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Media Composer 2.7.7 (PC) and an uncooperative PDW-F70 XDCAM deck
To All:
We just “upgraded” our MC Adrenaline to HD – new CPU, new card in the Adrenaline Box, new everything. Includes the newest version of MC v2.7.7
Since we have a Sony XDCAM camera, I installed all the newest PDZ-1 software, hoping to use our PDW-F70 deck. I have a separate FireWire 400 PCI card for mounting the deck, so as not to cause a conflict with the Adrenaline box.
Windows DOES recognize the device
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10 Replies
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go into your deck configuration settings and delete all decks and close out of there. Then open it up again and reassign em. If your deck is not listed, you can just pick the poper connection and autoconfigure.
what did you “upgrade” from?
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We use XDCAM via the FireWire import process, rather than as a traditional deck. This method allows for faster-than-realtime ingest.
I neglected to mention – the PDW-F70 is set to FAM mode in the iLink menu. This is the normal setup on a NewsCutter XP Adrenaline and a FCP station, and they both work perfectly.
We also installed an older PDZ-1 version on a new XP station, and it works fine. My new guess is the newest version of Media Composer, so we’re now going to uninstall both the Sony and Avid software, install the PDZ-1 software, see if that works, and then install Media Composer 2.7.2 IF that works, we’ll then upgrade it to 2.7.5, and if it still works, we’ll call it a day.
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I gotta say, I get all confused these days with the media composers. At the risk of sounding old or sound, a Media Composer use to be an NLE that Avid made that became the industry standard. Now, it’s a sort of turn key thingy with an adrenaline or a box of software for people with a pc.
Stuff worked when it was a media composer.
If I were gonna purchase software, I’d certainly go with FCP.sorry I was of no help, man. “I’m sorry” is the best I can do. I hope that makes it feel better.
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I wonder if this is the same issue as having a Mojo and Firewire drives on the same logical segments of the PCI bus. The advanced PC workstations have the PCI bus slots divided into 3 (I think) logical segments that the CPU can operate simultaneously. So in order for the PC to be able to capture media, the Mojo on Firewire and the storage on Firewire needs to be on separate logical segments. Then the CPU can run both simultaneously and they don’t conflict.
I would check that the Firewire i/f you added for the XDCAM is on a different logical bus from the FW running the Adrenaline DNA. You might have to move the FW board to a different slot.
Check out Avid’s web site for the instructions on setting up a Mojo. It explains in great detail how a PCI bus is segmented in the advanced workstations.
Also check that the FW board you added has a Texas Instruments chipset. Look for an IC with the outline of the state of Texas. Avid doesn’t like most other FW boards.
Bill Stephan
Senior Editor/DVD Author
USA Studios
New York City -
First off, any and all suggestions on this are welcome. Troubleshooting an Avid is not a scientific process…and at this point, I’m ready to glue a picture of the Virgin Mary on the side of the CPU, and put a statue of Saint Clare of Assisi on the Media Drives….
The XDCAM deck is NOT on the main CPU Firewire bus, but plugged into a PCI FireWire card in Slot 5 of the xw8400 CPU. The card is either a ADS or SIIG FireWire card, since that’s the only two cleared by Avid. (I don’t remember which one I bought.)
We’re nuking the system Friday, and reinstalling the OS, PDZ1 softwarem, seeing if the deck works, and then installing MC Software, starting with 2.7.2, and then 2.7.5.
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Dan, you did a major upgrade to your Avid system costing $$$, so your Avid dealer should be willing and able to solve this for you. If you don’t get any satisfaction from your dealer’s tech support, then call the support people in Tewksbury. They do talk to engineers from the other manufacturers when a customer has a problem.
You really shouldn’t need to pray to the saints to get this worked out. Just demand the support that you are entitled to.
Also check whether Sony can offer any helpful insight.
Bill Stephan
Senior Editor/DVD Author
USA Studios
New York City -
…but I guess since the check cleared, we’re on our own….
The project manager at Avid has promptly answered all of my emails with bounce passes to Sony, ignoring my long and detailed descriptions of the problem.
After several other suggestions (which rated in intelligence with “Did you reboot?”) said project manager told me he as NOT a technical guy, and told me to call the Avid 1-800 number for support.
The Avid Sales Posse will be here sometime in the next few days, and I intend to corner them in a very public place, and grill them about this. In the meantime, I’m getting all of our HD projects done in Final Cut Pro.
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If the deck is connected and says “PC Remote” you don’t need to reinstall the drivers. If not, find the disk that came with the deck and dig for drivers…I’ve never been able to get downloaded Sony drivers to work.
We used to have this problem, and we had to unmount our Unity before Windows would assign the XDCAM deck a drive letter. So, you might try booting with no other external devices or drives except the XDCAM deck.
Finally, you must insert a disc before windows will let you see the drive.
Mike Dow
Creative Services Director
KLRU-TV Austin’s PBS -
So, we pulled the NEW CPU from the edit bay, and put the old xw8000 CPU back on the Adrenaline box. Rolled back the dongle and firmware on the box, put ball all the old FireWire cards, and went back to work in SD.
Meanwhile, our Tech guys put it on the bench to start my software test. On a whim, he connected the PDW-F70 to the CPU on the on-board FireWire, and it worked. Perfectly.
Then we put in another ADS Firewire card (Identical to the one we had) in Slot 5, plugged in the XDCAM deck, and it worked. Perfectly.
I just pulled our dongle out of the working Avid, and we’re going to put it back at v2.7, and fire up the MC app without hooking up to an Adrenaline.
More updates as they become available…
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The solution is this – despite what Avid says, there’s only ONE FireWire card you can use from ADS:
ADS Tech Pyro PCI 64R2
After going thru a box of various ADS FireWire cards, this one made the XDCAM work exactly as advertised.
In the narrow odd world of Avid troubleshooting, this solution works for a PC Media Composer Adrenaline (v2.7.7.)running on an HP xw8400 with Windows SP2 with a 230GB SCSI Array on a ATTO Ultra320 SCSI Card…..your mileage may vary.
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