it is no longer recognised by either of my computers...tried resetting it and still nothing. Any ideas?

edit: Just done tests. Plugging it straight into z1 it works fine, when I plug it into either of my macs it actually disable the port its plugged into it, so if I plug it into an express card it stops it working or if i plug it into the main firewire bus it does the same thing.

One more thing...if it needs sending back to sony does anyone have any idea about equipment bought in the US being repaired in the Uk. I know silver support is with all uk products but is it honoured for stuff bought in other countries through official sony delears?

Are there any settings in the menus for the Firewire Port in the deck? If you haven't maybe you should try a different cable. Do you have the deck set to firewire input? I don't know about repair issues but I do know Sony has some firewire issues about signals. Does your Z1 work with the computers? I remember one Quicktime Install issue which disabled firewire a while back. Something about old receipts being left after an install upgrade.

Phil

I've written about this a lot on other fora - it's the FW cable itself, one of your pins is bent and is bending more.

The Oxford chipset is vulnerable to cheap sockets, since pins 1 and 6 of the 6 pinout plug are power. The smaller 4 pin plugs don't carry power, but the Chipsets behind the sockets are the same. I've had problems with miswired FW cables shorting out FW chipsets on HDD enclosures, and have spent lot of time and money trying to track this problem down.

If your player connects to your Z1 and gives you full functions, then it's not your player or your camera, so you can relax on that.

I think it's because you're using a 6 to 4 cable between your player and your camera, and a 6 to 6 between your player and your computer.

It's the 6 to 6 that's the problem if I'm right.

To get around this problem, I've been using only FW800 cards and cables wherever I can, certainly on any HDD more than 100GB. I've also got three or four "tested good" FW400 cables set aside for when this happens, and it happens a lot.

Finally, I try as much as possible to let my staff know not to hot swap the FW cables, i.e. to power down or at least reset before plugging in, like in the old SCSI days.

It seems to have cured the problem, but now and again someone will insist that the cables are hot swappable, the world says so, and reset one of the computers, or just jam the FW plug into its socket, sometimes partially the wrong way (silly design, pins 1 and 6 with no wrong-polarity protection) and then learn it all the hard way.

I've been questioned many times before on this issue, especially since all the manufacturers deny that it's ever been a problem, so if you don't believe me, just google or otherwise search for firewire oxford chipset issues and you should be able to find what I've been talking about. There are several firewire warning posts on this and the DVX site as well.

HTH
YMMV, etc.
Cheers
Chris

Hi Chris, thanks for the info. But it isnt the cable. I have tried many cables. The deck is 4 pin, the mac is 6 pin and the z1 is 4 pin...i have also tried using 4 pin to 9 pin and still nothing.

If the z1 does work with the deck then the firewire is still operating on it but why is it causing the mac's firewire to stop working when I plug it in?

I have been through all the menu settings on the deck, the thing is nothing has changed from when it was working to the point now where it doesnt work. Am very confused!

Hi Phil,

Did you find out what this was? I know this was a while back but I've had the same problem appear...

Cheers,

Phil.

Hi phil!

The firewire had blown inside the deck and I had to send it back to b and h to get fixed. Not ideal really!

Good luck!

Phil

Just as a side question, how do you know if you firewire is 400 or 800?

The FW400 has a boat-shaped plug and socket (full size 1398) or a small rectangular socket with one long side curved inwards in a convex shape (camera/small size).

The FX800 has larger rectangular plugs and sockets with one long edge beveled inwards for the center third or so of its side. Usually there's also some kind of a retaining sping clip as well to secure the plugs into the sockets. To my knowledge there's only the one size of FW800/1398b plug/socket.

HTH
Cheers
Chris

Thanks Chris...

I have not seen the FW800 plug or socket on the back of any electronic device or computer. It must be very new.

You won't see it on any cameras but been it's on lots of firewire hard drives and computers in the last couple of years.

I have a problem with my hvr-m15 and Vegas 8 pro.It works for the capture but it doesn't for the preview on an external monitor.how come this could happen?Sometimes it works ,other times it doesn't.

thx

Marcus: my understanding is that HDV decks do no allow realtime preview of timeline material in HDV. If your timeline is DV, it will (assuming that switches/menu items are set right) very likely preview DV material.

Hope this helps.

Vegas does it pretty well!

Guys i've just fixed the problem!I bought another firewire cable and now it works pretty well.
Thx

Hola, i have now ANOTHER ISSUE.
The print to tape doesn't work:it states a dark screen while the deck is on rec.
We posted the same problem on the Vegas 3d

I'm having similar problems to Marcus using a number of M15s - I'm wondering whether this is a weakness. I'm regularly coming up against the decks not being recognised by FCP, and we recently discovered that printing to tape on a consumer Sony camcorder was more reliable than using the M15E OR M15AE!! Embarassing when the decks are several times more expensive. Is anyone able to shed any light on these issues?

Cheers,

Phil.

Yes,
you need to get the deck setup correctly. Set the firewire interface to DV or HDV as needed. Do NOT use Auto as this will utterly confuse any OSX or Windows system as different drivers have to be loaded.

Hi Bob,

Thanks for the swift reply. Should I be setting DV or HDV before booting up the Mac and FCP, then? I've had issues in the past with changing settings mid-flow...