Is there anything at all on an XL1 camera that could affect how it works with your computer? I'm narrowing down my Firewire problem, and am looking at the camera as a possible problem source. Of course, neither of my cameras work, so I can't see it being likely, but could I have changed something on a menu that would affect it?

I've formatted and reinstalled my editing computer system and it still won't work.

No, there are no internal or menu settings that affect FireWire.

Jeff

Dylan,

Have you tried hooking up your rig to another system? This will help identify if it is the camera or the computer.

I don't want to scare you, but I will suggest this. It would be possible for a bad cable to short your FireWire connection on the camera end. Can you try you camera on Keith's system just to check that all is OK?

Jeff

Dylan,
It's also very possible for your computer's Firewire port to short, particularly if it's a 6-pin (powered) port. I had a PowerBook port blow early this year for no apparent reason. (You're using a PC, aren't you?)

Yes, using a PC.
Paul, I'm going to try one of the cameras on a Mac later this week.

Ken, this is the second firewire card I've tried after the first one stopped working. Would you know how I could test this? Windows says it is working perfectly.

Jeff, that's a scary thought. I'll be testing the cameras shortly. I only used one of them for dumping to and printing from the PC. Once it stopped working, I tried the other. If this is the case, I probably don't want to know what it would cost to fix, do I?

Short of doing what you're doing, no I really don't know how to test it. Did it come with any diagnostic software? My PowerBook's problem was pretty easy to diagnose. Apple includes a utility called System Profiler which inventories everything on the computer, including all hardware. It told me that Firewire be bye-bye. Windows' general harware diagnostics are (obviously) not terribly reliable since they only really look for the address and interrupts to respond.

Honestly, this was one of the situations that finally made me decide to try a Mac. After working in the Windows environment since its creation my video editing hobby was continually confounded by Premiere inexplicably blowing-up in the middle of an edit or one of a seemingly endless string of 1394 cards suddenly failing to operate on the most powerful workstations (dual processor Dell Precisions) I could buy. Since I was working at the time I didn't have much time or desire to devote myself to continually being a PC technician; I just wanted to edit. When I was ready to retire I decided that life was too short for this. Five Macs later I couldn't be happier.

I really don't mean to use your frustrating predicament to editorialize. I know that the Windows environment can provide a stable platform for video editing. But it really does require ongoing diligence. I hope you can track this bugaboo down. I know how maddening this can be.

Whilst we're on the subject of FW I'll ask a quick question. Ever since I used FW on a B&W G3 connected to my XL1 I noticed some slight "sparking" when connecting the FW cable to the camera. I was told at the time that this was quite common, and 4 years down the line I've had no ill effects. But, it's not just me, is it?

Simon,
It could be static discharge. Since the camera uses a 4-pin (signal-only) connection there isn't any power transferred from the computer to the camera. If it is static I would imagine that it's being harmlesssly grounded through the cable's internal sleeve to your G3's chassis. Still, it's a bit rattling. It's never happened to me, at least that I've noticed.

Ken,
Yes, it must be static as the 4-pin carries no power. Yet, it scarred the hell out of me when I first saw it. I got on the phone straight away and was told not worry as it can happen.
I never see it on my 6-pin to 6-pin cable when connecting the burner. Must be because this one is a powered cable and the burner is also plugged into the mains.

Oh well, just an observation on the wonders of the Emmy award winning FireWire. ;-)

Someone suggested that I just hook one of my cameras up to the other directly using a DV to DV cable. So I did, put them in VCR mode, and still nothing happened. The "DV IN" still blinked in each VF. I tried setting it into record mode and the big red "CHECK CONNECTION..." message blinked.
Did I miss something while hooking them up, or is this a pretty good bet that my DV ports on each camera are fried?

Yes, it seems to be looking that way. I would be sending one of the cameras off to Canon at this point and see what they say. A final test would be to use a known good cable and computer and see if it recognizes the camera.

Jeff

Argh.

Anyone have the number of Canon Canada, or the best place for me to send one to? I don't suppose Vancouver has a repair center?

