Capture Problem - HDV/ DV In Flashing?

[Patrick Sean Kennedy]

Reading this forum has been such a help in the past, I sending a hail mary pass to see if you guys can come through again.

Basically, my Mac Book Pro is not recognizing my camera.

I have used my XH-A1 camera as a deck for the last 11 months and no problems until now.

When I plug in the camera thru the firewire 800 port, the computer is unable to initialize the deck. Also, for some reason my external hard drives connected through the firewire 400 port crash and the icons "CH 1/2" and "HDV/ DV In' on the camera screen flash interchangeably.

I have tried to connect the camera through another mac book pro, same "CH 1/2" and "HDV/ DV In" flash.

I have also bought a firewire 400 cord and tried to connect the camera thru that. No flash but no recognition. Hard Drives are not recognized this time....

Any suggestions????

[Patrick Sean Kennedy]

OK. so i took it the the canon repair shop in irvine. Luckily, still under warranty (with one month to go).

Problem: the i.link port in the camera was bent.

The flashing icons was from a weak connection from camera to computer.

Just fyi if anyone else has similiar problem

[Travis Cossel]

I just popped in to see if I could help you out. Glad to see you're getting fixed up. Sometimes you'll get the same problem if the camera settings are set incorrectly. Anyways, thanks for sharing the solution!

[Scott Timothy Wilson]

I'm seeing lots of people having this problem on different threads on various sites. I am having it too with my Canon XH-A1. Other sights have suggested bad firewire port or firewire cable, and that nothing is wrong with the camera. But in Patrick's case here it seems to be the camera's firewire in. I can't imagine that's the case with mine though since i just bought the damn thing. sucks. Anyone else have any suggestions? I've tried every combo of turning off, rebooting, unplugging, ect. thanks

[John Estcourt]

scott, I eventually solved the problem by installing a dedicated firewire card into the pc and thats done the trick, before, using the MB port it was kind of hit and miss as to whether or not the camera would be recognised.
The firewire card has its own 4 pin power supply so I wonder if this could be the difference?

[Steve Hix]

I've had this same problem with me XH-A1s three times now. The original and two replacements went bad at ~$500+ each, a bad firewire circuit board on the camera. Once they said the camera's port was damaged but since the 1st replacement I never touched the camera or cable when in use so I don't believe that. But this is the first time i noticed the alternate flashing. I confirmed PC's firewire 400 and cable is good (my audio interface requires 400). I've giving up on repairing this for the 3rd and I'm looking for a dedicated HDV player with a firewire or USB (USB3?) output if that exists. Any suggestions in this area?

[Don Palomaki]

Many folks use a Canon VIXIA HV20, 30, or /40 camcorder as a player.
Has firewire, and much lower cost than the XH-A1.

A word of caution, do not try to hot swap the camcorder firewire connection. Make all connections and disconencts while both camcorder and computer are powered off.

[Mike Chambers]

Can anyone post a detailed hook instructions lost?
I bought my xha1 recently used and the firewire port was used one time the last
time by previous owner to transfer before the used another deck.

I bought a 4 pin to 6 pin cord for firewire 600 but my macbook pro just shows
unable to detect devices under firewire in system info. I've tried the settings
in the vcr mode to every combination everyone says on these forums but no luck
I dont even get a flashing hdv/dv symbol on screen. I've heard of some people not
only being able to capture by playback but also in real time to hard drive and tape.
Canon told me I needed to power the camera by the ac/to dc adapter for battery but
this makes no sense to me as its still just supplying the same dc voltage as the battery and
I dont recall anyone saying they had to connect it to their macbook this way.
I'm running Yosemite and using fcpx which I know won't capture hdv. I dont care what
software I capture with I just need to be able to get the mac to see it and capture to some
software that I can use or convert to use in fcpx. almost wish I would've went all
digital now. but I have 650 in the camera and another 700 in the letus extreme, matte box
rails, and lenses. please some help or at least if I cant get this to connect lead me in the direction of a
camera I can still use with my letus im very new to all this but learning everyday and loving it.

[Roger Van Duyn]

Hello Mike.

There are 3 possibilities:
1. The firewire cable is bad or the wrong type of cable.
2. The firewire port on the XH-A1 is bad.
3. The firewire port on your Mac is bad.

You will need to determine by process of elimination which possibility is the culprit.

If you try a different cable and the new cable works, problem solved. If not, then it's either the port on the camera or the port on the mac that's not functioning.

To test the port on the Mac, try a different camera ( with a firewire port that you know works) or other device and see if the Mac recognizes it.

To test the port on your XH-A1, test the connection with another computer with firewire port (that you know works), or with another XH-A1 (or other HDV camera that has a working firewire port)

For what it's worth, I've had to have the firewire port repaired twice on one of my XH-A1 cameras. On the other hand, I had a laptop once that it's firewire port went kaput. But someone else's experiences don't necessarily apply to your situation. To find out what's wrong requires some testing. Otherwise, you're just guessing whether to send off the camera for repairs or the Mac.

I feel for you. It's getting pretty hard to find firewire anything except online.

Not to accuse anyone, but you mentioned that the previous owner only used the camera ONE TIME to transfer before going to another deck? That sounds mighty unusual. Was it because he HAD to use another deck? Did the camera work the one time he used it for transfer?

[Mike Chambers]

Thanks for the reply Roger
it turns out it's the camera's firewire port thats bad, I questioned it when I bought it but
I had never used any firewire before let alone the 4 pin mini, its hard to see in there without a
good light and magnifying glass but one pin is broke off. Duh my bad. I personally know
the person I got it from but he never did the capturing his friend did it with another deck
to spare the heads abuse. He said the last time they used it he did use firewire to capture
the video. Oh well I'm pretty confident in my ability to replace the board myself and it's only like
$34 from Canon for the part. I got the camera fairly cheap and its in otherwise great
shape. I'll repair it once just because I'd like to capture to hard drive and tape both but I'm also
going to get another cheaper deck that can support 24f and will work with fcpx. I tried another
device a friend had and realized my mac was fine but I'm new to both the mac and xha1, so
it's been a slow learning process. But for my budget You cant beat the price on the camera
for the quality and I was able to pick up a used Letus extreme on here for a good price with
matte box, rails, and lenses now I'm just dying to be able to capture some video and start editing.

[Roger Van Duyn]

Once you've repaired the firewire port, you can use an external recorder to go tapeless. But you need to be very careful plugging and unplugging the firewire cable.