FCP Doesn’t recognize Canon HV20 in HDV mode

Apple Final Cut Pro Legacy

FCP Doesn’t recognize Canon HV20 in HDV mode

Posted by Motionpicturesque on May 18, 2008 at 4:20 pm

Hello All,

Any suggestions or direction would be much appreciated!

I am working in Final Cut 6.0 and trying to digitize footage shot in HDV mode from a Canon HV20 through Firewire 400 with the following settings located under Audio/Visual Settings:

Sequence Preset: HDV 1080i60
Capture Preset: HDV
Device Control Preset: HDV Firewire

When I try to launch the Log and Capture I get the following error:
“Unable to initialize Capture Device
Device is not connected or the capture preset is not set up correctly.
You may still log offline clips.
This might also happen if you play DV footage in an HDV device.”

After getting that message, I went back to verify that the footage had indeed been shot in HD mode and not SD/DV.

It is critical to know that I have been able to digitize with no problems with the same camera and tapes in Standard Def using Firewire NTSC and DV-NTSC.

Also, I was able to check my firewire connection through digitizing a sample in iMovie. I have tried refreshing video as well as restarting FCP.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to how I can help Final Cut to recognize my Canon HV20?

Thanks so much!
Cara

Kat Prescott replied 16 years ago 5 Members · 7 Replies
7 Replies

Chris Borjis
May 19, 2008 at 4:47 pm

The canon cameras often revert the firewire settings.

go to the menu of the camera and make sure HDV firewire out is enabled.
Motionpicturesque
May 19, 2008 at 5:12 pm

Thanks, Chris. I’ll try that!
Motionpicturesque
May 19, 2008 at 5:13 pm

Let me know if you think of something else!
Stace Carter
May 20, 2008 at 2:41 pm

Also, our Canon (XHA1) won’t “take” the output settings (downconvert on/off) unless the firewire cable is removed from the camera before you change the setting. Frustrating and not well documented.
Motionpicturesque
May 20, 2008 at 5:19 pm

Thank you kindly for that information! I agree, that is not well documented at all! After sitting there for a good 8 minutes with the relevant portions of the menu ghosted, I finally yanked the firewire out and suddenly they were available to be changed.

Just for anyone else who ever has this issue, I found the solution to my problem was two fold. I had the FCP settings correct (capture, device, capture preset, etc…) right, then I fixed the play back options on the camera, but then it still didn’t work! At my wits end, I threw away the FCP preferences and that did the trick.

Thanks for your help all!
Becky Gavigan
July 4, 2008 at 8:12 pm

And making sure the AV to DV is on – I had the same problem and that was the solution now my other problem –
Kat Prescott
May 11, 2010 at 11:03 pm

Hello and thanks for posting all that is above. i have been messing around with this for about an hour and a half right now and for some reason i can’t get it to work. i was able to capture once before with this camera (canon hv20). I am pretty green to fcp. i am getting really frustrated. any help would be grately appreciated. thanks.

Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up

Creative Communities of the World Forums