find a fix... there are no drivers for the Canon XHA1 on their site, I thought maybe that was the problem... Im kinda stuck here guys can someone help me out... I would even be willing to talk over the phone to get this fixed I need to edit my film Thanks all

Hi Josh,

If the camcorder indicates HDV/DV IN, then that is the problem -- that indicates that the camera is set up to *receive* a signal over FireWire. You want it to go in the other direction. I haven't messed with an XH A1 in awhile, but I'm confident that one of our regular members will be along shortly to help you out with this... welcome aboard,

What video editing program are you running on your Dell, is it Windows XP Movie Maker? Make sure you always connect everything up, before you turn ALL the gear on, the A1 FW port is very fragile in that regard. Hopefully your FW cable is a reliable brand name, not an elcheapo off ebay.

You might d/load the trial version of the latest Sony Vegas Movie Studio, to get going, and if you intend to do a lot of this work, you'll probably need an external hard drive to speed things up and store all the footage on. The necessary computer specs are listed on this Vegas site and the Vegas forum here is very active and helpful.

http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/moviestudiope

Cheers.

i tried movie maker but no my main video editor is AVS4YOU... as i stated previously the FW card is Vantec UGT-FW05 4-Port Firewire 400 PCI Host I bought it through walmart for $15 ... I don't believe that the flashing HDV/DV IN is showing it receiving because i watched a youtube video that showed the gentleman uploading the video with it flashing that... shouldn't windows ding when i connect the camcorder to it like its excepting a new program because i don't even get that

Well failing everything else, d/load that Vegas trial but study the computer specs needed first .. then try asking for help on the Vegas forum here.
In fact check through the Vegas archives now, there may be something there that helps.


Cheers.

i still don't think its a capture issue though... the camcorder is responding as if it is hooked up to a computer by showing me the hdv/dv in... could it possibly be that i have a low end FW card? I don' t have any other computers to try it with so ill d/l the vegas as you said but I did look up the compatability of the AVS4YOU sofware and hdv film and it is supposed to work... just aggrevating

Well failing everything else, try that Vegas trial but study the computer specs needed first .. then try asking for help on the Vegas forum here.
Check through the Vegas archives now, there maybe something there that helps.

Cheers.

Hi, Josh............

If you get HDV/ DV IN on the LCD but no dee - dum "device detected", it sounds like the camera FW port can tell it's attached to the PC FW port, but Windows can't see the camera through the port.

Sounds like a drivers issue. Did the card come with it's own drivers disc or are you using the XP defaults?


CS

card didn't come with a disc so just using the windows defaults

Have you checked in device manager to see if there is a problem with the card?


CS

Hey Josh ,

I had the same problem and this is what I did to resolve the issue:

Click on control panel go to device manager locate your Firewire Port right click on it and go to properties
then change the setting to ( Legacy) that should fix your problem.

Good luck!

I can't find where to change it to legacy... ive right clicked on my computer and went to manage, then device manager, then hit the + next to the VIA OHCI IEEE 1394 Host Controller and right clicked the card and went to properties and can't find a way to switch it to legacy on any of the tabs can you be a little more detailed

XP doesn't have the ability to do what Matthew suggested.

In Device Manager, are there any Yellow circles with a "!" inside, against any device?

If there is, then XP has a problem with that device.

If that device happens to be your new Firewire card, it isn't talking to XP.

Are there any such Yellow circles?


CS

Whoops, double post.


CS

there are no problems between the card and computer, it just says that it is working properly

If the camcorder is showing HDV/DV IN, the necessary handshaking for video capture has not been establishd between the camcorder and the PC.

In some cases this can relate to the connection and power up sequence.

To have successful capture the camcorder and capture progarm must be in full agreement as to the format of the video on the IEEE1394 port. If the capture program thinks it is outputting DV and the cammcorder thinks HDV there may be no joy. And in general you cannot change camcorder output settings while connected to the computer. There are two camcorder settings involved, and capture program settings will depend on the software used.

Lastly, IEEE1394 ports based on some VIA chips are known to be problematic for DV/HDV capture. If all else fails you may want to try a card based on a TI chip. (This is not an issue unique to C anon camcorders, adn it will not show up as an error (e.g., the yellow circle) to Windows..)

You can verify the camcorder firewire port by taking it to a friend who has a known working capture capability, or possibly by trying a transfer to another firewire-capable camcorder.

ok guys... only thing i haven't tried is changing my firewire card out... ive tried vegas, ive even tried an hdv specific recorder... switched the signal setting to hdv (while the camera was unhooked) and all that.... is there anything else besides the card you can think of... and if not could anyone point me to a different card to try?

FWIW, GOOGLE on "VIA VT6306 capture" and yo will get a numeber of hits where people are reporting capture problems with that specific chip set.

I do not recall reading of problems with cards based on Texas Instrument (TI) firewire chip sets. I have generally used motherboard-based IEEE 1394 (firewire) ports, or ports on capture breakout boxes, so I do not have a specific suggestion, But search on cards, read the card specs, and then GOOGLE the card and its chipset for reportd problems before you buy it.

Kind of late to this thread but I'm having similar issues:

I have an older PC with Sony Vegas Pro 6 installed that I used to capture / edit DVCAM video & MiniDV.
I've been able to capture / edit from my Canon XHA1 as long as I downconvert in the camera to output HDV to DV. The PC is pretty robust with an ASUS LGA775 PL5VM-1394 mobo, 2GB of RAM, Windows XP and a Seagate RAID Array. But the capture software won't recognize the XHA1 unless I downcovert.

Any suggestions or help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Chaz

Hi Chaz,

Look in the camcorder menu for a "VCR" setting. Will need to be manually set to "HDV", if on "Auto" or "DV" then PC will see it as a DV device. Should have 1394 from camera to PC disconnected when changing this. Power off camera, connect 1394, power on camera, computer should acknowledge that you have connected a device, rather than "DV Device" the HDV should be seen as "AVC Subunit" I think.

i.Link convert should of course be OFF in camera if you want to output HDV.

Hope this helps

Jeff