XL1 firewire issues

Ken Tanaka · December 16th, 2002, 09:18 PM

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.)

Jeff Donald · December 16th, 2002, 09:24 PM

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

Dylan Couper · December 16th, 2002, 09:34 PM

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... :)

Jean-Philippe Archibald · June 1st, 2004, 08:47 PM

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...

Dylan Couper · June 2nd, 2004, 01:03 AM

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! :)

BJ Thomas · June 2nd, 2004, 04:10 AM

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.

Jean-Philippe Archibald · June 2nd, 2004, 07:36 AM

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?

Jean-Philippe Archibald · June 3rd, 2004, 12:03 PM

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!

December 16th, 2002, 09:18 PM	#16
Ken Tanaka Retired DV Info Net Almunus Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Chicago, IL Posts: 6,943	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.) __________________ Lady X Films: A lady with a boring wardrobe...and a global mission. Hey, you don't have enough stuff! Buy with confidence from our sponsors. Hand-picked as the best in the business...Really! See some of my work one frame at a time: www.KenTanaka.com

June 1st, 2004, 08:47 PM	#19
Jean-Philippe Archibald Trustee Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Saguenay, Québec, Canada Posts: 1,051	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... __________________ Jean-Philippe Archibald http://www.jparchibald.com - http://www.vimeo.com/jparchib

June 2nd, 2004, 01:03 AM	#20
Dylan Couper Wrangler Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Vancouver, British Columbia Posts: 8,314	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! :) __________________ Need to rent camera gear in Vancouver BC? Check me out at camerarentalsvancouver.com

June 2nd, 2004, 07:36 AM	#22
Jean-Philippe Archibald Trustee Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Saguenay, Québec, Canada Posts: 1,051	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? __________________ Jean-Philippe Archibald http://www.jparchibald.com - http://www.vimeo.com/jparchib

June 3rd, 2004, 12:03 PM	#23
Jean-Philippe Archibald Trustee Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Saguenay, Québec, Canada Posts: 1,051	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! __________________ Jean-Philippe Archibald http://www.jparchibald.com - http://www.vimeo.com/jparchib

December 16th, 2002, 09:24 PM	#17
Jeff Donald Warden Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Clearwater, FL Posts: 8,287	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

December 16th, 2002, 09:34 PM	#18
Dylan Couper Wrangler Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Vancouver, British Columbia Posts: 8,314	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... :)

June 2nd, 2004, 04:10 AM	#21
BJ Thomas Regular Crew Join Date: Jul 2003 Posts: 39	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.