In fairness, I was able to connect to my second machine and pull the HDV video off with no issues using Premiere Pro CS4.
Since I have verified the drivers, the problem in my case is related to one of three possible differences between the two machines:
I have the flipShare software installed on the problem machine. I tend to dismiss this in and of itself since removing the software didn’t resolve the problem.
I have Quicktime Pro on the problem machine. I really can’t see how this would interfere with Premiere’s capacity to create an HDV capture session – I would think if anything it would enhance it.
There is something corrupted in my install of Premiere Pro on the problem machine. Logic tends to favor this one, even though I have seen a significant number of posts regarding this exact “symptom” with the HV30 and Vista. I reasoned that if it were happening with Vista then perhaps it was due to some kind of system driver upgrade that had been bundled with a “non-Vista” download like IE8 or Windows Media. Since both my machines are at the same rev on this, that would tend to indicate that Premiere has bee screwed up.
I have to say that hardware wise I love the Canon equipment, and I’ve shot consumer, prosumer, and SLR from them for years. Sony cameras seem to be the ones with the greatest compatibility issues in my experience – which is to say with my Adobe workflow on a Wintel box. I wouldn’t however say that means Sony makes a bad camera, I’d personally have them in a tie for first with Canon.
I had JVC and the old SD I have is a workhorse- never had a capture issue and never had a camera issue, save that it’s just consumer grade SD. So when I was looking for the HD, I looked at JVC first, and also Panasonic, but having invested heavily in Adobe neither one of the one’s I could afford were fully and directly compatible.
I wish you luck finding an FCP compatible camera, but I think the Canon equipment is fairly solid in general terms, and that there are all sorts of things that can cause problems besides the cameras. Others will doubtless differ, but outside of this issue (which I hope to resolve by re-installing Premiere Pro on the problem machine) I’ve been extremely pleased with the quality and functionality of my HV30s (we shoot with 4 of them). -R
Larry S. Evans II
Executive Producer
Digital I Productions