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Canon’s firewire standard?
We use a variety of camcorder brands in our lab. Footage recorded with the Canon brand will often not play back well using other brands as VTRs (including a Sony DSR-11 which is otherwise a rock solid).
Canon’s cams, on the other hand, will play back other brands.
One of the leaders on the Sony forum said that Canon uses a slightly different firewire standard and this explains the sync problem with other brands. It
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17 Replies
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Its not the FW “standard” that’s different, its the HEAD ALIGNMENT.
My experience with Canon has been that many times (I have used a multitude of Canon camcorder models) the Canon-recorded tapes will only play on Canon camcorders, sometimes only on the camcorder that recorded the particular tape.
The worst offender was the Canon XL1.
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The FW “differnce” has to do with the audio and video “slippage” after import.
If that’s your complaint, then that’s problem you have.
If you are having “mosaic blocks” (digital image problems) and other kinds of A/V drop-outs… its the difference in the head alignment that’s the culprit.
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The problem I experience is a stuttering of the audio. I assume this is the slippage you refer to? I find it really weird that this is a common problem and the only answer is to hook up a Canon camcorder as a deck. Considering that many pro projects are shot on Canon XL1s and XL2s and perhaps edited by someone else, doesn’t this cause a lot of headaches?
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Sync “slippage” is when, after capturing the clips to a digital NLE, the video and the audio slowly become separated in sync and no longer play “matched together” (lip-sync gets off).
I would consider audio “stuttering” is a “dropout-type” problem (loss of continuous digital stream, so playback gets “dropped” for btief periods of time).
This is most commonly a tape-to-head problem.When it occurs playing on the same camcorder that recorded it, it is usually a sign of “clogged” (dirty) heads.
When it consistently happens when playing tapes on a different unit than the one it was recoreded on, then it is likely an “alignment” difference between the two units’ head-path.
This often happens when I have shot with a Canon and tried to play its tape in another unit. -
I find that our Canon Optura XI will input/output footage from a Canon XL2 and a couple of zr-80s (both of which have fried firewire ports) just fine. But when I try to in/out with a Sony dsr-11, I get this stuttering audio. All the Canon’s can
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For whatever reason (and its NOT the FIREWIRE “standard”… since its the TAPE that won’t play… not the FW that won’t transfer) you are having trouble getting your Canon footage in to the edit system ( And yes, head-standards still sounds like the problem to me.)
If you find that a Canon camcorder works best for this, you might consider buying the cheapest home video Canon you can find (new, used, eBay, etc.) and using that as your source player.
I see them in pawn shops for under $200.
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[Matte] “I see them in pawn shops for under $200.”
…..or you can try what I did and go to a retailer like Sears, etc. and ask if they have any inexpenive new MiniDV camcorders that are missing items from the box. You may get it for less than half price. My Sony DCR-HC30 was purchaced new with the battery and A/V cable missing and got it at a savings of over 60%. As long as it’s equiped with firewire and a power cable to plug into the wall you can still use it as a deck.
FWIW, I capture tapes from a Canon GL2, XL2 and a PD170 using the above camera and have never had sync or video issues. I’ve captured single clips as long as 80 min. without a problem…..so far 🙂
– Don
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Matte, Don,
I really appreciate the feedback. This leads me to another concern. When I took over the class we had two Canon zr-80s both of which won -
[eyecamiam] “Could one of the Macs perhaps be sending out surges or something?”
When the first version of Mac OS X came out there was a rumor that Macs so equipped were sending too much power to the FW port and was burning out the FW ports on cameras. Since those first OS X Macs also had OS9 I was told to capture using only the earlier OS. I never talked to anyone directly who had personally experienced this but just about everyone was aware of the issue at the time. I’m assuming it was only a problem if the camera was turned on when trying to connect via FW. Perhaps this issue has some merit with regard to your students and the computer lab.
You may have told your kids to connect to the FW with the cameras turned off, but I’m wondering if there’s been a few times when they forgot to do it. If it happened too many times then I suspect that damage to the cameras’ FW ports have taken a hit. To this day before I connect anything to a FW port I make sure the computer and the connecting device(s) are both off.
[eyecamiam] “Can they be fixed or is this more expensive than a cheap cam is worth?”
Anything can be fixed but I don’t think it’ a cheap fix. Plus the fact the camera is away getting fixed and not in the lab where you need it. Before I sent anything away for service I’d make sure all the FW cables being used are actually working and have solid connections. Worn out or intermittant connections might very well be contributing to capture problems. But I’m sure you’ve already done that.
[eyecamiam] “Is it possible the ports are ok but the firmware in the cams got corrupted somehow?”
Don’t know. But you could always try pulling the memory battery out of the camera and seeing if it makes a difference to the FW port after you put it back in. Just a thought.
[eyecamiam] “And, would a professional head alignment of the Canon
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