I'm thinking that repairs to both cameras will have to be at least $250 each (up to who knows how much). For that money I can buy a miniDV camera to use as a deck. I'll probably go this way instead of getting the DV ports fixed if it turns out to be more expensive than that. What do you guys think?

I agree, put the money towards a new deck. If and when you do decide to get one fixed I'd do the XL1S. It will have the best resale value should you ever decide to sell one.

Jeff

Can't wait to tell my fiancee the good news that I get to buy a new toy. I'm SURE (sarcasm) she'll believe the reasons why. :)
Both my cameras are XL1's, not XL1s's. Typo on my part in a previous post.

I'm going to post a new topic in the business section on who is responsible for killing my cameras.

I dunno, Dylan. It just seems too weird to have fried the FW ports on both of you cams, particularly since they have 4-pin (no power) ports. I wouldn't assume they're fried yet. Can you plug one into someone else's computer?

(My wife acuses me of breaking things that I want to replace. It's a guy thing I guess.)

Go to a computer store that sells Macs and ask to plug one into and iMac with iMovie on it. If it recognizes it your good to go. If not, it's off to Canon.

Jeff

I have a friend that just bought a Mac, but its a Christmas gift for his wife, so I can't try it out yet. I'll see if I can make it over to Keith Loh's place and try it out on his. There is a Mac store downtown, I could try them. I'm sure they'd be happy for the potential opportunity to convert a PC guy.
At this point, I can't see it being anything but the cameras. I have tried them on a second PC, and they didn't work, but I'm not 100% that that computer worked properly with the firewire in the first place.

I could go buy another miniDV camera and test my system with that as well. Boxing day sales are close at hand. Tee hee... :)

Ok I know, it's a really old thread. But I think that I have a similar problem than you, Dylan.

In this moment, I don't have other camcorder, computer, or firewire cable to do some troubleshooting, but my computer dosen't recognize my XL1 any more tonight. :-(

What's happened to you Dylan? have you sent your camcorders to Canon Canada? Where is the repair services? Toronto? How much they charge for this kind of repair?

In any case, it is a really frustrating (and time waisting) issue...

I never bothered sending them in. I figured if it was indeed a blown DV port, it would be cheaper just to buy another miniDV cam to use as a deck instead of having them both repaired. So I did, and now I have a 3rd camera! :)

Funny that this post popped up. I had a computer crash and it must have done something to the onboard firewire port because it wouldn't recognize my Xl1. Then I tried my Panasonic DVX and then my Xl1s, none of them popped up. So I went to a friends house and tried the dvx on his computer and it wouldn;t pop up. I then took his camera and tried and it worked. I took his camera and tried it on my computer and it wouldn't pop up. Then a fearful thought came into my mind, I ran back to his computer and tried his camera on his computer and it wouldn't come on. My computers damn firewire port screwed up the firewire ports of all cameras that were hooked up to it. Luckly all cameras are under warrenty so I will be sending them in for repair. I will never hookup a non warrenty expensive camera to a firewire port again.

Ok, I brought my XL1 to my office to do some tests this morning. I'm not sure that my problem is the same than Dylan after all...

By looking inside the 4 pins connector of my firewire cable, I noticed that pins 1 and 3 are not at the same level than pins 2 and 4 i.e. the four pins are not aligned. So I supposed that the connector of my camera might have been damaged by the use of this cable.

I made a comparison between the connector of my camera and the connector of a laptop and I found that pins 1 and 3 of the connector of the camera had been "pushed" somewhat.

And connecting the camera to the laptop with a new firewire cable, The laptop was able to recognize the camera and even to control it (play, forward, etc) but cannot retreive any video from it.

That seems announced a defective connector...

What is your suggestions? Do you think that a local electronic repair shop could repair or change the firewire connector for me? Or do I have to pay the big bill and send it to Canon Service?


By the way, Dylan, wich camera did you bought?

Ok, I think that I resolved my firewire problem. I have found a Canon ZR60 reduced to 419$ CDN to make some place for the ZR80 at Wal-Mart . And the nice woman accepted to reduce the demo to 369$ for me! What a deal!

I hope that this little cam will do a nice deck and backup cam!